Nitish WalechaProject Engineer| Samsung Heavy Industries India Pvt. Ltd.Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Is there any tried and tested way of scheduling a software project? Can anyone share a template or a schedule of any software project for reference? I am not able to breakdown the project into work packages.
As my previous work experience is for offshore engineering project, so i am finding scheduling a software project very confusing.
Do check the templates section on this site for appropriate templates.
If the project is on an unfamiliar platform, it would be best to augment the planning process with plans of similar projects in the past (from within the organisation) or with expert judgement.
Additionally, one thing I do is to have a detailed breakdown of WBS elements only for the current and immediately upcoming phase; for future phases, I just have the high-level workstreams added with estimated timelines.
This allows for flexibility in planning but will also suit your requirement where you can learn as you go along and continuously refine your plan. Saving Changes...
Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
Take a look to scope chapter into the new PMBOK version. You can see how to create a wbs. I am not writting this because you have to create one. I am writting this because the examples inside the chapter could help you to understand how to breakdown all you have by deliverables or activities. With that you can schedule the project. Saving Changes...
Drew CraigSr. Agile & Product Coach| VanguardPhiladelphia, Pa, United States
To note, your team should be helping to break the work down, not the sole responsibility of the PM (you). Past that, if you use MS Project, there are available templates there, or even on this site. Saving Changes...
This will depend a lot on the delivery approach your team and key stakeholders land on. The schedule for a highly deterministic, big bang project will look very different from one following an adaptive or iterative delivery model.
With software projects, unless they are very low complexity or very deterministic, I always prefer to use a rolling wave approach for planning.
Yes build the WBS, yourself (have a look on the templates) or with your team (SME - Subject Matter Experts). PMI has a book specific to software development. After that, transpose the WBS to a schedule, i.e. Gantt chart. On the templates session is a template with great detail about SW development.
cheers Saving Changes...
Elizabeth HarrinDirector| RebelsGuideToPM.comLondon, England, United Kingdom
Have you looked at the software extension to the PMBOK Guide? There might be some ideas in there that will help you plan and organise the work. Saving Changes...
Anish AbrahamPrivacy Program Manager| University of WashingtonAuburn, Wa, United States
I agree with Karan, Andrew and other colleagues.
Please check the template section, I'm sure you will find what you are looking for. Saving Changes...
