Practicum in software project management

Abstract

One of the key factors influencing project success or failure is project management. Unfortunately, effective management of software projects is not in practice; what is actually being practiced varies significantly from what is advised in the available literature. In order to improve performance in the field of software project management, there is a dire need to formally educate prospective project managers in both the theoretical and practical aspects of managing software projects. This paper focuses on the formulation and execution of Practicum in Software Project Management, a graduate course that aids students in learning practical aspects of software project management. This course has been a part of the Masters in Software Project Management curriculum at National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences (NUCES), Lahore, Pakistan since 2001. We discuss the course in light of the major software project management activities recommended in literature. A comparison of the course with the Portfolio, Program and Project Management Maturity Model (P3M3) has been done to allow us to 1) assess the maturity of this course in terms of software engineering project management processes, and 2) assist us in identifying and highlighting the areas needing further improvement in terms of teaching, practice and industry needs. The comparison is based on the key process areas applicable to our course and shows that Practicum in Software Project Management is 90% capable at the Repeatable and 81% capable at the Defined levels of the P3M3.