1. Software Project Management
User Needs Lecture
Dr Tracy Hall

2. Learning Outcomes To recognise the role of the customer in a project
To understand a range of ways of relating to the customer that will help both sides achieve success.

3. Software & other types of projects
Software projects
Other types of project
Software projects are different
Software projects are similar to others
Software products are less tangible than others
can be harder to specify…
…monitor…
…and sign-off on
Software has a history of overspends & disappointment
The software community is not very accessible to outsiders
Software development is still quite a young discipline
All projects need the same basic management skills
good planning
sound identification and management of risk
teams of good people, well resourced and managed intelligently
All engineering communities are closed, to some extent
Most major projects today involve some level of software
Formal methods are increasingly common over the spectrum
Let’s focus
on these

4. How do these set expectations?
Your sales team?
The competition?
First impressions?
Marketing & publicity?
Cadle & Yeates have some good ideas – “Client Management Issues” Ch 16 (3rd Ed)
“Managing Stakeholders” Ch 18 (4th Ed).

5. Moreover… Why? Expectations Ideal?
The customer’s ideas often change
Moreover…
Why?
Expectations
e.g. you promise a Ferrari & deliver a Punto
Expectation
Typical expectation curve (in my experience)
Ideal?
Sales phase
Development phase
In use
NB Why did Skoda beat Mercedes in a customer satisfaction survey?
Cadle & Yeates p 298

6. Two critical features Poor Good Customer’s perception
Big surprises are generally a bad idea
Is this possible?
satisfied
dissatisfied
Poor
Sales phase
Development phase
In use
Expectation
satisfied
dissatisfied
Good

7. Two critical features
What can you do to control the shape of this curve?
Sales phase
Development phase
In use
Expectation

8. Why do customers want to change things?…
External
Legislative or market forces change
Learning
Suddenly, the customer sees more opportunities
Internal
Priorities change
Expectations
Cadle & Yeates p 298

9. So… What the customer wants flexibility What the Proj. Man. wants
fixed requirements
May never arrive
Arrives on time & within budget…
… but the customer may hate it!
McConnell case study 10-1

10. How can we manage this? Process Relationships
Good processes provide a framework within which to manage changes…
…and ways of managing the changes themselves
Relationships
Get to know and trust your customer
Build for, and invest in, the future

11. Let’s start with process: Choose the process to fit the need
Push yourself a little further than you think you need to
???????
Extreme Programming (Cadle & Yeates section 6.13)
Requirements unclear
‘Interactive approach’ e.g. RAD (Cadle & Yeates section 6.10)
Some flexibility desirable
‘Iterative approach’ e.g. Spiral (Cadle & Yeates section 6.5)
Well understood requirements
‘Linear approach’ e.g. Waterfall (Cadle & Yeates section 6.2)
flexibility
fixed requirements

12. Change Management: Some formalism may help
This implies you have a future together
Options
No, you can’t
have it
Yes, you can
Let’s put it into
the next release
Yes, but it will
cost you
Request
for change
Agree the
change
Implement
the change
DOCUMENTATION
Record
the
request
agreement
& reasons
Write down
& circulate
new plan

13. Let’s think about relationships
Who is the customer?
The end user (buys your code from Game)?
A contractor engaging you for a large programme?
Someone in another part of the company?
Try to get a single person to be your customer.
Why should you engage with the customer? (McConnell section 10.1)
Often a critical success factor
Productivity
Reduced rework
Lower Risk

14. Some expectations Senior Management Customer PM Team Reward Support
Profit
Success
Harmony
Reward
Support
Customer
Be decent
Low pain
Get job done
Value-for-money PM
Team
Reward
Fun work
Get the job done
So let’s focus on this

15. Benefits of building a relationship
Bid
Better grasp of real needs
Better concept of customer’s constraints
Clearer view of future plans
Firmer idea of business context
Development
Warning of surprises
More room for flexbility
LESS FRICTION
Capture real requirements
Good ideas of how it will be used
Better prioritizing of ideas
Requirements
capture
LESS FRICTION
Better management of bugs and bug fixes
More business
Operational

16. How do I manage the customer relationship?
Spend time
Be honest & fair
Let’s give this some thought
Don’t be afraid to apologise when things go wrong
Be open
How do you
manage any other relationship?

17. An overheard conversation…
How can I help you, Madam?
You changed the battery in my car key and now it doesn’t work.
An overheard conversation…
Just leave the car with us, and we’ll investigate…
I don’t have the car with me – I’m in our other car. It was working before you changed it and now it doesn’t work
Changing the battery means reprogramming, we’ll have to charge £100. Why not let us check it out?
Our other key works – this one doesn’t… unless you hold it 2cm from the lock. I’ve just paid £100 for a new battery in this – please fix it.
Sorry, we can’t do anything without checking it out
(Customer eventually walks out in disgust)
What is the technical problem?
What is the customer management problem?

18. Let’s think through a couple of scenarios
You are about half way through a £20M, 2 year, programme to provide an interactive website and data base plus a call centre software suite for an international bank. With 9 months to go, you are asked to add a new raft of security measures. Your team estimates that these will cost at least £2.5M that has not been budgeted and add 5 months to the duration. How might you proceed?
You have had a torrid time as project manager with a demanding customer and an inexperienced team that has taken a long time to settle. You hear on the grapevine that your customer has a new, much larger, project in mind, but is definitely not planning to go with your company. What steps might you take to change the situation?

19. Sometimes IS puts the user at the centre
Extreme Programming (Cadle & Yeates section 6.13)
‘Interactive approach’ e.g. RAD (Cadle & Yeates section 6.10)
‘Iterative approach’ e.g. Spiral (Cadle & Yeates section 6.5)
‘Linear approach’ e.g. Waterfall (Cadle & Yeates section 6.2)
???????
Requirements unclear
Some flexibility desirable
Well understood requirements

20. Sometimes IS puts the user at the centre
‘Linear approach’ e.g. Waterfall (Cadle & Yeates section 6.2)
Users
Feasibility
Require-
ments
Design
Coding
Test
Well understood requirements

21. Sometimes IS puts the user at the centre
cost
review
2. Identify & resolve risks
1. Determine objectives
3. Development & test
3. Plan the next iteration
‘Iterative approach’ e.g. Spiral (Cadle & Yeates section 6.5)
‘Linear approach’ e.g. Waterfall (Cadle & Yeates section 6.2)
User needs
Some flexibility desirable
Well understood requirements
Prototypes
Feasibility
Require-
ments
Design
Coding
Test

22. Sometimes IS puts the user at the centre
Extreme Programming (Cadle & Yeates section 6.13)
‘Interactive approach’ e.g. RAD (Cadle & Yeates section 6.10)
‘Iterative approach’ e.g. Spiral (Cadle & Yeates section 6.5)
‘Linear approach’ e.g. Waterfall (Cadle & Yeates section 6.2)
???????
Requirements unclear
Some flexibility desirable
Well understood requirements
cost
1. Determine objectives
2. Identify & resolve risks
Feasibility
Require-
ments
Design
Coding
Test
How about these?
review
3. Plan the next iteration
3. Development & test