2.4.2 Project planning models

2.4.2     Project planning models

A project planning model usually contains a number of stages/steps which a project has to go through to be successful. There are several project planning models on the market that can be used in educational settings.  In some of the courses described in this guide, the students decide upon their own working process in terms of project planning and management. In other courses, there is a project model integrated into the course and the students are working according to that model during the project. In some courses, agile methods such as Scrum and Kanban are taught and used.

An Example of learning activities on a project planning model from First Year Project Course in Electrical Engineering:
In this course, project planning and management skills are important. ILOs state that participants should be able to describe and use the principles of project work, present technical information in oral and written form, and create the fundamental documents required for planning, following up, and finishing a project.

The course contains three parts:
1) Basic project planning, project management and the project model.
2) Execution of the projects.
3) Project evaluation and feedback.
During the first part, there are lectures on how to work according to the specific project management model. In part two , the projects must be executed according to the model. In part three, the students reflect on and evaluate to what extent their project planning was successful.

A project model, which is the structure used in a project, shows the general stages of a project. This particular model contains the following steps: (1) Pre-Study, Start of the project including project plan, (2) Execution of the project including status reports, and (3) Closing the project including final report. There are also other essential aspects of a project which the students need to be aware of, e.g. resources, roles, stakeholders and the so-called “core three”; time, cost and function. The model is described in the course book Handbook for Small Projects¹⁰.

CSDprojectplantemplate.pdf 

An Example of Agile Methods used in the Degree Programme in Information and Communication Technology:
Students are learning agile methods, mainly Scrum and Kanban, throughout the study programme. Current problems within software engineering and how they have been addressed with agile methods are discussed to introduce the students to the way of thinking within the agile methodology. The agile development cycle and various modern practices such as for instance, iterative development, pair programming, refactoring, test-first programming, release planning and the combinations of these methods are interwoven in both theoretical and practical courses over the study years.

Scrum: “Scrum is an agile way to manage a project, usually in software development. Agile software development with Scrum is often perceived as a methodology; but rather than viewing Scrum as methodology, think of it as a framework for managing a process. In the agile Scrum world, instead of providing complete, detailed descriptions of how everything is to be done on a project, much of it is left up to the Scrum software development team. This is because the team will know best how to solve the problem they are presented with.” ¹⁸

“Scrum relies on a self-organizing, cross-functional team. The scrum team is self-organizing in that there is no overall team leader who decides which person will do which task or how a problem will be solved. Those are issues that are decided by the team as a whole.  And in Scrum, a team is cross functional, meaning everyone is needed to take a feature from idea to implementation. Within agile development, Scrum teams are supported by two specific roles. The first is a Scrum Master, who can be thought of as a coach for the team, helping team members use the Scrum process to perform at the highest level. The product owner (PO) is the other role, and in Scrum software development the PO represents the business, customers or users, and guides the team toward building the right product.” ¹⁸

Kanban: “Kanban is a lean approach to agile software development. Actually, Kanban means many things. Literally, Kanban is a Japanese word that means “visual card”. The core of Kanban means: Visualize the workflow: Split the work into pieces, write each item on a card and put on the wall. Use named columns to illustrate where each item is in the workflow. Limit Work In Progress (WIP) – assign explicit limits to how many items may be in progress at each workflow state. Measure the lead time (average time to complete one item, sometimes called “cycle time”), optimize the process to make lead time as small and predictable as possible.” ¹⁹

For additional information on Scrum and Kanban, see www.infoq.com/minibooks/scrum-xp-from-the-trenches and www.infoq.com/minibooks/kanban-scrum-minibook

Future of Media: A guest lecturer is invited to talk about project management methods and how to work in projects. The purpose of this lecture is to inspire the students, but it is up to them to choose whether they want to work according to the described methods or not.

+ STUDENT QUOTE: “We think the lecture was good. Somehow, it is in the back of our heads, but we have not really used it. The lecturer said that we should choose a team leader, and we have, still all our decisions are made collectively. Our project manager’s main task as a manager is to attend the meetings with our teacher.”

Communication system design: The students are supposed to choose project management system themselves, but they are encouraged to use agile (e.g. scrum) rather than traditional project management methods. Different groups choose different ways of managing their projects. The students also get a template for the project plan which they have to use. The teams choose a team leader.

+ PROJECT PLAN TEMPLATE CSD.

Suggestion: If the intended learning outcomes at program level contain project working/planning skills, a course focusing on methodological steps could be fruitful since the students will most likely not learn these skills by themselves. Later on during the program, to secure a progression of these skills, the complexity level of both the project tasks as well as of the students’ project working/planning skills should increase. When choosing a project planning model, consider which models are used in industry within the specific discipline and introduce these models to the students.