Page 112 -

6 - PROJECT TIME MANAGEMENT

6.4 Estimate Activity Resources

®
According to Section 6.4 of the PMBOK Guide estimating resources for project activities involves estimating
the type and quantities of material, people, equipment, or supplies required to perform each activity.

Because software is developed by the coordinated intellectual work activities of software developers, software
projects are dependent on human resources more than any other software project resource. The skills and abilities
of software developers are significant factors in estimating the number of software developers needed. Studies
have shown 10:1 and greater variations in productivity among software developers having similar educational
backgrounds and work experiences [9].

Determining the roles required for a software project can be determined by reviewing the product requirements,
the project objectives, stakeholder’s goals, and budget and schedule constraints. As a software project evolves,
requirements will be refined, user stories, and features will be identified, and the human resources needed to
satisfy the project goals will be compared to the current team’s collective skills. Gaps may indicate that different
roles or more team members for present roles are required. Likewise, the teams’ production rate (velocity) and
quality metrics may provide insights into team role requirements as the project progresses. In some cases, the
software project manager may be given a collection of team members without the opportunity to identify needed
project roles or to adjust the roles as the project evolves. In other cases, the project manager may be asked to
specify the roles that need to be filled, the number of members needed for each role, and the timing for filling
the roles.

Other resource requirements for software projects may include resources for additional architectural studies
and several kinds of support activities (e.g., configuration management, quality assurance, documentation, user
training). Test facilities, software for testing, multi-configuration test suites, and multiple target environments or
platforms for deployment are examples of other resources that may be required.

6.4.1 Estimate Activity Resources: Inputs

The inputs described in Section 6.4.1 of the PMBOK Guide are applicable inputs for estimating software
®
project activity resources. As stated in Section 6.4 of this Software Extension, software developers are the most
important resources for a software project. Historical data concerning a team’s production rate is a valuable input
for estimating software project activity resources, because software productivity varies widely among software
teams and software developers (even among those having similar educations and work experiences). Software
project managers who use adaptive life cycles have the opportunity to collect production rate data on a frequent,
ongoing basis and may be able to adjust human resources as the project progresses.

Other inputs for estimating software project activity resources involve using a results chain or other form
of analysis to identify key assumptions and resources outside of the software development activities that may
impact estimation of activity resources for a software project (such as coordination among multiple customers or
development of multiple variants of the software) .

102 ©2013 Project Management Institute. Software Extension to the PMBOK Guide Fifth Edition
®