Once a project is found to be feasible, software project managers undertake project planning. Project planning is undertaken and completed even before any development activity starts. Project planning consists of the following essential activities: Estimating the following attributes of the project:
- Project size: What will be problem complexity in terms of the effort and time required to develop the product?
- Cost: How much is it going to cost to develop the project?
- Duration: How long is it going to take to complete development?
- Effort: How much effort would be required?
The effectiveness of the subsequent planning activities is based on the accuracy of these estimations.
- Scheduling manpower and other resources.
- Staff organization and staffing plans.
- Risk identification, analysis, and abatement planning
- Miscellaneous plans such as quality assurance plan, configuration management plan, etc.