As a manager I am learning some key lessons in managing people. I have learnt that success of a project and hence success of a project manager largely depends on the people management skills. While people management is most important job of a manager, it is also a difficult one. So what have I learnt? […]
Why do software projects fail? – we wonder. Here is what Steve McConnel has to say in his book “Software Project Survival Guide”. An excellent quote – Software projects fail for one of two general reasons: the project team lacks the knowledge to conduct a software project successfully, or the project team lacks the resolve to […]
Earlier in by career, when I handled a lot of processes (based on industry best practices), I thought of best practices as a solution to day to day software issues from poor requirements to testing. I used to “go by books” when it came to implementing these best practices. Gradually, as I advanced in my area […]
One of my favorite stickyminds columnists Esther Derby writes about approaching a conflict in style. Some very useful insights here. Over at Clarrus Compedium we have good posts on “Comfortable Communication” in “People tips” section. Worth having a look. Esther Derby, on her weblog, writes about conducting better retrospectives in her post titled “Instead of […]
There is always an internal conflict between what our gut feeling tell us and what our reasoning reveals. Normally, people choose to follow their reasoning, because its logical and probably supported by others around. I called up one of my team members and informed him that in he could have added a few more details […]
The work of a software tester on software projects is much like diagnosis doctors do. There is no scope for ambiguity when a doctor diagnoses. Before a doctor reveals his diagnosis, a lot of symptom analysis and mind work goes into it. A doctor has to be very precise in reporting the problems as he diagnoses. […]
I am revisiting the topic of project communication again. Earlier, I wrote a post on “Quality of Project Communication” where I also summarized the aspects of effective communication. In software projects, teams spend over 50% of time in communication – communication on project start up, scope, requirements, design, development standards, issues, clarifications, reviews and so on. […]
One of the most difficult portions of executing a software project is the user acceptance phase since a lot of changes in the application are suggested during UAT. Project managers might think "Why can't the stakeholders anticipate these things in requirements phase?" or "We are getting changes even after getting the prototypes approved." Fair. But […]
The following quote by Steve McConnell emphasizes on importance of processes in software projects. Poor quality results from weak process structure. Processes that enable teams to do "right" things first time not only improve the overall effectiveness but also improve the quality. Test results are just a measure of the overall product quality. Testing by itself does not improve software […]