Project management with the IBM Rational Unified Process: lessons from the trenches

Cover......Page 1
Contents......Page 10
Acknowledgments......Page 18
About the Author......Page 20
Introduction......Page 22
Chapter 1 Introduction to Outsourcing......Page 28
 Outsourcing Defined......Page 29
 Four Common Scenarios Encountered in Outsourced Projects......Page 30
  Scenario 1: Colocated Contractors......Page 31
  Scenario 2: Offshore Projects......Page 34
  Scenario 4: Multiple Contractors......Page 38
 Summary......Page 40
 What’s Next?......Page 41
 The Traditional Software Development Process......Page 42
  Advantages of the Waterfall Process......Page 43
  Disadvantages of the Waterfall Process......Page 44
 Introducing the Rational Unified Process......Page 47
  History......Page 48
  The Six Best Practices......Page 49
  RUP Lifecycle Phases......Page 57
  Is the RUP Agile?......Page 61
 What’s Next?......Page 62
Chapter 3 Getting Started: Request for Proposals (RFPs), Proposals, and Contracts......Page 64
  The Ten Steps in the Procurement Process......Page 65
  What’s Wrong with This Procurement Process?......Page 68
  A Proposed Progressive Acquisition Model for Small Projects......Page 70
  A Progressive Acquisition Model for Medium to Large Projects......Page 73
 Issues with Managing Fixed-Price Projects......Page 76
  Earned Value......Page 77
 Project Estimation......Page 81
 Selecting a Contractor Proficient in the RUP......Page 82
 Lessons Learned for Contractors......Page 83
 What’s Next?......Page 84
 Key Roles Defined......Page 86
  The Project Manager......Page 87
  The Lead User Representative......Page 90
  The PMO Project Architect......Page 91
  The Contracting Officer......Page 94
  The IT Manager......Page 95
  Developing a Data Model......Page 96
 Summary......Page 97
 What’s Next?......Page 98
Chapter 5 Best Practices for Staffing the Contractor’s Software Project Team......Page 100
 Governing Principles for Staffing the Team......Page 101
 Roles on the Contractor’s Software Development Team......Page 102
  The Project Manager Role......Page 103
  The Developer Role......Page 106
  The Architect Role......Page 107
  The Toolsmith Role......Page 108
  The Requirements Analyst Role......Page 109
  The Configuration Management/QA Role......Page 110
 Best Practices for Managing Teams......Page 111
 Summary......Page 112
 What’s Next?......Page 113
  Shareware Tools......Page 114
  Commercially Available Tools......Page 115
  Custom “In-House” Tools......Page 116
 Requirements Management......Page 117
  Important Features to Look for in a Requirements Management Tool......Page 118
  Features Needed in Change Request Management Tools......Page 121
  Features Needed in Configuration Management Tools......Page 124
  Requirements for Servers......Page 129
 Best Practices for Deploying New Tools......Page 130
 Summary......Page 131
 What’s Next?......Page 132
 Purpose and Goals of the Inception Phase......Page 134
  The Project Vision Statement......Page 135
  The Project Software Development Plan (SDP)......Page 136
  The Project Glossary......Page 137
  Setting the Project Vision......Page 138
  Maintaining Communication on the Project......Page 141
  Advantages of Project Web Sites......Page 142
  Suggestions for Content of Project Web Sites......Page 143
 What Can Go Wrong During the Inception Phase......Page 144
 Establishing a Sense of Ownership of the Project Plan......Page 145
 What’s Next?......Page 146
Chapter 8 Identifying and Managing Risks......Page 148
  Managing Technical Risks......Page 149
  An Example of Discovering a Political Risk......Page 151
 Funding Risks......Page 152
 Business Risks......Page 153
  An Example of Managing Dependency on a Vendor......Page 154
  Characteristics of a Risk Tracking System......Page 156
 What’s Next?......Page 159
Chapter 9 Navigating the Requirements Management Process......Page 160
 Enabling Success in Requirements Management......Page 161
  Attribute 1: The Contractor Has Easy Access to the Proper Set of Stakeholders in the Outsourcing Organization......Page 162
  Attribute 2: Establishing a Strong Working Relationship with Stakeholders......Page 163
  Attribute 3: Collecting and Disseminating Information Obtained from Stakeholders......Page 164
  Looking for Communication Opportunities......Page 167
 Modeling the Business Process......Page 168
  Definition of Business Modeling......Page 169
  Use Cases: A Best Practice for Capturing Business Processes and Functional Requirements......Page 170
  Transitioning to System Use Cases......Page 171
  They Tell You That the Requirements Analysis Is Already Finished......Page 174
  Avoiding Unbounded Growth in Requirements, or Requirements “Churn”......Page 177
 Summary......Page 179
 What’s Next?......Page 180
 How Can You Tell if the Project Is Ready for Construction?......Page 182
  Assessing Project Readiness for Construction: Checklists......Page 183
  How Long Should Iterations Be?......Page 184
  Construction Phase Iteration Planning......Page 185
  Assessing the Results of an Iteration......Page 187
  Demonstrating the Results of an Iteration......Page 188
 Contractual Issues Revisited......Page 190
  Mistake 3: Iterations with No Stated Purpose......Page 191
 Anecdotal Observations from Development Teams Using Iterative Techniques Versus Waterfall Techniques......Page 192
 What’s Next?......Page 194
 How Traditional Waterfall Lifecycle Models Inhibit Testing......Page 196
 Testing with Iterative Lifecycle Models......Page 198
  Advantages of Testing with Iterative Development......Page 199
  Prerequisites for Testing with Iterative Lifecycle Models......Page 200
 The Different Types of Testing......Page 203
  Functional Testing......Page 204
  Unit Testing......Page 205
  Reliability Testing......Page 206
  Performance/Stress Testing......Page 207
  Involve Testing Expertise During Requirements Elicitation......Page 209
  Replicate the Production Environment......Page 210
 Final Thoughts and Philosophies on Staffing for the Testing Discipline......Page 211
  What if a Separate Team, Perhaps Offshore, Performs the Testing?......Page 212
  Testing Efforts Gone Awry......Page 213
 Summary......Page 215
 What’s Next?......Page 216
 Staffing Considerations in the Transition Phase......Page 218
  Deploying the IOC......Page 220
  Online Help......Page 221
  Change Requests......Page 222
  Data Migration......Page 223
  Training......Page 228
  Acceptance Testing......Page 229
 Setting End-User Expectations for Production......Page 230
  Identifying User Groups to Aid in Production Rollout......Page 231
 Summary......Page 232
 What’s Next?......Page 233
  Operations Support......Page 234
  Maintenance Support......Page 240
 What’s Next?......Page 242
 Staff Augmentation......Page 244
 Expert Consultants......Page 246
  Expert Consultants from Vendors......Page 247
  Expert Process Consultants from Consulting Firms......Page 249
 Summary......Page 254
 What’s Next?......Page 255
 Defining the Project Postmortem......Page 256
 Sources of Information for Lessons Learned......Page 257
 Why Bother with a Project Postmortem?......Page 258
  Project Management Forums......Page 260
 Examples of Trends from the Configuration Management Discipline......Page 261
  Defect Trends on Iterative Projects......Page 263
 Trends in the Requirements Management Discipline......Page 264
 Summary......Page 266
 Mistake 1: Iterations of Inappropriate Length......Page 268
 Mistake 2: Iterations with No Clear Goal......Page 269
 Mistake 3: Choosing the Wrong Project for Your First Experience with the RUP......Page 270
 Mistake 5: Failing to Tailor the RUP Appropriately......Page 271
 Mistake 7: Assuming You Can Implement the RUP Perfectly the First Time......Page 272
 Cultural Changes Needed......Page 274
 Contract Types......Page 275
 Who Bids on the Second Phase?......Page 276
  Set of Supplementary Requirements......Page 277
 Summary......Page 278
 B......Page 280
 C......Page 281
 H......Page 282
 P......Page 283
 S......Page 284
 U......Page 285
 X......Page 286
Bibliography......Page 288
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 C......Page 293
 D......Page 295
 F......Page 296
 H......Page 297
 I......Page 298
 M......Page 299
 N-O......Page 300
 P......Page 301
 R......Page 303
 S......Page 305
 T......Page 306
 W–X–Y–Z......Page 308