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Chapter 1
C HAPTER 1
Preface

S OFTWARE PROJECT MANAGEMENT is the art and science of planning and leading software

projects. It requires knowledge of the entire software development lifecycle: defining the
vision, planning the tasks, gathering the people who will do the work, estimating the effort,
creating the schedule, overseeing the work, gathering the requirements, designing and pro-
gramming the software, and testing the end product. Throughout the process, there are
many team members who are responsible for these tasks; the project manager needs to have
enough knowledge of their work to make sure the project is staying on track.

To be effective, a project manager must have a wide range of expertise. In this book, we
provide an introduction to all of these areas so that you can guide the rest of your team on
their tasks. We help you run successful software projects, and we help you diagnose and
fix the ones that have gone off track.

Goals of the Book

This is a practical book. This book describes the specific tools, techniques, and practices
that a project manager needs to put in place in order to run a software project or fix an ail-
ing one. A project manager can use this book to diagnose and fix the most serious prob-
lems that plague software projects. It contains essential project management tools,
techniques, and practices, which have been optimized to be as straightforward and easy to

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