Title:
Practice of
Software Project Planning in IT Industry in Pakistan
Abstract: In
Pakistan,
Software industry is progressing at a steady pace. CMM (Capability
Maturity
Model) is becoming a leading standard and organizations are beginning
to
understand the importance of Project Planning (PP) as well as other
aspects of
project management. PP is a key process area of CMM at level 2 to
provide a
framework that enables a project manager to make reasonable estimates
of
resources, costs, and schedule at the beginning of a project and revise
them as
necessary as the project progresses. In
the current research, we survey the software industry in Pakistan
and
identify areas where companies are predominantly weaker or stronger,
and
present our analysis. Our study shows that only about half the
organizations
follow any accepted national or international standards. These
organizations
appear to be good at defining life cycle models, agreeing on
development
paradigms, establishing budgets and schedules, planning for resources
and
establishing project plans. However, they are generally weaker in
planning
stakeholders’ involvement, identifying risks, planning for data
management
activities as well as review and documentation. In the paper, we
highlight the
elements of good practice and discuss reasons for companies’ failing
and
limitations.
Author: Zaigham
Mahmood and Saqib
Saeed