An evolutionary software projectmanagement maturity model fordeveloping countries

The evidence of project management is known for centuries as can beobserved from the construction of the pyramids of Egypt and the Great Wall ofChina. In the modern age, project-based approaches are increasingly beingadopted in almost all areas of product development. Project management hasemerged as a specialised discipline since the importance of completing projectswithin time, cost and quality constraints is crucial for organisations to continueto survive in the competitive world.Project Management, in general, has been developed under the assumption ofeconomic, political, cultural and social rationality. Little is known aboutindigenous project management in developing countries. The concepts andprinciples put forward in Western/European countries have been applied todeveloping countries without much prior studies. Developing nations arestruggling constantly to maintain their projects within the constraints of time,cost and quality. Software development companies have found it difficult toadopt methodologies/models/standards that have shown evidence of success inthe developed world.This thesis comprises the study of software project management in developingcountries. Mauritius, as an instance of developing countries, with problemsrelated to social, economic, cultural and political conditions are discussed.However, these conditions differ from country to country. It is believed thatadjustments are required in a software project management framework to fit therequirements of a country.An evolutionary software project management maturity model is proposed formanaging software development in developing countries. This model adopts anevolutionary approach, whereby areas of interest (called key process areas)progressively attain maturity. Three levels of maturity are defined along withkey process areas that are applicable over all the maturity levels (called theicontinuous process improvement group of KPAs). The model is also applied totwo software projects in Mauritius to test its effectiveness. Given the studiescarried out and its successful application to the Mauritian context, this model forsoftware project management is expected to contribute towards a highersoftware project success rate. Notwithstanding the application in the Mauritiancontext, it is plausible that other developing countries may also customise thismodel as similar problems occur across these countries.