A novel project management theory and its applicability

Abstract

Software Project Management is an emerging discipline. The software project manager's job comprises every aspect of the project from starting the project to closing out. Practitioner's of the discipline use several project management tools in managing diverse aspects of software projects. However, there is no existing management theory that combines different aspects of a software project and results in a complete picture. This study discusses a theory and modeling language which combine several management aspects of software projects into concrete models to aid the software project manager. The mathematical relations and graphical models derived from the theory comprise entire entities and activities of a project determined by the project team and depict any kind of relationships between the entities and activities including stakeholders. The theory provides a mathematical model for software projects and the modeling language provides graphical models of software projects representing the mathematical model. This study tests the theory and the modeling language in two case studies for applicability. The results indicate that the theory and the modeling language are applicable to real world projects and show promise to be a valuable software project management tool.