Teaching software project management in industrial and academic environments

The author developed and taught a week-long software project management workshop in an industrial setting from 1995 through 1997. In 1999, he moved from industry to academia and began teaching a semester-long software project management course in Monmouth University´s software engineering masters degree program. This paper describes the process that was used to develop the industrial workshop, its unique structure and the results that were achieved during the time that he was teaching it. The academic course is then described, and the similarities and differences between the industrial workshop and the academic course are outlined. One of the key factors in making the industrial workshop successful was matching the content and structure of the workshop to the current needs of the industrial organization in which it was developed and providing flexibility in the workshop design to modify its content to match the experience and prior project management education of workshop participants. In the academic environment, it was necessary to structure the course to fit a typical semester-long schedule with appropriate reading material, homework, exams and a class project.