What Is Software Development Project Management?

Now that you have a clear idea of what a software development project is, it’s important to clearly define what software development project management is.

Definition: SDPM

Software development project management is the discipline of assessing the characteristics of the software to be developed, choosing the best fit software development life cycle, and then choosing the appropriate project management approach to ensure meeting the customer needs for delivering business value as effectively and efficiently as possible.

At the risk of cluttering up your vocabulary, I have coined a phrase that reflects the thinking process that I follow to craft a management approach to software development. The definition that follows is unique to this book but important to add to your vocabulary. From now on, any use of the term SDPM strategy refers to the definition given here.

Definition: SDPM Strategy

A SDPM strategy is an integration of a software development life cycle and a project management life cycle into a customer-facing approach that will produce maximum business value regardless of the obstacles that may arise.

I want you to think of SDPM as an emerging discipline. It is new, although the two components that define it are not new. What is new is the integration of those components to produce an effective SDPM environment. The SDPM strategy for making this happen will be developed in this book.

The title of this section poses a question ...

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