Project management is one of the most difficult activities to perform successfully in any engineering discipline and in software development it is the most challenging one, reminds
Dr R Srinivasan

"Software technology is critically important to the world's business and human society"
- Dr. Thomas Mowbray

In the last few articles, I have been focussing on some external factors which influence the failure of software development. However, there are many internal ones too. In his book 'On becoming a leader', Bennis Warren visualizes a "software project" as a perfect sphere that could be kept homogenous by some typical radial forces. They are: the specified and fixed requirements, people involved in the development, technology adopted, process and standards followed, estimated schedule, the customer, the funding, risks involved and the market for the ultimate product. He calls this model as, "Project Sphere in a homogenous environment" and illustrates that if any one of them dominate or are forced to undergo change, the sphere becomes unbalanced and collapses eventually. The responsibility to see that such a catastrophe does not happen lies mainly with the manager of the project who is one of the internal factors.

As pointed out by Walker Royce in his book on, 'Software Management - a Unified Framework', there is no cookbook for software management; there are no recipes for obvious good practices. He goes to the enabled the translation of Egyptian hieroglyphics, software management techniques enable the translation of a problem statement (requirements) into a solution that satisfies all stake holders". If you happen to be a Project Manager you will say that what Royce says is not that easy to implement. Project management is one of the most difficult activities to perform successfully in any engineering discipline; in software development it is the most challenging one. Above all Project Manager is expected to be not only as a person monitoring and controlling the important parameters in the process and see that they do not go out of hands but also should prove to be a good leader.

I had mentioned in my earlier article that one of the main aspects to achieve a successful software development is a cohesive and happy team of developers. This is where the leadership quality of the Project Manager comes into play to show him as a 'role model' for others in the organization. So it is very important that he should have both the management and leadership capabilities.

What to do we mean by a Manager and a Leader - is there any difference? The answer is obviously "yes". There is a clear line of demarcation between the two in many respects.

This is very clearly exemplified by Bennis Warren. He cites eleven qualities that distinguish a Leader from a Manager:

1. The manager administers; the leader innovates,

2. The manager maintains; the leader develops,

3. The manager focuses on systems and structure; leader focuses on people,

4. The manager relies on control; leader inspires trust,

5. The manager has short range view; leader has long range view,

6. The manager asks how and when; leader asks what and why,

7. The manager has the eyes on bottom line; leader has the eyes on the horizon,

8. The manager is a copy; leader is an original,

9. The manager imitates; leader originates,

10. The manager accepts the status quo; leader challenges and

11. The manager does things right; leader does right things.

So, in addition to his ability in Planning and Budgeting, Organizing and Problem Solving, Process Management and Process Improvement, he should also possess the leadership processes like establishing direction, aligning people, motivating and inspiring. In a nutshell, the three key aspects of a Project Manager that require careful control are: People, Process and Technology. William Brown, et at substantiate that each one of these must be controlled in a balanced manner throughout the software development cycle.

Like I had mentioned in one of my earlier articles, software development employing software engineering aspects, encompassing processes and methodologies, is one of the most intellectual activities in today's world of information technology. The Project Manager is therefore expected to be completely in sync with latest technological aspects also. As explained by William Brown, et al. In "AntiPatterns in Project Management", software development has been balance among formalized construction using predefined components, rigidly following repeatable processes to achieve consistent result, artistic invention of elegant solutions to enable new mix of technologies and application of clearly identified patterns to solve known problems. However, once the system requirements (SRS) are spelt out and confirmed, what is expected of the Manger are both the vision and action to undertake the planning and execution of the project because to quote a Japanese proverb, "Vision without Action is a day dream; Action without Vision is a nightmare".

Brooks in his book on, "The Mythical Man-Month" brings out an important analogy of mortal struggles of great beasts like dinosaurs, mammoths, and saber - toothed tigers caught in and struggling in a "tar pit" . He says, " "fiercer the struggle, more the entangling in tar, and no beast is so strong or so skilful but that he ultimately sinks". This will be the exact situation if a Project Manager loses control on the aspects mentioned above leading the project to the "tar pit".

(The author is Chief Technology Officer, Internet Component Management Group, Bangalore and can be contacted at: r.srinivasan@iCMGworld.com)