Research Methods Outline

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Horace Cooper
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: Project Management James Gain jgain@cs.uct.ac.

1 : Project Management James Gain Outline Introduction [] Project Management [] Experimental Computer Science [] Role of Mathematics [1] Designing User Experiments [] Qualitative Research [] Writing [] Outline What is? Risk Management Project Control A C 6 F 11 I D G J Project tasks (activities): Are often interdependent But need to be done in parallel for teamwork to be effective Task networks are graphical depictions of task dependence Network analysis is a project planning method that: Determines the critical path Establishes most likely time estimates Calculates boundaries to stop project slippage 1

2 History of 19 PERT (Program Evaluation and Review Technique) used in U.S. Navy Polaris Missile Program 199 CPM (Critical Path Method) devised 1960 s Massive U.S. Government Projects Vietnam, Nuclear Power Plants, NASA Apollo Required extensive Computer Aided planning and control Terminology Earliest Start/Finish Earliest a task can begin/end if all preceeding tasks are completed in the shortest time Latest Start/Finish Latest a task can begin/end without delaying the minimum project completion time Critical Path Chain that determines overall project duration Slack (Float) The amount of surplus time or leeway allowed while still retaining earliest project completion Example: Task Network Tasks are shown as boxes Sequence constraints are lines connecting the boxes Earliest Start Activity Description Earliest Finish Latest Start Total Float Free Float Latest Finish

3 Analysis: Step #1 Analysis: Step # Draw network Labelling tasks in order (left to right, top to bottom) A B C D E F G H I J Write the estimated time for each activity Carry out a forward pass Fill in Earliest Start, Earliest Finish 0 A B C 6 F 11 I 1 D E 11 G J 1 Analysis: Step # Analysis: Step # Carry out a backward pass Fill in Latest Start, Latest Finish 0 A C 6 F 11 I D G J Fill in Total Float Time by which an activity may be delayed without affecting the final completion date 0 A C 6 F 11 I D G J

4 Analysis: Step # Analysis: Step #6 Fill in Free Float Amount of time an activity can expand without affecting the start or finish of any other activity FF = ES (next) EF (current) A C 6 F 11 I D 0 0 G J Critical Path This path is the manager s primary concern 0 A C 6 F 11 I D G J Exercise: Solution: Do network analysis for a joint research project Graph and Label P I Task L: Literature Review P: Research Proposal I1: Implementation (Phase 1) I: Implementation (Phase ) I: Implementation (Phase ) X: Experimental Analysis R1: Report (Background) R: Report (Results) Duration Depend. L L I1 P I, I L R1, X 1 L I1 I 6 1 R1 X R

5 Earliest Start/Finish 0 L 6 Solution: 6 P 1 1 I 1 6 I1 1 1 I 6 X 6 1 Solution: Latest Start/Finish 6 P 1 1 I L 6 6 I1 1 1 I 6 X R R Solution: Solution: Total Float Free Float 6 P 1 1 I L 6 6 I1 1 1 I 6 X P 1 1 I L 6 6 I1 1 1 I 6 X R R 0 0

Solution: Outline Critical Path 6 P 1 1 I 6 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 L 6 6 I1 1 1 I 6 X 0 0 0 6 0 0 0 0 0 6 1 Risk Management Project Control 1 1 R 0 0 History of

Gantt in 191 Widely used for WW1 ship building Below: an early precursor (19) showing productivity of workers in a sewing factory Red = idle, black =

6 Solution: Outline Critical Path 6 P 1 1 I L 6 6 I1 1 1 I 6 X Risk Management Project Control 1 1 R 0 0 History of Developed by Henry L. Gantt in 191 Widely used for WW1 ship building Below: an early precursor (19) showing productivity of workers in a sewing factory Red = idle, black = productive Horizontal Bar Charts: Horizontal axis represents project time span Vertical axis represent project tasks Capture: Task completion Simple dependencies Milestones and Deliverables Don t handle complex task dependencies Extensively supported by automated scheduling tools E.g., Microsoft Project 6

Milestones and Deliverables Milestone: Recognisable

Coding 0% complete is not adequate Deliverable: A project

reference Major project deliverables listed in bold and

represent activity duration - the longer the bar, the

date represented by a dotted vertical line Bars filled to

7 Milestones and Deliverables Milestone: Recognisable end-product of a task Requires a formal, measurable output Coding 0% complete is not adequate Deliverable: A project result that is delivered to the customer (supervisor) Milestones are not always deliverables. Can be internal The timeline provides a chronological reference Major project deliverables listed in bold and capped with a diamond Before Project Activity bars represent activity duration - the longer the bar, the longer the duration Arrows represent dependencies Current date represented by a dotted vertical line Bars filled to show progress During Project Colour-coding assigns tasks to team members Risk Management Project Control Outline

8 Managing Research Risks Why? Research projects have a high level of uncertainty Better to anticipate problems in advance How? Identify specific risks to the project Analyze the risks Rank them in a particular order Plan for monitoring, mitigation, management Revisit during project Some Typical Research Risks Solving the wrong problem Trying to hit a moving target Difficulties with data collection Overlooking previous work Being blindsided by the competition Misinterpreting results Contravening research conventions Outside interruptions (e.g., ill-health) Risk Matrix Sort risk by a combination of: Probability (high, medium, low) Impact - catastrophic (project failure), critical (massive delay), marginal, negligible Impact Catastrophic Critical Marginal Negligible Low C D E F Probability Medium B C D E High A B C D M s Mitigation: How can we avoid or reduce the risk? Monitoring: What factors can we track that will enable us to determine if the risk is becoming more or less likely? Management: What contingency plans do we have if the risk becomes a reality

9 Risk Examples Outline Turnover in research programmers Risk Condition Postgraduate students fail to meet research objectives Students fail to complete research Consequence Costs and delays in replacing, loss of knowledge capital Delays while alternative research is undertaken Mitigation Performance incentives, SE procedures to distribute knowledge Regular supervision & monthly presentations Memorandum of understanding, research proposal Monitoring Six monthly employee reviews Update Management Recruit replacement, transfer skills once notice given Reallocate research to post-docs or staff High turnover in programmers Develop Proposal Identify Risks Project Manager Develop Project Plan Staff Project Risk Management Project Control Develop Iteration Plan Execute Iteration Plan Revisit Risk List Evaluate Iteration Planning vs. Management Planning Pre- and post- Network analysis, resourcing, risks, schedule Management During Controlling resources and timescales PLANNING MANAGEMENT Some Tips on Project Control Remember to update planning documents Show progress in Gantt Chart Reassess risks Use an iterative life-cycle Research is often exploratory - well suited to prototypes Research can require complex algorithms - avoid the monolith Research often builds on previous work and may itself be extended 9

CISC 322 Software Architecture

CISC 322 Software Architecture CISC 22 Software Architecture Project Scheduling (PERT/CPM) Ahmed E. Hassan (Edited For Course Presentation, 206) Project A project is a temporary endeavour undertaken to create a "unique" product or service