Software Project Scheduling

- Introduction
- Project scheduling
- Task network
- Timeline chart

(Source: Pressman, R. Software Engineering: A Practitioner’s Approach. McGraw-Hill, 2005)

Introduction
 Eight Reasons for Late Software
Delivery
• An unrealistic deadline established by someone outside the software
engineering group and forced on managers and practitioners within the
group
• Changing customer requirements that are not reflected in schedule
changes
• An honest underestimate of the amount of effort and /or the number of
resources that will be required to do the job
• Predictable and/or unpredictable risks that were not considered when the
project commenced
• Technical difficulties that could not have been foreseen in advance
• Human difficulties that could not have been foreseen in advance
• Miscommunication among project staff that results in delays
• A failure by project management to recognize that the project is falling
behind schedule and a lack of action to correct the problem

3
 Handling Unrealistic Deadlines
• Perform a detailed estimate using historical data from past projects;
determine the estimated effort and duration for the project
• Using an incremental model, develop a software engineering strategy
that will deliver critical functionality by the imposed deadline, but delay
other functionality until later; document the plan
• Meet with the customer and (using the detailed estimate) explain why
the imposed deadline is unrealistic
– Be certain to note that all estimates are based on performance on past
projects
– Also be certain to indicate the percent improvement that would be required
to achieve the deadline as it currently exists
1) Offer the incremental development strategy as an alternative and offer
some options
– Increase the budget and bring on additional resources to try to finish sooner
– Remove many of the software functions and capabilities that were
requested
– Dispense with reality and wish the project complete using the prescribed
schedule; then point out that project history and your estimates show that
this is unrealistic and will result in a disaster 4
Project Scheduling
 General Practices
• On large projects, hundreds of small tasks must occur to accomplish a larger
goal
– Some of these tasks lie outside the mainstream and may be completed without
worry of impacting on the project completion date
– Other tasks lie on the critical path; if these tasks fall behind schedule, the
completion date of the entire project is put into jeopardy
• Project manager's objectives
– Define all project tasks
– Build an activity network that depicts their interdependencies
– Identify the tasks that are critical within the activity network
– Build a timeline depicting the planned and actual progress of each task
– Track task progress to ensure that delay is recognized "one day at a time"
– To do this, the schedule should allow progress to be monitored and the project to
be controlled

6
(More on next slide)
 General Practices (continued)
• Software project scheduling distributes estimated effort across the
planned project duration by allocating the effort to specific tasks
• During early stages of project planning, a macroscopic schedule is
developed identifying all major process framework activities and the
product functions to which they apply
• Later, each task is refined into a detailed schedule where specific
software tasks are identified and scheduled
• Scheduling for projects can be viewed from two different perspectives
– In the first view, an end-date for release of a computer-based system has
already been established and fixed
• The software organization is constrained to distribute effort within the
prescribed time frame
– In the second view, assume that rough chronological bounds have been
discussed but that the end-date is set by the software engineering
organization
• Effort is distributed to make best use of resources and an end-date is defined
after careful analysis of the software
– The first view is encountered far more often that the second
7
 Basic Principles for Project
Scheduling
• Compartmentalization
– The project must be compartmentalized into a number of manageable
activities, actions, and tasks; both the product and the process are
decomposed
• Interdependency
– The interdependency of each compartmentalized activity, action, or task
must be determined
– Some tasks must occur in sequence while others can occur in parallel
– Some actions or activities cannot commence until the work product
produced by another is available
• Time allocation
– Each task to be scheduled must be allocated some number of work units
– In addition, each task must be assigned a start date and a completion date
that are a function of the interdependencies
– Start and stop dates are also established based on whether work will be
conducted on a full-time or part-time basis
8
(More on next slide)
 Basic Principles for Project
Scheduling (continued)
• Effort validation
– Every project has a defined number of people on the team
– As time allocation occurs, the project manager must ensure that no more
than the allocated number of people have been scheduled at any given
time
• Defined responsibilities
– Every task that is scheduled should be assigned to a specific team member
• Defined outcomes
– Every task that is scheduled should have a defined outcome for software
projects such as a work product or part of a work product
– Work products are often combined in deliverables
• Defined milestones
– Every task or group of tasks should be associated with a project milestone
– A milestone is accomplished when one or more work products has been
reviewed for quality and has been approved
9
 Relationship Between
People and Effort
• Common management myth: If we fall behind schedule, we can always
add more programmers and catch up later in the project
– This practice actually has a disruptive effect and causes the schedule to
slip even further
– The added people must learn the system
– The people who teach them are the same people who were earlier doing
the work
– During teaching, no work is being accomplished
– Lines of communication (and the inherent delays) increase for each new
person added

10
Effort Applied vs. Delivery Time
• There is a nonlinear relationship between effort applied and delivery
time (Ref: Putnam-Norden-Rayleigh Curve)
– Effort increases rapidly as the delivery time is reduced
• Also, delaying project delivery can reduce costs significantly as shown
in the equation E = L3/(P3t4) and in the curve below
– E = development effort in person-months
– L = source lines of code delivered
– P = productivity parameter (ranging from 2000 to 12000)
– t = project duration in calendar months

Effort
cost
Impossible
region
E theoretical

E optimal
t minimum t theoretical t optimal 11
Development time
 40-20-40 Distribution of Effort

• A recommended distribution of effort across the software process is 40%

(analysis and design), 20% (coding), and 40% (testing)
• Work expended on project planning rarely accounts for more than 2 - 3%
of the total effort
• Requirements analysis may comprise 10 - 25%
– Effort spent on prototyping and project complexity may increase this
• Software design normally needs 20 – 25%
• Coding should need only 15 - 20% based on the effort applied to
software design
• Testing and subsequent debugging can account for 30 - 40%
– Safety or security-related software requires more time for testing

(More on next slide) 12

 40-20-40 Distribution of Effort
(continued)
Example: 100-day project

6/1 6/4 6/23 7/14 8/2 9/5

P Analysis Design Coding Testing

40 20 40

13
Task Network
 Defining a Task Set
• A task set is the work breakdown structure for the project
• No single task set is appropriate for all projects and process models
– It varies depending on the project type and the degree of rigor (based on
influential factors) with which the team plans to work
• The task set should provide enough discipline to achieve high software
quality
– But it must not burden the project team with unnecessary work

15
 Types of Software Projects

• Concept development projects

– Explore some new business concept or application of some new
technology
• New application development
– Undertaken as a consequence of a specific customer request
• Application enhancement
– Occur when existing software undergoes major modifications to function,
performance, or interfaces that are observable by the end user
• Application maintenance
– Correct, adapt, or extend existing software in ways that may not be
immediately obvious to the end user
• Reengineering projects
– Undertaken with the intent of rebuilding an existing (legacy) system in
whole or in part
16
Factors that Influence a Project’s
Schedule
• Size of the project
• Number of potential users
• Mission criticality
• Application longevity
• Stability of requirements
• Ease of customer/developer communication
• Maturity of applicable technology
• Performance constraints
• Embedded and non-embedded characteristics
• Project staff
• Reengineering factors

17
 Purpose of a Task Network
• Also called an activity network
• It is a graphic representation of the task flow for a project
• It depicts task length, sequence, concurrency, and dependency
• Points out inter-task dependencies to help the manager ensure
continuous progress toward project completion
• The critical path
– A single path leading from start to finish in a task network
– It contains the sequence of tasks that must be completed on schedule if the
project as a whole is to be completed on schedule
– It also determines the minimum duration of the project

18
 Example Task Network

Task F Task G Task H

2 3 5
Task B
3

Task N
2
Task A
3 Task C Task E Task I Task J
7 8 4 5
Task M
0

Task D
5 Task K Task L
3 10

Where is the critical path and what tasks are on it?

19
 Example Task Network
with Critical Path Marked

Task F Task G Task H

2 3 5
Task B
3

Task N
2
Task A
3 Task C Task E Task I Task J
7 8 4 5
Task M
0

Task D
5 Task K Task L
3 10

Critical path: A-B-C-E-K-L-M-N

20
Timeline Chart
 Mechanics of a Timeline Chart
• Also called a Gantt chart; invented by Henry Gantt, industrial engineer, 1917
• All project tasks are listed in the far left column
• The next few columns may list the following for each task: projected start
date, projected stop date, projected duration, actual start date, actual stop date,
actual duration, task inter-dependencies (i.e., predecessors)
• To the far right are columns representing dates on a calendar
• The length of a horizontal bar on the calendar indicates the duration of the
task
• When multiple bars occur at the same time interval on the calendar, this
implies task concurrency
• A diamond in the calendar area of a specific task indicates that the task is a
milestone; a milestone has a time duration of zero

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct

Task # Task Name Duration Start Finish Pred.

1 Task A 2 months 1/1 2/28 None

2 Milestone N 0 3/1 3/1 1

22
Timeline chart: CLASS EXERCISE
4/1 4/8 4/15 4/22 4/29 5/6 5/13 5/20 5/27 6/3

Task # Task Name Duration Start Finish Pred.

A Establish increments 3 4/1 None
B Analyze Inc One 3 A
C Design Inc One 8 B
D Code Inc One 7 C
E Test Inc One 10 D
F Install Inc One 5 E
G Analyze Inc Two 7 A, B
H Design Inc Two 5 G
I Code Inc Two 4 H
J Test Inc Two 6 E, I
K Install Inc Two 2 J
L Close out project 2 F, K

Task network and the critical path:

23
 Timeline chart: SOLUTION
4/1 4/8 4/15 4/22 4/29 5/6 5/13 5/20 5/27 6/3

Task # Task Name Duration Start Finish Pred.

A Establish increments 3 4/1 4/3 None
B Analyze Inc One 3 4/4 4/6 A
C Design Inc One 8 4/7 4/14 B
D Code Inc One 7 4/15 4/21 C
E Test Inc One 10 4/22 5/1 D
F Install Inc One 5 5/2 5/6 E
G Analyze Inc Two 7 4/7 4/13 A, B
H Design Inc Two 5 4/14 4/18 G
I Code Inc Two 4 4/19 4/22 H
J Test Inc Two 6 5/2 5/7 E, I
K Install Inc Two 2 5/8 5/9 J
L Close out project 2 5/10 5/11 F, K

Task network and the critical path: A-B-C-D-E-J-K-L

B. Analyze C. Design D. Code E. Test F. Install
Inc One Inc One Inc One Inc One Inc One
3 8 7 10 5
A. Establish
Increments L. Close out
3 Project
2
G. Analyze H. Design I. Code J. Test K. Install
Inc Two Inc Two Inc Two Inc Two Inc Two
7 5 4 6 2
24
Proposed Tasks for a Long-Distance Move of 8,000 lbs of Household Goods

Pack Arrange for

Make household Determine
workers to
decision goods destination
unload truck
to move location
Determine
Make
date to move
Reserve lodging
out or move in Get money
rental truck reservations
Drive truck to pay for
from origin and supplies the move
to destination
Find lodging
with space Lease or buy
Plan travel
to park truck home at
route and
overnight stops destination
Decide on
type/size of
rental truck Return
truck and
supplies Arrange for
Load
Pick up person to
truck
Unload rental truck drive truck/car
Arrange for
truck workers to
load truck

• Where is the critical path and what tasks are on it?

• Given a firm start date, on what date will the project be completed?
• Given a firm stop date, when is the latest date that the project must start by?
 Task Network for a Long-Distance Move of 8,000 lbs of Household Goods
2. Get money
to pay for
the move

3. Determine
date to move
out or move in
12. Plan travel 13. Find lodging 14. Make
4. Determine
route and with space lodging
destination
overnight stops to park truck reservations
location
5. Lease or buy
home at
destination
1. Make 18. Drive truck
6. Decide on 19. Unload
decision 11. Milestone from origin
type/size of truck
to move to destination
rental truck
7. Arrange for
workers to
load truck
15. Reserve
16. Pick up 17. Load 20. Return
8. Arrange for rental truck
rental truck truck truck and
person to and supplies
drive truck/car supplies

9. Arrange for
workers to • Where is the critical path and what tasks are on it?
unload truck
• Given a firm start date, on what date will
10. Pack the project be completed?
household • Given a firm stop date, when is the latest date
goods that the project must start by?
Timeline Chart for Long Distance Move

27
Example Timeline Chart

28
 Methods for Tracking the
Schedule
• Qualitative approaches
– Conduct periodic project status meetings in which each team member
reports progress and problems
– Evaluate the results of all reviews conducted throughout the software
engineering process
– Determine whether formal project milestones (i.e., diamonds) have been
accomplished by the scheduled date
– Compare actual start date to planned start date for each project task listed
in the timeline chart
– Meet informally with the software engineering team to obtain their
subjective assessment of progress to date and problems on the horizon
• Quantitative approach
– Use earned value analysis to assess progress quantitatively

“The basic rule of software status reporting can be summarized

in a single phrase: No surprises.” Capers Jones 29
Project Control and Time Boxing
• The project manager applies control to administer project resources,
cope with problems, and direct project staff
• If things are going well (i.e., schedule, budget, progress, milestones)
then control should be light
• When problems occur, the project manager must apply tight control to
reconcile the problems as quickly as possible. For example:
– Staff may be redeployed
– The project schedule may be redefined
• Severe deadline pressure may require the use of time boxing
– An incremental software process is applied to the project
– The tasks associated with each increment are “time-boxed” (i.e., given a
specific start and stop time) by working backward from the delivery date
– The project is not allowed to get “stuck” on a task
– When the work on a task hits the stop time of its box, then work ceases on
that task and the next task begins
– This approach succeeds based on the premise that when the time-box
boundary is encountered, it is likely that 90% of the work is complete
– The remaining 10% of the work can be
• Delayed until the next increment
• Completed later if required 30