Suzana Cândido de Barros Sampaio

An Approach Related to Uncertainty in Software Projects

A number of recent studies confirm that change continues to occur in project management in both the professional and research fields. Although project management has become a core business process for many firms at strategic and operational level it is no secret that many projects still fail, and one reason for this may be due to a lack of knowledge regarding project uncertainties. The goal of this article is to understand what gives rise to uncertainty, to recognize its symptoms and explore strategies for controlling it. This article offers a new classification to areas of uncertainty in software projects, and our aim is to assist project managers and staff to reduce uncertainty and thereby contribute to commercial project success.

A Systematic Review of Uncertainties in Software Project Management

It is no secret that many projects fail, regardless of the business sector, software projects are notoriously disaster victims, not necessarily because of technological failure, but more often due to their uncertainties. The threats identified by uncertainty in day-to-day of a project are real and immediate and the stakes in a project are often high. This paper presents a systematic review about software project management uncertainties. It helps to identify the difficulties and the actions that can minimize the uncertainties effects in the projects and how managers and teams can prepare themselves for the challenges of their projects scenario, with the aim of contributing to the improvement of project management in organizations as well as contributing to project success.

Uncertainties in software projects management

The organizational environment becomes increasingly focused on projects, it is time to unleash the power and energy embedded in projects. The disturbingly poor project success rate makes it imperative that the organization pays more attention to their project activity, their potential, and the competitive advantage that they can bring. The goal of this article is to understand what gives rise to uncertainty; to recognize its symptoms and explore strategies for controlling it. This article offers a classification to source of uncertainty in software projects, a guide to manage software projects in phases of uncertainty and our aim is to assist project managers and staff to reduce uncertainty and thereby contribute to commercial project success.

A GUIDE TO DEAL WITH UNCERTAINTIES IN SOFTWARE PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Various project management approaches do not consider the impact that uncertainties have on the project. The identified threats by uncertainty in a projec day-to-day are real and immediate and the expectations in a project are often high. The project manager faces a dilemma: decisions must be made in the present about future situations which are inherently uncertain. The use of uncertainty management in project can be a determining factor for the project success. This paper presents a systematic review about uncertainties management in software projects and a guide is proposed based on the review. It aims to present the best practices to manage uncertainties in software projects in a structured way including techniques and strategies to uncertainties containment.

Dealing with Uncertainties in Software Project Management

Nowadays it is noticed that many projects fail, software projects are notoriously disaster prone, not necessarily because of technological failure, but more often due to uncertainties. In their efforts to keep their projects, many project managers are implicitly using similar ideas, though not always formally as the subject proposes. In this article, a qualitative research which was conducted through semi-structured interviews with 25 participants is presented. Among the interviewees there are software project managers and management researchers. The aim of the work is to explore practices, strategies and techniques as well as to provide a set of recommendations to guide managers in order to reduce uncertainties in their projects.

SYSTEMATIC REVIEW ON PROJECT ACTUALITY

Nowadays much is written about how to manage projects, but too little on what really happens in project actuality. Project Actuality came out in the Rethinking Project Management (RPM) agenda in 2006 and it aims at understanding what really happens at project context. To be able to understand project actuality phenomenon, we first need to get a better comprehension on its definition and discover how to observe it and analyse it. This paper presents the results of the systematic review conducted to collect evidence on Project Actuality. The research focused on four search engines, in publications from 1994 to 2013. Among others, the study concludes that project actuality has been analysed by several methods and techniques, mostly on large organization and public sectors, in Northern Europe. The most common definitions, techniques, and tips were identified as well as the intent of transforming the results in knowledge.

Reflecting, adapting and learning in small software organizations: an action research approach.

Software Engineering activities are context based and carried out by people, within its culture and project actuality. Consequently, it demands a great deal of social relations. In order to better understanding these challenges faced by software development projects, we have had to go beyond the actual mindset, literature and bodies of knowledge. This paper is a result of an empirical research, aligned with evidence-based Software Engineering, about studies conducted on five software development Micro and Small Enterprises in Brazil, during 22 months, between July-2012 and May-2014. We have adopted a participant observer ethnographic study, resulting in intervention based on action research. The interventions happened several times, leading into continuous and constructive process of reflecting and learning. As a result, we have observed the emergence of a practical problem solving culture, from a collaborative immediate situation, which expanding the actors competencies in every cycle of its execution. Although every organization had its own major problem to be dealt with, our findings point out to some common problems and emerging action strategies to handle with these challenges.