This standard prescribes the format and content of software project management plans. A software project management plan is the controlling document for managing a software project; it defines the technical and managerial processes necessary to satisfy the project requirements. This standard may be applied to all types of software projects. Use of this standard is not restricted by the size, complexity, or criticality of the software product. This standard is applicable to all forms of product delivery media, including firmware, embedded systems code, programmable logic arrays, and software-in silicon. This standard can be applied to any and all segments of a software product lifecycle. This standard identifies the minimal set of elements that shall appear in all software project management plans. In order to conform to this standard, software project management plans must adhere to the format and content for project plans specified in the standard. However, users of this standard may incorporate other elements by appending additional sections or subsections to their project management plans. In any case, the numbering scheme of the required sections and subsections must adhere to the format speciÞed in this standard. Various sections and subsections of a software project management plan may be included in the plan by direct incorporation or by reference to other plans and documents. This standard for software project management plans incorporates and subsumes the software development plans described in ANSI/IEEE Std 729-1983 [1] and ANSI/IEEE Std 730-1984 [2].