In a previous article, I describe why Project Managers should never excessively try to compress a project schedule. What I failed to do however is define the term "excessive". As a Project Manager, how can you determine if your schedule is aggressive yet realistic, and at what point does it become overly optimistic? How much is too much?
The Daily Build Process
A daily build process ensures that the load is consistently stable and developers are
not committing code at the expense of quality. Learn and apply this process in your
organization - you won't regret it!
Tracking Requirements
Managing larger software development projects requires a lot of discipline. No matter
how many times you've read the specs, unless you have a stringent process for tracking
requirements, some of them will fall through the cracks.
The Top 5 Wrong Reasons For Not Hiring
Testers
I've received tons of emails regarding Quality Is Job #1. Some readers praised the
article while others brought up some very valid points against hiring a dedicated team
of testers. Finally, a third group, which I'll refer to as project manglers, clearly
didn't get it. Here are the Top 5 Wrong Reasons why a company should not hire a dedicated
team of testers.
Are You a Project Manager Or a Project
Mangler?
Which one are you? An effective project manager, or someone referred to as a project
mangler? Find out with our Top 10 Signs You're a Project Mangler.
Eat Your Own Dog Food
Eat your own dog food is an idiom describing the act of a company using its
own products for day-to-day operations. Learn how eating your own dog food can
help you become an industryleader.
Quality Is Job #1
Should organizations developing software (a) have a team of dedicated testers, or (b)
make the developers solely responsible for the quality of their application? Based
on my experience at companies that have used both strategies, the answer is clearly
(a). Find out why.
Software Quality Attributes
In addition to the functional requirements are other requirements that don't actually
do anything, but that are critical to your project nevertheless. Make sure you consider
these “quality attributes” in your architectural design, or you throw away your code
when it doesn't meet them - your call!
The 12 Practices of Extreme Programming
Extreme Programming, or XP, is a software development approach built on 12 fundamental
practices. Few of these practices are new, but collectively, they reinforce each
other and allow you to deliver systems on time, according to specs, and within budget.
When Code Freeze Turns To Code Slush
All things being equal, the sooner you declare code freeze, the faster you'll reach
TTM. Slipping the code freeze date will most likely result in an overall schedule
slip. But declaring the code as "frozen" when it actually feels more like "slush" will
result in an even greater schedule delay.
Staff IT
We all know that adding more resources to a project does not allow you to indefinitely
compress its schedule. Follow these guidelines when staffing software projects.
