© 1997 Johanna Rothman. Abstract Product management is concerned with implementing new features. Developers are concerned with improving the existing features. How does a project manager bring these concerns together in a way that ensures both product direction and product robustness are addressed? One way to elevate competing concerns about implementing new or old features […]
Abstract If you manage software engineers, or software product development, sooner or later, you will be faced with a vexing problem: not all the people are in one place, or even in one time zone. This paper analyzes the problems associated with geographically distributed product development, and discusses possible solutions to reduce project risk. Real
© 1996 Johanna Rothman. This article was originally published in SQA Quarterly, May 1996. Product development teams are organized for one major purpose: to produce a product people will buy. Software product development teams have a secondary, but no less important goal- the ability to produce products again and again. To effect those goals, product
© 1996 Johanna Rothman. Introduction Many software organizations are working actively to improve their product and process quality. We can review their implicit and explicit management activities and ask: Which activities have had a positive impact on process and product quality improvement? Which activities have had a negative impact? We can then develop a list
Introduction Software product development is a difficult task. Not only is it mentally challenging, just to write and test software, but there are a number of interdependent problems when product teams attempt to create a product. Product teams have difficulties in these major areas: meeting the schedule, implementing the desired functionality, and removing enough defects
Traditionally, product shipment decisions were made based on how the software product “felt” to the tester or developer. After running the product for some period of time, the developer or tester would pronounce the product fit or unfit for shipment. Many organizations now recognize that decisions based on “gut feel” are insufficient. These organizations have
Introduction It is difficult to test software products, as evidenced by the problems we find in our software every day. The customer risks of not adequately testing software can be as minor as user inconvenience, or as major as loss of life. Not only are there customer (end-user) risks for inadequately tested software, there are