In addition to Frank Patrick’s excellent post of the Top 10 Sources of Project Failure, I have one more: No project manager. In the past week, I’ve received inquiries from people, asking how they can successfully complete projects or programs without project or program managers. I tell them I don’t know how to do that. […]
I’ve been musing over types of people on projects lately. This morning, my husband and I exhibited two common types: the serially, walk-through-the-whole-thing-systematically type (hubby), and the big picture, can’t-wait-to-see-it-put-together type (me). See Do Your Interview Questions Discriminate For or Against Your Needs? for more information. Mark’s a Guardian (SJ in MBTI terms), I’m a Rational (NT
Every so often, I hear managers say things they vowed they’d never say when they were technical contributors. (Yeah, parents do that too, but that’s not the topic today 🙂 Here are a few of my favorites with their translations: “We have expertise in that area.” Translation: We have no idea what you’re talking
It’s worth taking a quick listen to Commentary – Overtime’s not good for your health. The folks from University of Arkansas actually have data that says overtime is ok and doesn’t reduce productivity. Hah! I wonder where their data came from. On the other hand, Joe Robinson’s commentary makes perfect sense to me. Here are
I’m at an experiential workshop this week, learning how to design simulations for my workshops and presentations. If you’ve attended one of my workshops or public tutorials in the past 2-3 years (at least), you’ve had a chance to participate in a simulation. If you haven’t yet, don’t worry. I don’t ask people to
From the “I wish I’d said that” list: Via Frank Patrick’s blog, Mike Cohn, in his User Stories Applied for Agile Software Development. Chapter 10, Why Plans Go Wrong in pdf, explains buffers and padding and scheduling: “A Buffer Isn’t Padding — A buffer isn’t padding. Padding is extra time added to a schedule that
My Stickyminds column this month deals with choosing when to start and end project overtime, “When Should You Start Project Overtime?” Frank Patrick has already chimed in with one of the common causes of overtime, multi-tasking. See Multi-tasking Multiplies Lead Time Also see these blog entries from Esther Derby and Hal Macomber. A note: I
One of the most difficult problems in software development is knowing how to elicit and discuss requirements. It’s difficult because the people who are supposed to know the requirements don’t always have a clear idea of what they want. And, even people with tremendous communication and other soft skills don’t always have good ways
Esther’s blog entry this morning set me off into gales of laughter. I’m sure I was the original author of the peanut butter/white bread entry, and with editing, Esther turned it from mud to something that’s ready to be edited. A great case of refactoring in writing. Now that I write for human consumption,
I had a lovely dinner with Brian Marick and our spouses Saturday night. (Now that he’s blogrolled me, I can’t tease him about that. Thanks, Brian!) Two things made me reconsider the way I manage people while managing a project: things we discussed at dinner, and Brian’s recent posting about the explicit role of the