-
Johanna’s Books
Monthly Archives: April 2005
Schedule Game #8: Pants on Fire
You’re a project manager. Your project is proceeding fairly well. You’ve had a few bumps, but you’re making progress. You come into work one day, and there’s a message to meet with the Big Cheese. Big Cheese says, “Stop … Continue reading
Posted in schedule games
Tagged management, multitasking, project management, project team
2 Comments
Schedule Game #7: Schedule Dream Time or Happy Date
Sometimes, I work with organizations where there’s an implicit agreement not to discuss the schedule. I’ve seen this in two flavors: the first is Dream Time, where the project team and management believe the schedule, especially if it’s in … Continue reading
Schedule Game #6: Sweep Under the Rug
A few years ago, I received a call to help out a project in trouble. Unsurprisingly, when I was reviewing what had been done and what still left to do, the PM explained there were many half-implemented features. (The … Continue reading
Schedule Game #5: Queen of Denial
As a younger project manager, I had a conversation with my boss. “We can’t meet your schedule. Here’s what it’s going to take.” My boss said, “You can’t be serious about not meeting my schedule. I’m sure if you … Continue reading
Estimating Testing Time
My quarterly column at Stickyminds is up today. It’s called Estimating Testing Time.
Posted in Stickyminds columns
Leave a comment
Schedule Game #4: Hope is Our Most Important Strategy
A few years ago, a senior manager called me. “We have a project in trouble. We started off hopeful, but now it looks impossible.” I asked a few questions, and discovered they had never done a project like this … Continue reading
Posted in schedule games
Tagged iterative planning, project charter, project management, release criteria
2 Comments
Schedule Game #3: Bring Me a Rock
I’ve been talking to a beleaguered colleague about his project schedule. “No matter what date I give them (senior management), they want an earlier date. I told them it doesn’t take nine women to make a baby in one … Continue reading
Schedule Game #2: 90% Done
I was a fortunate young developer. In my first three months at work, I ran into the 90% done schedule game. I did it to myself. I estimated a particular task was going to take 6 weeks. Of course, … Continue reading
Posted in schedule games
Tagged inch pebble, iterative planning, management, one-on-one, transparency
5 Comments
Announcement: Behind Closed Doors
I’m thrilled to announce that you can see the announcement of Esther’s and my book, currently entitled Behind Closed Doors: Secrets of Great Management Revealed. Yes, this is the book we pair-wrote. We’re in the final stretch. First is … Continue reading
Schedule Game #1: Schedule Chicken
I’ve been meaning to write a series of posts on schedule games, and a story I heard over the weekend has jolted me into writing about schedule chicken. I’m most familiar with schedule chicken that happens in meetings. Usually … Continue reading
.
.
