Software Project Management For Dummies®

Chapter 10. Working the Project Plan

In This Chapter

• Appreciating the usefulness and limitations of project management information systems

• Understanding quality management planning

• Dabbling in quality management theories

• Managing software project risks

• Exploring the risk management plan

• Identifying information gathering techniques

• Documenting your effectiveness

Do you want to create software project plans that other project managers talk about for years to come? Do you want to be the envy of your peers as they gaze longingly at your quality management plans and slobber all over your risk management plans?

To be the talk of the software project management community, all you need is to perform the proper planning, use the appropriate tools and techniques, and figure out how to make the most of what others have already done. If you're proactive in your software project management efforts, your project plans will be a success. In this chapter, we show you all the types of plans you must deal with and show you how to use them.

Authorizing the Project Work

You should have your work authorized before you ever start working on your software project. After all, no one wants to take a chance on working on a software project — or any project for that matter — that was never authorized. Your project is officially and formally authorized as a part of the project charter, which we discuss in Chapters 1 and 2. A work authorization system (WAS), one of the inputs to the project charter, is a tool that authorizes ...