Using the PMO to enforce and standardize the attention of software project managers to needs of software project teams

Software project teams (SPTs) are critical stakeholders. Their contribution in successful delivery of software projects is unquestionable. However, the empirical evidence of their importance seems to exist on paper only, as software project managers (SPMs) and scholars in the project management field ignore their individual needs, and as a result, SPTs remain the most neglected stakeholder group in the software industry. In endeavoring to address the neglect of SPTs by SPMs, the authors of this study developed a model aimed at assisting SPMs to pay due consideration to the needs of this important stakeholder group. At the heart of the model’s functionality is the Project Management Office (PMO), which intends to enforce and standardize the gathering and addressing of software project team needs and interests by SPMs. The aim of the research study is to investigate how the functions of the PMO can be applied to operationalize the enforcement and standardization of the overall function of the model. Since the study is practical-oriented, the pragmatic interpretive approach was considered a suitable methodology. Through the interpretative methodology, several appropriate functions of the PMO, such as «Project management methodology, standards, and tooling», «Monitoring and controlling project performance», «Human resource management» and «Development of project management competencies» as established from project management literature were utilized to achieve the study’s purpose. Even though the interpretation process was guided by literature, the inference was also influenced, to a certain extent, by the researcher opinion as «interested observer». Therefore, the approach presents a limitation to the study. Future studies should include the validation of the feasibility of the study’s claim in a real-world project setup

Using the PMO to enforce and standardize the attention of software project managers to needs of software project teams

Software project teams (SPTs) are critical stakeholders. Their contribution in successful delivery of software projects is unquestionable. However, the empirical evidence of their importance seems to exist on paper only, as software project managers (SPMs) and scholars in the project management field ignore their individual needs, and as a result, SPTs remain the most neglected stakeholder group in the software industry. In endeavoring to address the neglect of SPTs by SPMs, the authors of this study developed a model aimed at assisting SPMs to pay due consideration to the needs of this important stakeholder group. At the heart of the model’s functionality is the Project Management Office (PMO), which intends to enforce and standardize the gathering and addressing of software project team needs and interests by SPMs. The aim of the research study is to investigate how the functions of the PMO can be applied to operationalize the enforcement and standardization of the overall function of the model. Since the study is practical-oriented, the pragmatic interpretive approach was considered a suitable methodology. Through the interpretative methodology, several appropriate functions of the PMO, such as «Project management methodology, standards, and tooling», «Monitoring and controlling project performance», «Human resource management» and «Development of project management competencies» as established from project management literature were utilized to achieve the study’s purpose. Even though the interpretation process was guided by literature, the inference was also influenced, to a certain extent, by the researcher opinion as «interested observer». Therefore, the approach presents a limitation to the study. Future studies should include the validation of the feasibility of the study’s claim in a real-world project setup

Using the PMO to enforce and standardize the attention of software project managers to needs of software project teams

Software project teams (SPTs) are critical stakeholders. Their contribution in successful delivery of software projects is unquestionable. However, the empirical evidence of their importance seems to exist on paper only, as software project managers (SPMs) and scholars in the project management field ignore their individual needs, and as a result, SPTs remain the most neglected stakeholder group in the software industry. In endeavoring to address the neglect of SPTs by SPMs, the authors of this study developed a model aimed at assisting SPMs to pay due consideration to the needs of this important stakeholder group. At the heart of the model’s functionality is the Project Management Office (PMO), which intends to enforce and standardize the gathering and addressing of software project team needs and interests by SPMs. The aim of the research study is to investigate how the functions of the PMO can be applied to operationalize the enforcement and standardization of the overall function of the model. Since the study is practical-oriented, the pragmatic interpretive approach was considered a suitable methodology. Through the interpretative methodology, several appropriate functions of the PMO, such as «Project management methodology, standards, and tooling», «Monitoring and controlling project performance», «Human resource management» and «Development of project management competencies» as established from project management literature were utilized to achieve the study’s purpose. Even though the interpretation process was guided by literature, the inference was also influenced, to a certain extent, by the researcher opinion as «interested observer». Therefore, the approach presents a limitation to the study. Future studies should include the validation of the feasibility of the study’s claim in a real-world project setup

Investigating software process in practice: a grounded theory perspective

This thesis is concerned with how software process and software process improvement is practiced within the indigenous Irish software product industry. Using the grounded theory methodology, the study utilises in-depth interviews to examine the attitude and perceptions of practitioners towards software process and software process improvement. The outcome of the work is a theory, grounded in the field data, that explains how software processes are formed and evolve, and when and why software process improvement is undertaken. The resultant grounded theory is based on two conceptual themes, Process Formation and Process Evolution, and one core theoretical category, Cost of Process. The empirical investigation shows that software process improvement programmes are implemented by companies as a reaction to business events, and how many software managers reject software process improvement because o f the associated costs. In addition, indigenous Irish software companies largely ignore commercial best practice software process improvement models, and the reasons for this are discussed. The research also argues that software process improvement is not solely technologycentred but is also affected by wider human and organisational factors. As these ‘sociocultural’ influences have been more widely addressed in the Information Systems discipline, than in Software Engineering, this work draws on the experiences and lessons from both disciplines and ultimately resides between these two academic fields. The results o f this work provide new light on the issues facing software process and process improvement in small software product companies and make a contribution towards bridging the gaps between research and practice, and theory and practice, in both Software Engineering and Information Systems