Virtual Project Management

Author: MacMahon
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-04-01
Features: Based on the author's 27 years of experience in software technology and management, combined with knowledge in systems engineering and project management, this book recommends many practical ideas and methods for virtual project management. Particularly, the discussion on subculture concepts, advice for managers, the challenges of modern software development in the internet era, and answers to common questions will undoubtedly benefit readers greatly. This book is not about virtual technology. It discusses management issues, specifically how to quickly and cost-effectively build complex, software-intensive systems by leveraging the resources and manpower of other organizations. This represents a revolutionary advancement in software project management. We recognize the immense potential of this management model. At the same time, based on the problems and accumulated experiences of current engineering organizations from the mid-to-late 1990s to the early 2000s, we have also identified aspects that severely impact project progress. This book describes and validates the key management methods adopted in high-tech, software-intensive projects that utilize virtual collaboration. It also provides practical approaches for organizations seeking high productivity in a rapidly changing environment. This book is written for busy project leaders and project engineers (or second-tier engineering managers, senior project engineers, and project managers). They are familiar with basic project management methods but face challenges in understanding the root causes of project delays in today's virtual collaboration-based projects and how to resolve these issues. High-tech software projects involving multiple organizations and distributed development face many problems, and this book will be helpful for those concerned about these issues. The book assumes readers are familiar with traditional management methods for large-scale software projects.