Software Project Management Brochure Template Page 11

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Software Project Management
11
Collaboration is the principle of intensive teamwork, in which invention is
combined with stability, and individuality with collective interests through open
discussion about all the problems that come along as the project advances. Roles
and tasks are assigned flexibly, and there is a high degree of adaptivity among
the team members due to the intensive information exchange between them.
Finally, the principle of alignment suggests referring each individual in an
organization to the organization's common vision of collective goals and adopted
technology. Each individual is expected to support the adopted uniform
approach to software development and comply with the work of others in the
organization.
Of course, there are many points in between the two extremes along each
dimension; hence most software organizations can be actually represented as
points somewhere in the square of Figure 5. It is also important to note in Figure
5 how the cohesion of the development team increases with the hierarchy and
collaboration principles, as well as how the flexibility of the organization
increases with independence and collaboration principles.
The four principles can affect a number of decisions in improving a software
organization, development processes, and project management. For example,
creating the development team for a software development project, staffing it,
assigning roles to the team members, as well as selecting the project leader(s)
can all vary to a notable extent depending on the organization's dominant
principle. If the principle of hierarchy is the dominant one, well-suited team
members are those that prefer precisely defined tasks, roles, and guidance, and
the team leader should be a person of high authority who sets precise criteria and
expects results. Under the principle of independence, a free-style, informal,
charismatic leader is much more likely to create and lead the team successfully.
The team members in that case should be independent individuals, who don't
need guidance, and are always ready for initiative and open to changes. Similar
suggestions exist for applying the principles of collaboration and alignment.
Put in other words, it is an appropriate professional culture that a software
development organization must grow in order to be able to manage all of its
organizational aspects successfully, both on the long-term and day-to-day bases
[3]. A culture is established in an organization when its software engineers
internalize the organization’s professional values and common processes.
Engineers should define these common processes from the practices they trust.
Developers adopt and adhere to a professional discipline that orients them to
add, modify, improve, or improvise such practices in order to achieve project
objectives. Once people in the organization have internalized common practices,
they transmit the culture through their behaviors, artifacts, and mentoring of
others. An organization that lacks repeatable management or development
practices does not have a professional culture. It is the responsibility of the
organization's executives to enforce the above common principles or core beliefs
that will help create, staff, orient and support development teams in practical
projects.

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