Engineering Project Management

12Four Special Topics

1. (a) Congratulations! You have won a competition for a new engineering project. How do you go about getting this new project started? Starting a new project turns out to be a special problem that requires a special set of skills, which I will teach you in this chapter.
2. (b) Most systems today have large amounts of software, which provides particular benefits, but creates many particular liabilities and risks too. I show you how to deal with projects that involve large amounts of software development.
3. (c) People will come and ask if you are going to use agile software development methods on your project. I show you some of the key differences between agile and conventional development methodologies, how to decide if your project is suitable for agile methods, and how to cope with some of the most common risks and weaknesses of the agile methods.
4. (d) Projects are defined as temporary activities, so every project ends. I tell you what you need to do to end a project.

12.1 Launching Your Project

12.1.1 The Project Start‐Up Process

Any new work assignment is interesting and difficult. For example, to take over – and run effectively – a project that is already underway and doing well is a difficult task. You have people to meet, many things to learn, yet the project's schedule advances every day, whether you are up‐to‐speed yet or not.

It is, however, far more “interesting” and difficult to start a big engineering project from scratch. Even though every ...