- What is GANTT CHART?
Provide a diagram.
A Gantt chart, commonly used in project management, is one of the most popular and useful ways of showing activities (tasks or events) displayed against time. On the left of the chart is a list of the activities and along the top is a suitable time scale. Each activity is represented by a bar; the position and length of the bar reflects the start date, duration and end date of the activity. This allows you to see at a glance:
- What the various activities are
- When each activity begins and ends
- How long each activity is scheduled to last
- Where activities overlap with other activities, and by how much
- The start and end date of the whole project
To summarize, a Gantt chart shows you what has to be done (the activities) and when (the schedule).
A simple Gantt chart
- What are the ways in classifying the project or what are the ways to classify the project in System Analysis and Design?
There are many ways to classify a project such as:
- By size (cost, duration, team, business value, number of departments affected, and so on)
- By type (new, maintenance, upgrade, strategic, tactical, operational)
- By application (software development, new product development, equipment installation, and so on)
- By complexity and uncertainty .
Projects are unique and to some extent so is the best-fit model to manage .
CLASSIFICATION BY PROJECT CHARACTERISTICS
Many organizations choose to define a classification of projects based on such project characteristics as the following:
- Risk — Establish levels of risk (high, medium, and low).
- Business value — Establish levels (high, medium, and low).
- Length — Establish several categories (such as 3 months, 3 to 6 months, 6 to 12 months, and so on).
- Complexity — Establish categories (high, medium, and low).
- Technology used — Establish several categories (well-established, used occasionally, used rarely, never used).
- Number of departments affected — Establish some categories (such as one, a few, several, and all).
- Cost
The project profile determines the classification of the project. The classification defines the extent to which a particular project management methodology is to be used. I strongly advocate this approach because it adapts the methodology to the project. “One size fits all” does not work in project management. In the final analysis, I defer to the judgment of the project manager. In addition to the parts required by the organization, the project manager should adopt whatever parts of the methodology he or she feels improves his or her ability to help successfully manage the project.
Project characteristics can be used to build a classification rule as follows:
- Type A projects — These are high-business-value, high-complexity projects. They are the most challenging projects the organization undertakes. Type A projects use the latest technology, which, when coupled with high complexity, causes risk to be high also. To maximize the probability of success, the organization requires that these projects utilize all the methods and tools available in their project management methodology. An example of a Type A project is the introduction of a new technology into an existing product that has been very profitable for the company.
- Type B projects — These projects are shorter in length, but they are still significant projects for the organization. All of the methods and tools in the project management process are probably required. Type B projects generally have good business value and are technologically challenging. Many product development projects fall in this category.
- Type C projects — These are the projects that occur most frequently in an organization. They are short by comparison and use established technology. Many are projects that deal with the infrastructure of the organization. A typical project team consists of five people, the project lasts 6 months, and the project is based on a less-than-adequate scope statement. Many of the methods and tools are not required for these projects. The project manager uses those optional tools only if he or she sees value in their use.
- Type D projects — These just meet the definition of a project and may require only a scope statement and a few scheduling pieces of information. A typical Type D project involves making a minor change in an existing process or procedure or revising a course in the training curriculum.
Table 1-1: Example of Project Classes and Definitions
These four types of projects might use the parts of the methodology . The figure lists the methods and tools that are either required or optional, given the type of project.
Figure 1-3: The use of required and optional parts of the methodology by type of project
CLASSIFICATION BY PROJECT APPLICATION
Many situations exist in which an organization repeats projects that are of the same type. Following are some examples of project types:
- Installing software
- Recruiting and hiring
- Setting up hardware in a field office
- Soliciting, evaluating, and selecting vendors
- Updating a corporate procedure
- Developing application systems
- What are the Project Methodologies?
Provide a diagram for each methodology.
Following are the most frequently used project methodologies in the project practice:
1 - Adaptive Project Framework
In this methodology, the project scope is a variable. Additionally, the time and the cost are constants for the project. Therefore, during the project execution, the project scope is adjusted in order to get the maximum business value from the project.
2 - Agile Software Development
Agile software development methodology is for a project that needs extreme agility in requirements. The key features of agile are its short-termed delivery cycles (sprints), agile requirements, dynamic team culture, less restrictive project control and emphasis on real-time communication.
3 - Crystal Methods
In crystal method, the project processes are given a low priority. Instead of the processes, this method focuses more on team communication, team member skills, people and interaction. Crystal methods come under agile category.
4 - Dynamic Systems Development Model (DSDM)
This is the successor of Rapid Application Development (RAD) methodology. This is also a subset of agile software development methodology and boasts about the training and documents support this methodology has. This method emphasizes more on the active user involvement during the project life cycle.
5 - Extreme Programming (XP)
Lowering the cost of requirement changes is the main objective of extreme programming. XP emphasizes on fine scale feedback, continuous process, shared understanding and programmer welfare. In XP, there is no detailed requirements specification or software architecture built.
6 - Feature Driven Development (FDD)
This methodology is more focused on simple and well-defined processes, short iterative and feature driven delivery cycles. All the planning and execution in this project type take place based on the features.
7 - Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL)
This methodology is a collection of best practices in project management. ITIL covers a broad aspect of project management which starts from the organizational management level.
8 - Joint Application Development (JAD)
Involving the client from the early stages with the project tasks is emphasized by this methodology. The project team and the client hold JAD sessions collaboratively in order to get the contribution from the client. These JAD sessions take place during the entire project life cycle.
9 - Lean Development (LD)
Lean development focuses on developing change-tolerance software. In this method, satisfying the customer comes as the highest priority. The team is motivated to provide the highest value for the money paid by the customer.
10 - PRINCE2
PRINCE2 takes a process-based approach to project management. This methodology is based on eight high-level processes.
11 - Rapid Application Development (RAD)
This methodology focuses on developing products faster with higher quality. When it comes to gathering requirements, it uses the workshop method. Prototyping is used for getting clear requirements and re-use the software components to accelerate the development timelines.
In this method, all types of internal communications are considered informal.
12 - Rational Unified Process (RUP)
RUP tries to capture all the positive aspects of modern software development methodologies and offer them in one package. This is one of the first project management methodologies that suggested an iterative approach to software development.
13 - Scrum
This is an agile methodology. The main goal of this methodology is to improve team productivity dramatically by removing every possible burden. Scrum projects are managed by a Scrum master.
14 - Spiral
Spiral methodology is the extended waterfall model with prototyping. This method is used instead of using the waterfall model for large projects.
15 - Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC)
This is a conceptual model used in software development projects. In this method, there is a possibility of combining two or more project management methodologies for the best outcome. SDLC also heavily emphasizes on the use of documentation and has strict guidelines on it.
16 - Waterfall (Traditional)
This is the legacy model for software development projects. This methodology has been in practice for decades before the new methodologies were introduced. In this model, development lifecycle has fixed phases and linear timelines. This model is not capable of addressing the challenges in the modern software development domain.