The essentials of project management in under 500 words
Software development – not by PERT alone
April 1, 2013
Software is abstract, invisible and runs at extreme speeds. People who are good at building software have to possess talent at visualization and a willingness to use complex tools. When software developers become project managers (PMs), they rely on software tools to monitor, control and report on projects, just as non-technical PMs do. Problems technologists have as managers relate to people, including conflict, collaboration and just plain old listening well.
What’s wrong with complexity?
March 19, 2013
We tend to design things that are complex, and that can be our undoing.
Technical debt and causes of software instability
February 7, 2013
“Technical debt” refers to releasing software products that have significant bugs in them. The cost of removing the bugs after release must be paid if the software is to survive in the long run. So the concept is similar to financial debt: the longer you leave it unpaid, the more you must pay in compound […]
Software Development – not by PERT alone
January 21, 2013
Software is abstract, invisible and runs at extreme speeds, so the people who are good at building it have to possess a particular talent at visualization and a willingness to use complex tools. When software developers become project managers (PMs), they tend to rely on software tools. But simply having good tools will not make your project succeed. Software development projects frequently fail to produce results that the customer or end-user wants. Why?
No silver bullet
December 10, 2012
Software is in everything and we and our businesses depend on it more and more. Yet Software Quality is not rising, so we have rising numbers of failure incidents and out-of-control costs in maintaining software. What should you do about it?
When you need IT advice
September 25, 2012
When you ask for advice from an IT specialist, often the response is too technical, too closely tied to a commercial product, or simply off the mark because the underlying problems are management problems. Who can you turn to for useful and practical advice?
Why isn’t software more secure?
August 13, 2012
What makes software insecure? What vulnerabilities are there in software? Why are they always discovering new holes & vulnerabilities in our software and systems? Doesn’t testing take care of these problems? What’s an enterprise to do about insecure software?
Is your software stable or static?
July 10, 2012
In most professions, it’s good to have stability in the things you work with. With software, stability is good, but often we confuse static with stable. They are not the same. Static software decays and becomes useless.
What generates energy for your team?
June 25, 2012
How do you evaluate how well a team is functioning? A key indicator is energy. Energy is a quality of the interactions going on in the room the team is working in, a quality that you feel when you’re in the room with them. There are a variety of types of energy. A team may […]