You already have considerable experience of planning and carrying out small-scale projects. You know how difficult it can be to juggle resources and make effective use of time. Imagine how much more difficult it is when the project you are managing involves large numbers of people, lots of resources and substantial amounts of money! Determining what has to be done when and by whom, keeping track of progress and reporting to senior management requires considerable expertise. Perhaps not surprisingly, a large number of projects — particularly in ICT — do not fully meet their objectives. Some fail spectacularly!

It is now widely recognised that specialist knowledge and skills are required to manage projects successfully. This unit will introduce you to some formal project management tools and methods and give you an opportunity to use specialist software to plan and monitor projects.

You will be able to put into practice what you have learnt by setting up and running a small-scale software project. You will have to draw upon the knowledge and skills you have learned throughout the course in order to plan for and produce the required software product. It is assumed that you already have skills in at least two different software applications and some experience of the processes involved in software design and implementation.

Although – in real life – budgeting is an important factor in any project, you will not be expected to consider finance. However, you will need to identify other resource requirements such as expertise, equipment and time. This is not a team activity, but will involve working closely with others, since people skills and good communication are key to successful project management.

The summative evaluation of your work for this unit will take the form of an end-of-project review at which you and other project stakeholders will assess the success of the project and your performance as the project manager.

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