Agile Project Management Framework Martin Molhanec Department of e-Technology, Faculty of Electrical Engineering Czech Technical University in Prague Czech Republic
[email protected]
Abstract: Our article is related to improvement of the product design project management by using some knowledge transferred from the branch of software engineering. We introduce the Agile Project Management Framework – a modern agile framework covering the whole life cycle of project. Especially we describe the phase one of this project framework in more detail. Alongside, we make a mention of using ICT (Information and Communication Technology) and KM (Knowledge Management) tools. Our aim is to define, clearly and logically, the particular phases and stages of project management process in the frame of the whole product life cycle. The result of our work is a detailed referential description of and user guides for the product design project management process based on the agile project management paradigm. The results of our endeavour will be applied in our university courses of the product design project management provided by the department of e-Technology at CTU FEE in Prague. from the branch of software engineering. Alongside, we make a mention of using ICT and KM tools as well.
1. INTRODUCTION The aim of our article is to describe the Agile Project Management Framework, especially the first phase of it. Our achievement is particularly targeted into the field of packaging or electrical technology. Further, we continue our work presented at ISSE 2007 [1], ISSE 2008 [2] and ISSE 2009 [3].
2. PROBLEM STATEMENT The project management is a highly complex process. For this reason, we are not very satisfied with the current often intuitive description of such project management process. Therefore, we must use something more accurate and advanced. In our work we propose to describe the whole project process by standard process diagrams and other graphically oriented methods preferentially based on the well known UML standard. Furthermore, we very suggest using ICT and KM tools with in order to increase the efficiency of the project management process in its entirety.
The project management is a more and more important technique for increasing the new product design effectiveness. Because of the simple reason that a contemporary market has a need of have a new excellent technologically highlighted products designed and developed more and more quickly. Indeed, it is a very matter of competitive advantage. As a result of this idea, our article is related to improvement of the product design project management by using some knowledge transferred
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Figure 1: Agile project management by S. W. Ambler [5].
3. APPROACH
Our approach is based on the well known “Agile project management” [4] methodology named OOSP (Object Oriented Software Process) [5]. In spite of the fact that this methodology is originally targeted to the software engineering branch, we argued for its use in the product design branch as well.
Our approach is based on innovative “Agile project management” methodology named OOSP by Scott. W. Ambler schematically expressed in Figure 1. The difference between the original Ambler and hereinto proposed method is only in some parts related to dissimilarities between the product and software manufacturing as will be several times mentioned in subsequent text.
This idea set before us an objective to identify the main distinctions between the software and product project management. We have persuasion that both kinds of project management are equable at the upper level of abstraction and differ only at low level. Furthermore, we have discovered that our subject of matter, it is the project management of product design, is a more heterogeneous than the usual software project management. For this reason, our work will be more difficult than would be in the case of simple transfer of particular experience from one branch of science to another.
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The whole project management process is divided into the four main phases very similarly as in the other project management approaches. The main four phases are defined as follow: •
Initial Phase
The Initial Phase includes four main stages: justification (assessment, feasibility study), definition and validation of requirements, definition of initial documents and definition of project infrastructure.
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Figure 2: Initial phase of APMF in more detail. (According to original Ambler approach [5].)
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whole product life cycle as well. These are quality assurance, risk management, training and education, reuse management (knowledge management), metrics management, deliverables management and infrastructure management.
Construct Phase
The Construct Phase includes four main stages: modelling (analyzing, designing), testing in the small, generalizing (reusing) and producing (manufacturing) product or prototype. •
In this article we will pay more attention to the description and explanation of the first phase of Agile Project Management Framework (APMF) hereinto proposed by us, it is the phase of the initiation of whole project.
Deliver Phase
The Deliver Phase includes four main stages: releasing (assembling), testing in the large, reworking (repairing) and assessing. •
Support Phase
3.1. Initial Phase of APMF
The Support Phase includes three main stages: supporting and identifying of defects, enhancements (change management) and outage concerned with operation termination and product disposal.
According to Figure 2 the initial phase of APMF has four main stages, one input and one output. The Figure 2 also shows the set of possible working roles participating in the run of this phase. As can be seen all of them are concerning about planning, decisionmaking and evaluating processes. The input of this phase includes artefacts and information from
Alongside the four mentioned project phases Ambler proposes the activities running through the 978–1–4244–7850–7/2010/$26.00 ©2010 IEEE
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previous finished projects together with suggestions of changes and reports of defects. The output contains entire managerial and planning documentation that is necessary for run and successful completion of all three subsequent phases. Herein we very briefly describe all four stages of the initial phase of AMPF. •
version of the product development process that the team will follow. In this stage we establish the overall project architecture, allocation of human, technical and material resources and perform following process: team definition, selection of tools, devices and methods, selection of standards and guidelines as well, creation of group knowledge and negotiation of deliverables etc.
Requirements
Inputs for this stage are project plan, initial requirements, feasibility study and existing infrastructure. Outputs are team definition (profile, skill database…) tools selection, tailored project process, initial group knowledge.
This stage is determining what needs to be built. Initial requirements are a foundation from which modelling can begin. The identifying of user requirements is a crucial moment of the whole project live cycle. In this stage we perform following processes: defining system functions, defining usage scenarios, draw business processes, hold sessions, prioritize requirements, interview users, simulate usage scenarios, walk through prototypes etc.
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Purpose of this stage is to initiate documents such as the project plan and project risk assessment. They must be started at the beginning of the project and then maintained throughout its life. The main goal of this stage is initiation and adjustment of all needed plans and future processes so that successfully facilitate our project achievement. In this stage we perform following processes: definition of project scope and individual tasks, creation of initial schedule, estimate, risk management and quality assurance plan.
Inputs for this stage are vision, commitment, feasibility study, current product experience, and maintenance of changes. Outputs are comprehensive requirement documentation (forms, tables, diagrams…) and defined project scope. •
Justify
The purpose of this stage is to determine whether or not a product should be built. It is a reality check to determine whether or not a project makes a sense. Another name of this stage as a whole would be a feasibility study but we note that in our approach this stage encompasses more matters than a common standard feasibility study. On the grounds of this stage we decide on continuation or termination of the project as whole. In this stage we perform following processes: determination and evaluation of technical, operational and economical feasibility, identification of risks, identification and selection of implementation alternatives.
Inputs for this stage are feasibility study, project infrastructure, initial requirements and project objectives. Outputs are project, risk management and quality assurance plan and master acceptance agreement.
3.2. Usage of ICT and KM Tools The original Ambler approach does not propose any ICT and KM tools for supporting the project method. We are strongly convinced of necessity to include into the project framework a set of ICT and KM methods/tools supporting the whole project process. Our approach will be based on usage of UML standard diagrams for process description, e.g., activities, states and data. Moreover we strongly propose a usage of some knowledge productivity tools, e.g., FreeMind [6] a mind mapping tool and Protégé [7] an ontology editor for better description of thinking process. The usage guidelines for these methods are in course of preparation at present time.
Inputs for this stage are vision, estimate, requirements documentation, schedule, risk assessment from previous projects etc. Outputs are comprehensive feasibility study, recommendation, project funding and risk assessment etc •
Infrastructure
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Initial documents
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4. RESULTS
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The approach proposed in this paper is based on the Ambler approach. With respect to our goal – a transfer of Ambler approach to the technology branch of enterprise - we propose following improvements (in this article we mention the improvements concerned only to phase one of the whole agile management project framework proposed by us, the improvements concerned to other phases are included in our other articles).
Presently we cannot propose any right project management software system which supports all our ideas. There are many good project management systems which support many useful features such as calendar, workflow, tasks, file sharing, GANTT, etc., but any of them do not directly support our Agile Project Management Framework now.
5. CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORK In presented article we focus on detailed description of the phase one of APMF (Agile Project Management Framework). Of course, we do not forget to describe the whole project framework in brief as well. The novelties in our work realized over last year consist in a more detailed description of and user guides for the product design project process based on the agile project management paradigm. Also, we use the last UML 2.0 standard for graphical description of processes and other techniques such as checklists, responsibility matrix, etc. as well. Finally we propose some proper knowledge management and ICT tools witch suitably support our achievement.
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We propose to use a System Modeling Language (SysML) [8] as a method for collection, management and documentation of user requirements. This method defines following diagrams: context, requirements, use case and test case diagrams. These diagrams are included in many commercial case tools e.g. VisualParadigm, Rhapsody, Enterprise Architect etc. There are also some open sources modeling tools as Papyrus for SysML [9] or TOPCASEDSYSML [10].
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Further, we proposed SWOT as a main knowledge method to support performance of feasibility study together with FreeMind [6] mind mapping open software as a suitable tool for this purpose.
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As a tool for defect forecasting we propose FMEA method based on ontology. We consider FMEA as a most important part of our implementation of risk management process. But we are not very satisfied with the present state of the support tools destined for FMEA method at all. The really good tools are only commercial based and moreover none of them assist the ontology based FMEA.
Moreover, we derive the benefits from our experience in the teaching of the Technology Projecting course (X13TPR) provided by the department of Electro-Technology at CTU FEE in Prague. As a result, we insist that the transferring of knowledge and experience from the software project management area into the product design project management area brings us many useful innovative ideas. The basic concepts are identical in the both types of project management areas. The difference ensues from the various output products (hardware or software) and is substantial only at the more detailed levels of the project management process.
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The integral part of our quality management process is a CMMI (Capability Maturity Model Integration) approach, originally arisen from the branch of software engineering, now quickly extending across many other branches of enterprise. For our purpose we utilize a specially targeted version of CMMI namely CMMI for Development (CMMI-DEV).
Finally, our subsequent work will focuses in more detailed and precise description of the product design project management process with a strong support from ICT and KM tools. The results of our endeavour we apply in our university courses in product design project management provided by department of ElectroTechnology at CTU FEE in Prague.
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[4] Wikipedia - Agile software development [online]. Available from www: . [5] Process Patterns [online]. Available from www: . [6] FreeMind, homepage, [online]. Available from www: < http://freemind.sourceforge.net> [7] Protégé, homepage, [online]. Available from www: [8] SysML, [online]. Available from www [9] Papyrus for SysML, [online]. Available from www: [10] TOPCASED-SYSML, [online]. Available from www: [11] Capability Maturity Model Integration, Wikipedia, [online]. Available from www:
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT This research (work) has been supported by Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of Czech Republic under research program MSM6840770017.
REFERENCES [1] Molhanec, M., The Agile Methods - An Innovative Approach in the Project Management, In: ISSE 2007 30th International Spring Seminar on Electronics Technology [CD-ROM]. Cluj-Napoca: Technical University, 2007, s. 152-153. ISBN 1-4244-1218-8 [2] Molhanec, M., Agile Project Management in Product Design, In: 31st International Spring Seminar on Electronics Technology [CD-ROM]. Budapest: Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Informatics, 2008, p. 405-409. ISBN 978-963-06-4915-5. [3] Molhanec, M., Towards an Agile Project Management in Product Design, In: 32nd ISSE 2009 Proceedings [CD-ROM]. Brno: VUT v Brně, FEI, 2009, ISBN 9781-4244-4260-7.
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