Model of management of company
Table of
contents
Introduction
Chapter 1. Mobile applications market and its specificity.
Formulation of the problem
Chapter 2. Definitions of project and project management. Project
management methodologies
PMI methodology
IW URM methodology
TenStep Project Management Process
P2M methodology
Traditional methodology
PRINCE2 methodology
MSF methodology
Chapter 3. Management of a mobile application development project
The expected results
Conclusion
Reference List
Introduction
Currently, there are a lot of various project
management practices and methodologies. These techniques are necessary for
organization and successful implementation of the tasks set, and basically for
the survival of the organization. Today the market of mobile applications is
growing rapidly. This leads to creation of many projects for development of
applications for mobile platforms. These are the game-developing companies or
independent teams, which are realizing just one project, or major
organizations, which develop applications for corporate use. There is a huge
number of examples, and it confirms the importance of the given problem. The
development of a mobile application is a project just like the development of
software for a big operation system. And therefore these projects need Project
management as well.
The vast majority of
applications are currently developed for 3 major platforms - IOS, Android and
WP7. The restart and the rapid development of the market of mobile applications
began in 2008, with the release of IPhone and the launch of App Store. These
events have significantly changed the landscape. Software applications took a
different form and purpose. Many of them even substituted "big
applications” for big operation systems. The market is still developing, so all
developers rush to grab a niche, and therefore the application development time
is very small (six months is an eternity for a mobile project). Also, such
projects have very limited budgets. As a rule, companies do not invest much
money in the development of applications. Independent teams also initially have
limited budgets because of their independence. Therefore the topic of this
research is important.object of this study is the mobile application.subject of
this study is the specifics of projects management in mobile application
development.aim of this DRAFT is to analyze and identify the peculiarities and
the most effective approaches to project management in mobile
application.objectives of this thesis are:
· Analyze the
peculiarities of the mobile applications market
· Identify the
specifics of the process of mobile application development
· Systematize
the main project management methodologies
· Analyze the
problems of use of the classical methodologies for the development of mobile
applications
· Identify the
differences in approaches to management of project of mobile applications and
desktop applications development.
The structure of this work is as follows:
introduction, three chapters and a conclusion. The first chapter addresses the
concept of mobile applications, the analysis of the history of the mobile
applications market, and its specificity. The second chapter discusses the
terms "project" and "project management", and covers the
main classical project management methodologies, that are successfully used and
implemented worldwide. The third chapter describes the management of mobile
application development projects, the differences between project management in
development of desktop applications, and the methodologies used in management
of mobile projects.
project management methodology
Chapter
1. Mobile applications market and its specificity. Formulation of the problem
This area is of great interest for research due
to a number of its peculiarities. Management of mobile application development
projects is a unique process. Firstly, it was impossible to develop
methodologies designed exclusively for mobile projects, because the mobile application
market was new and unstudied. The characteristic features of these projects
are: Limited time and budget; specific requirements, which differ from those
for large applications; different structure and size of the team; different
industry and a different culture as a result.
The world of mobile development has restarted and
began to flourish in 2008. This was due to the release of iPhone with IOS and
the launch of the App Store. These events pushed the developers to rethink the
purpose of mobile applications. New prospects and opportunities have
opened.companies began to struggle to take a niche. Some time later new mobile
operating systems were launched, which created even more opportunities for
implementation of projects on the new platforms.
Accessibility and simplicity of these platforms
allowed many developers to implement their ideas. There are very few requirements
- a team and some money to buy a means for development. Figure 1.1 shows a
graph with the forecast of the number of downloads and total profit from mobile
applications. This clearly shows the rapid growth of the market.
Figure 1.1 Mobile app market
development forecast
There are several basic types of mobile
application developers:
· Organizations
which specialize in the development of applications (both game developers and
companies that manufacture custom applications);
· Independent
development teams, consisting of several people (2 programmers and a designer);
· A department
within organization, creating an enterprise application for the company;
All these developers are implementing projects on
the development of mobile applications, and generally pursue the same
objectives: Create an application, enter the market and conquer a niche for the
product.market of mobile application is very specific and differs from the
market of large desktop applications. Due to the ease of development of mobile
applications and ease of market entry, applications are created in large
numbers. And delays are not acceptable in these projects. Six months equals
eternity in terms of mobile applications development.
During this time, another developer (competitor)
may come up with the same idea, and enter the market with a similar
application, which would be fatal to the initial project. The process of
management of a mobile application development project and the specificities of
such process will be discussed in the third chapter.
Chapter
2. Definitions of project and project management. Project management
methodologies
"A project is a set of interrelated
activities, undertaken to meet unique goals and objectives within certain time
and funding constrains” - "Consulting Prim” company.construction,
development of new equipment, business re-engineering, development and
implementation of software, carrying out an advertising campaign or an
election, preparation of a performance, introduction of a new taxation system,
flight to the moon - all these are examples of activities, that have
characteristics of projects. Since the concept of the project is primarily
associated with purposeful modifications of large systems, the most general
definition of the term "project management" (PM) is "change
management." Some executives describe PM as a form of modern art, an
arbitrary set of ideas and principles, aiming to overcome emerging challenges
in the process, and successfully complete the project. Other people see PM
exclusively from the standpoint of a scientific approach, assuming that all
factors can be predicted, and all alternatives are analyzed in advance. Project
management is planning, coordination and control of project activities to achieve
its objectives within a given budget and time, with appropriate quality
("Consulting Prim”). The PMI body of knowledge for project management
says:Management (PM) is the art of leadership and coordination of human and
material resources throughout the life cycle of the project through the use of
modern management methods and techniques to achieve the results, specified in
the project on the composition and volume of works, cost, time, quality and
satisfaction of the participants.management is the application of knowledge,
skills, tools and techniques to the project activities to meet the project
requirements, and expectations of the participants. To meet these demands and
expectations it is necessary to find the best combination of the goals,
timeframes, costs, quality and other characteristics of the project. PM is
following clear logic that connects various knowledge areas and processes of
project management (Moscow Branch of PMI). Thus, project management is a
"straight interprofessional corporation of planning, management and
decision-making processes in an interprofessional setting of goals.
"management is a totally unique process. There are no identical projects,
but there are similar ones. Each project is always unique: objectives, timing,
resources, finances, personnel and other parameters are different for each
project. A project is a complex multiparameter mission. This mission requires
its leaders (managers) to timely adopt the necessary measures at the right
time. With a full understanding of all the consequences of their
actions.question then arises - how to correctly organize the project and track
the stages of its implementation, if all projects are different and the same
approach can not be used for all projects.requires experts in network planning
who will be able to do (in general terms) the following:
· Prepare a
detailed plan for the project;
· Carry out a
qualitative analysis of the implementation of the plan;
· Provide the
top management with clear and understandable reports, needed for top management
to make the right managerial decisions.the preliminary stage, network planning
experts should consider and formulate precisely what, in fact, the company
wants to achieve, plan steps to achieve the goals and determine the resources
required for the project.then comes the first part of the work: Drafting a
detailed plan, which will be used to monitor the progress of the project, make
suggestions and check the results. There are two very important additions to
this plan: The project network (a graph depicting the works and their
dependencies) and a resource histogram (graphical display of the needs of the
project in various resources at every moment in time).the project schedule is
drawn, which contains the following:
· Detailed
analysis of all the actions that are needed to complete the project;
· Time estimates
(of course, realistic!) for each stage;
· Relationships
between different types of work and the results of each phase.
As a result, the aggregate of all these elements
will give the answer to three main questions: What should be done, what the
results should be, and by when. It is also important to know the answer to the
question "how? ” What resources are required for each type of work? Are
these resources going to be available, when they will be vitally
important?finally, in project management, we must not lose sight of the control
of the project implementation, which means consistent monitoring of execution of
works. For only monitoring ensures objective (not speculative) assessment of
the current status of the project.this purpose there is a variety of reports on
the progress of the project in relation to the initial plan. This allows doing
the main thing: Separate the real from the imaginary. To do so, it is necessary
to take into consideration all the changes in the project and constantly update
the current state of the project. New tasks are developed (if necessary) based
on this information.of the company, by using project management as a tool, will
have the exact idea of what is really going on in this project, what should be
paid special attention to, and what issues require immediate attention.
PMI
methodology
The PMI methodology, formulated in the form of
the PMBOK standard, is based on the concept of project management through a
group of standard processes. However, the latest version of the PMBOK standard
reflects a substantial correction of methodology in the direction of
interactive methods. PMBOK is the body of professional knowledge in project
management. This standard describes the essence of project management processes
in terms of the integration between the processes and the interactions between
them, and the purposes they serve. These processes are divided into five
groups, called "groups of the project management processes." They are
represented on Figure 2.1.main procedures of project management according to
this methodology are:
· Identification
of project requirements;
· Setting clear
and achievable goals;
· Balancing the
competing demands for quality, capacity, time and cost;
· Adaptation of
specifications, plans and approaches to the needs and concerns of different
stakeholders.
Fig.2.1 Processes of the PMI
approach
IW
URM methodology
This methodology was developed and perfected to
make every project successful - client's goals are achieved within the
specified period, within a given budget and with required quality. A set of
different procedures, documents and technologies that best suit a particular
type of project are used for the implementation of the different types of
projects.
TenStep
Project Management Process
It helps project managers to successfully manage
projects of all kinds. TenStep offers a step by step approach, starting with
the simplest things and ending with very sophisticated techniques, which may be
required for special projects. It also includes document templates.
P2M
methodology
Its basic principle is in its orientation not on
a product or a process, but on improvement of the organization as a result of
execution of projects. In other words, the methodology describes how to use the
resulting project implementation experience in the development of the company.
P2M is a system of knowledge, presented in the form of the "Guidelines for
the management of innovative projects and programs of the businesses." The
main advantage of P2M in relation to other schools of project management is
that P2M has an emphasis on the development of innovation as an approach to
program management and managing expectations of stakeholders. At the same time,
the project in P2M is first of all a commitment of the project manager to
create value as a product in accordance with the mission of the program and the
organization.
Traditional
methodology
The methodology consists of the following
sequence of procedures of project management:
· Defining the
project environment
· Formulation of
the project
· Project
planning
· Technical
implementation of the project (except for planning and control)
· Control over
the implementation of the project.
PRINCE2
methodology
PRINCE2 is a structured approach to project
management. It is a method for managing projects within a clearly defined
structure. PRINCE2 describes procedures to coordinate the activities of the
project team in the development and monitoring of the project, and the
procedures that are used to change the project or to cope with significant
(unforeseen) deviations from the initial project plan. In the method, each
process is defined with its key inputs and outputs and with specific goals and
activities to be implemented, which gives an automatic control over any
deviations from the plan. Due to division of processes into manageable stages,
the method makes it possible to efficiently manage resources.management
procedures in this methodology:
· Starting Up a
Project (SU)
· Initiating a
Project (IP)
· Planning (PL)
· Directing a
Project (DP)
· Controlling a
Stage (CS)
· Managing Stage
Boundaries (SB)
· Managing
Product Delivery (MP)
· Closing a
Project (CP)
Other procedures (team management, contract
management, etc.) are brought "outside" the methodology and are
called the instruments of the project manager. In addition, the methodology
considers the "components" which consist of a Business Plan (Business
Case), organization, planning, risk management, quality management,
configuration management, control and management of changes. The structure of
processes of this methodology is shown on Fig.2.2.
Fig.2.2 The structure of
processes of the PRINCE2 method
MSF
methodology
Microsoft Solutions Framework (MSF) was developed
by Microsoft as a methodology for delivering information technology solutions.
MSF represents each phase of the project as:
· Envisioning;
· Planning;
· Stabilizing;
· Deploying.
Fig.2.3 MSF scheme
Chapter
3. Management of a mobile application development project
Management of mobile development projects is
quite a unique process. It has its own specific characteristics and is very
different from management of "big" desktop applications development
projects. Most of the traditional methodologies and approaches are often not
applicable for such projects.will further provide the main characteristics of
management of mobile projects and also present and discuss the Agile
methodology, which is called project management methodology in mobile
development by many experts.main differences between mobile projects and
desktop projects are their sizes, deadlines and budgets. Mobile application
developer companies do not allocate large budgets for development due to the
small size of the projects and the amount of work. Deadlines are also critical
for mobile projects. Developers can not extend the project for six months or a
year. It is unacceptable for mobile applications and can lead to the failure of
the entire project. First of all, the number of developers on the market is huge
and anyone can come up with the same idea and implement it faster. Secondly,
the platforms for applications are updated once a year, and the new version of
devices like iPhone and iPad are released once a year, which does not allow
developers to delay the production of their products and forces them to
introduce their applications to the market as soon as possible., mobile
projects have a peculiar lifecycle, which is different from one for desktop
applications. It
is "more mobile", so to speak:
· Classic lifecycle:
• System analysis;
• Requirements analysis;
• Drawing up of documentation;
• Design;
• Coding;
• Testing;
• Support.
· Mobile applications:
• Coding of prototypes starts at the stage
of sales;
• Requirements analysis and design are
very rarely made separately, part of the analysis and coding are performed
simultaneously;
• After the application is approved by the
AppStore, further support of the application may not be needed anymore;
• Documentation is rare in such projects.
The main recommendations for management of mobile
projects:
· Develop a
flexible, easy process of requirement management, which allows to quickly
rewrite and recoordinate everything;
· Regularly
demonstrate the application to the customer;
· The code has
to be written while keeping in mind that everything can change and the code
will have to be rewritten;
· Understand how
a typical application should behave.
Agile methodology
This is one of the most popular methodologies
today. Main credo of Agile can be defined as "Flexibility, communication
and result, result, result." The methodology adheres to the following
principles:
· People are
more important than processes;
· Outcome
(software) is more important than its description;
· The customer
should be involved in the project as much as possible;
· Changes on the
fly are "natural. "
Limitations of Agile methodology:
· Fixed Price
projects. It is impossible to adequately assess the project if late gathering
of requirements is implied.
· Software
projects that perform critical works. Standardized templates and processes are
important for these projects, as they allow to create software of predetermined
quality.
· Projects in a
completely new area. Without knowing the specifics of the subject, it is
necessary to start a project with a deep analysis, gathering of requirements,
prototyping, fixing of architecture, etc. This is contrary to the principles of
Agile methodology.
· Projects of
large size and complexity, with long period of development and implementation.
· Low
qualification of the team.
Agile is so widespread because most of the
projects meet these requirements. Indeed, average teams perform noncritical
projects of average complexity in familiar business domains. The diagram below
is given for better understanding of Agile concepts (Figure 3.1).
Figure 3.1 Agile concept
The
expected results
Future diploma work considers in-depth analysis
of methodologies used in project management, analysis of successful mobile
application development projects, analysis and identification of efficient
approach to management and its testing on a real mobile application development
project.
Conclusion
The main focus of this paper is determining
differences in approaches to management of project of mobile applications and
desktop applications development. Also classic methodologies and reasons for
rejecting them in connection with existing restrictions and differences in
approaches to management of mobile application development projects were
analyzed.
Reference
List
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managerial process.
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. V. V. Bogdanov - Project management in Microsoft Project
2007.
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Management.
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step by step.
6. <http://managementzone.ru/archives/438>
- Agile Manaegment
7. <http://www.slideshare.net/touchin/ss-10377923>
- Denis Cyplakov lectures. "Mobile app development Project Management”.