Many project management concepts apply to the software industry just as they do to marketing, sales, or PR, but software projects face unique challenges as well.<\/p>\n
In this article, you\u2019ll learn exactly what makes managing software projects different, and what challenges these differences pose to managers and teams. You\u2019ll also get an overview of the most popular management methodologies and see how monday.com can help project managers in this field.<\/p>\n
Get started with monday.com<\/a><\/p>\n Software projects do have similarities with other types of projects. For example, they all have the same constraints\u00a0(factors that restrict what the team can do, like project budget and timeline).<\/p>\n But there are some key differences:<\/strong><\/p>\n All of these differences pose unique challenges that project managers in other industries don\u2019t often face. We\u2019ll explore these challenges next.<\/p>\n Here are some problems that project teams in the software industry often have to wrestle with:<\/p>\n Thanks to these \u2014 and other \u2014 obstacles, some 45%<\/a>\u00a0of IT projects run over budget and 7% run over time across most industries on average.<\/p>\n Get started<\/a><\/p>\n SDLC is the traditional approach to managing the software development process. Although its popularity is fading, many companies still use it when creating new software products.<\/p>\n SDLC consists of 5 phases.<\/p>\n Such defined steps offer structure to each software developer. At the same time, there is room for stakeholder feedback at multiple stages, such as requirements gathering and design approval.This helps align the customer\u2019s wants with the final product.<\/p>\n (Image Source<\/a>)<\/p>\n The biggest drawback of this approach is that it tends to be slow. If the team is developing a big piece of software it could take months. Only to discover when it goes to testing that there are significant bugs or defects forcing the team to go back to the drawing board.<\/p>\n When compared to our next 2 approaches, there\u2019s also a higher risk of the software becoming obsolete before it goes live and the customer not feeling like what they got is what they wanted.<\/p>\n Agile<\/a>\u00a0was formally introduced in 2001 to address failures of the old Waterfall<\/a>\u00a0methodology (which SDLC is modeled around). It\u2019s worked pretty well \u2014 in 2017, PwC found that Agile projects are 28% more successful<\/a>\u00a0than projects under Waterfall.<\/p>\n Agile is an iterative methodology, meaning you don\u2019t knock out all your planning at the beginning. Instead, you plan a short sprint or iteration, execute it, review, and then plan the next one.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n With Agile you start projects off with an overall product roadmap and high-level plan.<\/p>\n Under most Agile frameworks (more on this in a second), you only tackle detailed planning for the immediate 1\u20134 week sprint. Then, based on how that sprint goes, you review, adjust, and plan the next one.<\/p>\n Such a structure \u2014 or lack thereof \u2014 brings about plenty of upsides.<\/p>\n (Image Source<\/a>)<\/p>\n Now, Agile is often considered a broad project management philosophy. Within it are several frameworks that follow Agile thought, the most popular being Scrum<\/a>.<\/p>\n Scrum focuses on delivering max value in minimum time. It involves short \u201csprints<\/a>\u201d where the team delivers bits or versions of the product regularly.<\/p>\n During sprints, teams have daily stand-up meetings<\/a>\u00a0that are exactly what they sound like. Teams stand in a circle and quickly discuss what\u2019s happened in the last 24 hours, what they\u2019re going to tackle in the next 24 hours, and what roadblocks they\u2019re facing.<\/p>\n Once a sprint ends, the team delivers a product \u201cincrement\u201d or version for customer review, discusses what changes need to be made, and launches into planning the next sprint.<\/p>\n (Image Source<\/a>)<\/p>\n Although Agile works for many teams in the software industry, some team members get uncomfortable with the lack of structure. Especially on larger, cross-department projects.<\/p>\n So why not mix the strengths of Waterfall in with the flexibility of Agile?<\/p>\n Well, that\u2019s what the hybrid approach is for. It\u2019s a merger of the two. Exactly which bits of what methodology you take will depend on your team, customer, and business needs.<\/p>\n But a common hybrid approach is to start with Waterfall. In the beginning of a hybrid project, the team plans. They gather and analyze all the project requirements before they begin the work.<\/p>\n Once the project kicks off, they switch to Agile and tackle design, development, and testing in short cycles.<\/p>\n To learn more about the different project methodologies, check out our complete guide.<\/p>\n Get started<\/a><\/p>\n Every software company is different, even if they face the same broad industry challenges. Fortunately, monday.com is a powerful project management app<\/a> that can help your dev team manage complex projects, whether you use SDLC, Agile, or Hybrid.<\/p>\n Just read this case study to see how the NHL \u2014 who uses Scrum \u2014 was able to manage its sprints<\/a>\u00a0much more easily with monday.com’s project planning and work management capabilities when it was developing its custom applications. The IT dev team gained much more transparency into app development progress.<\/p>\n You could manage your team\u2019s sprints as well with monday.com\u2019s sprint planning template<\/a>.<\/p>\n The NHL\u2019s IT dev team didn\u2019t stop at using monday.com for easier sprints, though. It moved many of its custom apps to monday.com, saving an untold amount of time on its workflows.<\/p>\n Agile project management<\/a> not your thing? Our project management software<\/a> also has templates that will work for Waterfall or hybrid approaches. Plus a handy bug tracker template<\/a>\u00a0for managing your testing, no matter what approach you take.<\/p>\n Software project management is the \u2014 relatively \u2014 new kid on the project management block, creating plenty of unique challenges that managers in the industry must face.<\/p>\n Most of them have to do with the fact that you can\u2019t \u201csee\u201d or \u201ctouch\u201d software. Computer code is a lot different than brick and concrete.<\/p>\n Fortunately, methodologies like Agile \u2014 and its sub-methodologies like Scrum \u2014 can save the day.<\/p>\n They\u2019re much more, erm, agile, allowing teams to adapt to changes and continuously deliver value to the end-user.<\/p>\n Looking for a project management solution that\u2019ll be as nimble as your software team requires?<\/p>\nWhat makes software project management different?<\/h2>\n
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What challenges do software project managers face?<\/h2>\nMany of the circumstances a software project manager faces are due to software being more ephemeral and the tasks required more complex.<\/span><\/a>\n
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What are the best project management methodologies for software projects?<\/h2>\n
Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC)<\/h3>\n
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![\"SDLC\"](\"https:\/\/www.monday.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/image3-17.png\" "\\"SDLC\\"")
<\/p>\nAgile<\/h3>\n
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![\"Agile\"](\"https:\/\/www.monday.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/image4-16.png\" "\\"Agile\\"")
<\/p>\n![\"Scrum](\"https:\/\/www.monday.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/image1-23.png\" "\\"Scrum")
<\/p>\nHybrid<\/h3>\n
How monday.com can help your dev team manage software projects<\/h2>\n
![\"monday.com](\"https:\/\/www.monday.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/image2-20.png\" "\\"monday.com")
<\/p>\nConclusion<\/h2>\n