Effective Software Project Management

Resource Requirements

These two models have a number of similarities and a number of differences as well when it comes to resource requirements and scheduling.

The Linear SDPM strategy does not require co-located teams and does not require highly skilled experts. That affords some latitude when assigning and scheduling team members. You find some differences, however, when considering the Linear SDPM for the Standard Waterfall model versus the Linear SDPM for the Rapid Development Waterfall model.

Standard Waterfall Model

The sequential structure of the Standard Waterfall model and the fact that you have no feedback loops means that different skill sets are needed along the project timeline. Once the architects have completed their design work and it has been approved, they can be assigned to other projects. You might encounter resource contention problems only if the architects are assigned to more than one project at a time. Some collaboration and joint scheduling will have to be done between the affected project managers.

Rapid Development Waterfall Model

For the Rapid Development Waterfall model the situation is a bit more complicated. Fortunately you have the advantage of being in control of the cross dependency set schedules. Figure 5-4 illustrates one such situation where cross dependency set scheduling conflicts might arise. Consider the three detailed design activities. If you had but one architect on the project, their time would have to be concurrently spent across ...