Acme, a software company, has a technical excellence problem. Its customers report more problems than the product teams do. Two managers, Cindy and David, want to bring specialized training in for product teams. (They want to help their teams learn to use Test-Driven Development, TDD, and Acceptance Test-Driven Development, ATDD. Cindy and David suspect that …
Leadership Tip #18: Invest in the People You Lead and Serve Read More »
When it comes to projects, there are as many questions to answer as there are project teams, but “Where are we?” is by far the most popular. The key to understanding a project is to make regular measurements—both quantitative and qualitative—and display the measurements publicly. When project managers display these measurements as part of the …
Are We There Yet?: Creating Project Dashboards to Display Progress Read More »
I spoke at a joint meeting of the RI PMI and ASQ last night. My presentation was “Predicting Project Completion.” I offered a simulation for people to try: predicting the time it would take and then sorting two decks of cards. We learned a lot and had fun. At the end of the meeting, one …
by Johanna Rothman. This article was originally published in October 2000, on catapulse.com During software projects, you can hear widely different attitudes toward fixing defects, depending upon priorities and motivations: “We’ll fix that when we have time. In the meantime, just keep developing! How can you possibly tell how much it will cost to fix …
What Does It Cost You To Fix A Defect? And Why Should You Care? Read More »
If this month’s guest column strikes a familiar chord with you, welcome to the club. We have all been there. Caught in the maelstrom of unrealistic requirements and damnable deadlines, we grab for whatever tactic looks like it might keep us afloat. More often than not, we start putting in longer hours and expect everyone …