In the current situation in China's software industry, malignant competition is compared to, and the gang of the vicious competition: contract, leading to large and medium-sized software projects, the project team is facing time, cost and human doing goals, one Projects to fail on standard implications; and project groups are doing for this project and try to do well, but also cause more problems due to insufficient customer maturity.
According to personal experience, if the project listed in the contract is made, it can be done from a narrow project range, but since the customer pays money, he will continue to maximize his interests and expand and enrich The content of the demand, so the project group faces the process of changing from the beginning to end demand.
Based on the basic demand control, since the face of changing needs, the project team is required to react to the event.
In this fast-paced project environment, it is full of uncertain factors, successful on-time completion project is like a long distance barrier. The project team often determines how to do it without a complete data, the key points and directions of the project range must often change. If the software contractor is not coordinated, the complex project will often fall into the quagmire, and cannot be self-extricted.
The project management means in this project is no longer applicable. It requires many special resource dealing with uncertainties, and more elastic project management means and reaction time is necessary, flexible project management means will be such items. The end method.
What is a flexible project management
People who have done software project management have known that in the customer's needs and project groups can find a perfect balance between the project groups, it is more than just a project management means, but an art, if the standard The project management process may never be completed, such as commitment in the contract or sales link, the system will meet the business needs of customers in the next few years; but in fact, this is impossible, especially the industry Software projects, China's various industries are in the process of rapid development, business demand is increasing, and if it is not balanced between projects and business needs, the project will no longer be a profit point, but a cost point. This requires adding some new concepts and techniques to the rapidly changing project environment outside of the standard project management means.
What is a flexible project management?
Due to certain aspects of the actual project, the standard project management method no longer has effectiveness and operability, so some companies have tried to throw away the project management standard method, independently formulate their own actual project management process, and the process of continuous trial In many core management, they have to follow standard project management means, which has caused troubles, what is an effective and viable project management method?
Therefore, flexible project management is not an independent project management model, but is based on a large development of standard project management. Just like a city subway platform, her foundation is standard, firm, just like standard project management, and the gap between platforms and running subways requires appropriate extension according to the actual shape of the subway, so flexible The project management of the project is the extension of the standard project management.
Planning and implementation
When we talk about project management, our most direct impression is a list of work lists and Gantt chart, or a working schedule or arrangement. From standard project management theory, the project plan is a key point, accounting for a large project cycle. Part of the first set of project plans, including project scope, project schedule, project quality management plan, project human management plan, project cost management plan, project risk management plan, project communication management plan, project configuration management plan, Project change management plan, etc. In realities, customers do not allow you to spend too much time in the planning phase, in fact, customers want to see the project group to enter programming immediately, he feels that the project team is doing things, otherwise the developer is wasteful Their energy and funds; if the project manager takes home pressure, strictly follow the standard project management process, will be criminalized, and add a lot of obstacles to future work, some are fatal. Application flexible project management, project management focuses from planning to implementation, but not to say that the scope definition of the project is completely ignored, but in incomplete demand confirmation and project overall planning framework into actual development, continuous demand Flexible grasp the project in the case of change and project goals, and always in the control range.
Moreover, for industry software development, with the change of business changes, business needs and functional requirements, unique experts with rich business and technical levels are not only simple, but also simple programs. Members, nor isn't system designers. Specifically, they are a group of people, and a group of people who have practiced a hard business knowledge and technical level in this industry. They have a lot of different parts of the industry software in the large system of the industry, and in the field of the same industry software, most projects are functional in the field of small and medium-sized commercial banks, for example, in the field of small and medium-sized commercial banks. In terms of business needs, there are certain similarities and identities. In a new project, this group will have the ability and level of the project in a simple or complex project plan. Some groups are together, just like a detailed system design in advance.
In this case, the project manager faces a challenge, and the project is difficult and effective will be the best effect that the project can achieve; in the face of too many changes, the project manager is busy, it will be a project. The personnel want to experience the worst situation, if the project will be re-included in time, the project will be a disaster. For industry software, don't want these projects, you will not encounter, in the real world, you have to prepare, often face this project.
Flexible project management features: internal and external uncertain factors
Internal and external uncertainties are the most important point of flexible project management, and many uncertainties have caused projects to be in a state of urgent and high risk, which requires the project manager and the unique talents and technologies of the project group.
Internal uncertainties include all internal controlled or uncontrollable aspects within the project manager controlably within project managers. For example, for the data warehouse project, the system can meet the requirements of 1G, and the system can meet the requirements for the amount of data of certain functions of the system, and the system can meet the requirements, but with the increase of the amount of data available, the system after a period of time It will have to face more than 1G data processing, and there are several ways to solve this problem. Whether it is in the project, it is still necessary to solve this problem during the maintenance period, the project manager must carry out various aspects of the project. Weighing, quickly find an optimal solution.
External uncertainties include new requirements that are not generated in the project, such as industry development and competition demand, such as projects of a city commercial bank, including core business systems, credit management systems, international business systems, middle Business system, etc., the project manager and project formation have controlled the customer's demand within a certain range, and the credit project team is foreseen that the customer will propose on-site credit function shortly after the online business system is online, but according to according to according to Existing banking models, all data is in the central database, if the function of the on-site credit is to be implemented, then the core business system has to provide the data source and data port, and due to this functional demand is the development of the industry The new functional highlights, the current core business system does not include this interface, and to increase this feature port and source require the core business system to do a lot of changes, some are major changes, if they are in the second phase, objective conditions are not It is allowed to have a long-term test under production data, which is likely to cause instability of the system, and the banking system needs strong stability, and it is possible to cause banks in settlement and blanking. At this time, the project manager faced the external uncertainty factor. These two aspects are the factors that must be considered in a flexible project management method, and the project manager has to decide how to solve them.
For internal uncertainties, its risk is the highest for project managers for the first time, with the increase in project managers, its risk is reversed. Just like there is no absolute world, risk is impossible to reduce zero, so regardless of how many of the same types of items you have done as a project manager and your team, how many projects and new projects have been successfully implemented before The like, never expect that the project will be taken in full, no one will know what kind of thing will be in the project, each project is taking your project management capabilities and flexible project management. means.
Some friends will say: Now China IT technicians have a kind of impetuous and easy to move, a mature project manager and he are familiar, relatively mature project teams have almost absent, people are always changing, what you said is flexible Project management is impossible to implement, not to talk about internal and external uncertain factors. This topic leads out the importance of mature project organizations.
A industry software development provider If you want to have some famous arrivals in the industry, you must have a sufficiently long time, and the industry background must have some degree of recognition, and success case has a certain amount. During these capitals, companies gradually completed it for the original accumulation of business, technology and personnel in the industry software, and the company is ripening.
I have seen some domestic software companies that have not achieved these aspects in the process of growth. After the development of enterprises, these problems have highlighted, some have disappeared in just months, and some of them will be solved. After the degree is stable, wait for the second glory.
What is the relationship between these software companies maturity and internal and external uncertain factors? Many people have seen this, the more mature enterprises, the less risk of the internal uncertainty factors and some external uncertainties, because it has experienced enough mistakes and pain, will be sufficiently uncertain And I don't know the risk of the factor is reduced to a small.
Now talk about external uncertainties, externally uncertain factors are largely unsecured by the project manager, an example of an external uncertainty factor raised in front is a minority-controlled factor. Transferring the focus from the project itself to control external uncertainties is the necessary means of project managers successfully use flexible project management.
In fact, customers know what is competition, unlike internal uncertain factors, externally uncertain factors more dependent on the maturity of the industry, in China, all industries are in the fast development process, whether it is telecommunications, or banks Or the Internet, take the telecommunications industry, GSM is gradually withdrawing from the historical stage. Unicom launched CDMA in 2003. China Mobile also launched the corresponding 3G product system, and 4G research is in progress; under such competitive conditions Projects have highly demanded high requirements for WCDMA, CDMA2000, and TD-SCDMA three mainstream 3G technical standards, time of emergency, complexity of technology. At this time, standard project management will encounter a lot of difficulties in many ways. More and more uncertainties extends the boundaries of standard project management methods from different angles, starting at some point, you must find new ways to manage Your project may have not been used by the former. Project Plan
Planning is usually the most painful, time consuming, is the most valuable project for frequent changes in demand; the plan is the most important in the standard project management process, no plan project manager and project group will lose direction and feel, It is also important for the planning of flexible project management, but how can plan a plan to become valuable?
For the financial project of small and medium-sized commercial banks, each of the projects, every second is important, can the project can complete the completion of the commercial bank's competitive position in the local market, market change, If the project can't be completed in time, you can't get up in step, step by step. So commercial banks are high for project expectations and requirements.
When the project team follows the standard project management process for project plan, the customer will say: "We need projects as soon as possible, otherwise we will not be able to complete this year's profit target, and the Industrial and Commercial Bank will implement these business after a month. We have to do it before, your boss and sales have guaranteed me, you can do it before. So, no matter how you do it, you will start writing a program now "or" You have already done this type of project, you should know how Do it, the plan will only delay the time, so start "start".
Under the forcing of various conditions, the project team had to enter the development of a valid project plan in a very short period of time. There is no time to do a detailed demand. We have to face such a contradiction, on the one hand, the frequent changes in demand have caused the plan to waste time, and another aspect, we must plan.
The plan of the standard project management process includes a large number of more than ten twenty plans, from the work list, Gantt Chart to time schedule, personnel selection, cost analysis, etc. I don't want to deny the development of these programs, which can do effectively plan and control the project, minimize risks, and the success rate is maximized. For example: a commercial bank's overall solution project, after repeated discussions with customers, the integrated business system guarantees its original business function, while the customer's existing system (such as CRM, PRO, OA, management System, etc.), credit management system and international business (including existing and future business functions) provide port and data sources to make the necessary changes and optimization of the integrated business system, and make a comprehensive consideration for all kinds of situations, and then make a set Complete planning and program, then enter the implementation. This is of course best, but in real Chinese society, what kind of bank allows you to do this?
Project activities and results
The standard project management process is based on project activities. That is to say, what is the matter of doing, what to do first, after doing, after the key project activity is determined, the resources are allocated, workload And time is estimated, the order is also arranged accordingly. Standard Project Management is usually used to complete the initial project plan with the general template that has been summarized by the previously available project. In the flexible project management, the development of the program is to determine the target and milestones to be completed, but not specific to the detailed task. The project manager in the new technology or demand-changing project clearly wants the goals and milestones to be completed on time. He is not clearly a very accurate task, so in this case, it is based on the list of task lists. Complete and detailed project plan is unrealistic. If you want to do this, you will only play the reaction. This is probably a flexible and critical and critical difference between flexible project management and standard project management.
In flexible project management, there is usually a variety of ways to advance projects and solve problems in the project, and the project manager cannot implement the project in accordance with standard project management methods. The project team with extensive experience has often contradictable project management that does not understand the nature of the project. They don't like to make commitments to uncertain business features and system functions because they know that these needs will change or are changing. However, they will make commitments to determine the milestones to be completed on time, if the project manager does not have much interference.
Project estimation and commitment
In such projects, the key points of the project estimate are the commitment of the project group members, rather than from the top to the WBS estimation, as long as the system level is open to the operation of the customer service, in order to change the customer: Business operation requirements are implemented in the system, and it is ideal for customers at the business level.
This requires project groups and customers to consider overall, then gradually achieve demand in detail. A very common phenomenon in China's software development project is the focus of customer and project group, leading to errors and troubles. If the project team thinks on the same idea, the difficulty of the project will decrease a lot. This is easy to meet consensus on both sides, and members of the project team rich in technology and business experience can better play their strengths and achieve a win-win situation.
You, as a project manager, you can focus on your advantage, coordinate, communicate, integrate the system, maintain its integrity.
Of course, based on this basis, it is not an easy thing to formulate plans and schedules, because all parts of the system have thousands of contacts, and each system in a large integrated system is also interdependent. So all project groups need to work together.
For these reasons, the network chart of the project plan is more effective in the plan, and it is more effective to achieve the goal of the project.
