Effective Software Project Management

Chapter 38. Where Are You?

It doesn’t matter if the cat is black or white, so long as it catches mice.

—Deng Xiaoping Premier of China

Chapter Learning Objectives

After reading this chapter, you will be able to: Understand projects from the perspective of the enterprise, the customer, the project manager, and the development team Compare and contrast the five SDPM strategies Define metrics for assessing where you are

The previous 35 chapters set out 5 different SDPM strategies for the integration of project management and systems development approaches. To my knowledge this is the first book to attempt such a treatment. By no means will this be my last attempt. I believe there is a discipline to be developed around these five strategies and expect to add to this humble beginning with additional writings and editions of this book over the next few years. I further believe that a new collaborative must be formed if significant inroads into achieving success with projects is to be made. That collaborative is made up of customer, project manager, project team, and the enterprise. These thoughts are explored in this chapter and the next.

This chapter is basically an assessment of the status of systems development project management in the contemporary business world.