Newsletter of the East Bay Chapter of STC
March/April 2004

Helping Make Projects Work—Common-Sense Practices

by Jon Rude

Jon Rude is Director, Program Management Office for Saillant Consulting Group, Denver, Colorado. Jon has been managing software development projects for 15 years in a variety of industries.

Project management, like technical communication, is a distinct professional discipline that requires years of experience to master. On the other hand, the average project team can improve its effectiveness without any knowledge of the formal tools that professional project managers use. That’s because the essence of a successful project is based on common sense. If you manage projects, make sure your team follows these few basic disciplines. If you’re a member of a project team, focusing on these keys can help drive your project to a successful conclusion.

Scope Management: “Requirements, Requirements, and Requirements”

It is said that the three keys to success in real estate are “location, location, and location.” It can also be said that the three keys to success on a project are “requirements, requirements, and requirements.” There are very few problems on projects that don’t somehow originate from requirement errors. Requirements are the basis for estimates, schedules, budgets, and quality. If the project’s requirements are not well defined and understood, are not accurately recorded, or (shockingly common) don’t even exist in written form, odds are high that the project will falter in some serious ways.

As a project manager or as a team member, do whatever you can to discover, document, and manage the requirements that will define your work on the project. If no one else has done so, write the requirements down and keep them up to date. You will quickly make friends. Managing requirements is a challenge, but steadfastness on this point will avoid serious pitfalls down the road.

Time Management: Estimates—Say What You Really Think

Developing or agreeing to unrealistic estimates in the belief that it helps the team is Cardinal Sin #1: Heroic Estimating. If you’re ever fortunate enough to have a really good idea about how long it takes to do something, don’t compromise in order to please the team or the boss.

It can be exceedingly hard to stand up for realistic estimates. Management usually doesn’t want to hear them, let alone accept them. This is a source of great conflict for every project team. Still, for project health and personal sanity, it is critical for every project team member to say what they really think. Preparing and understanding realistic estimates early on can help a project team make important decisions about scope, schedule, and resources.

If you are managing others on a project, always look for signs of overoptimistic thinking. Keep exploring with your team until everyone is comfortable with the projections. If you are a project team member, do yourself and your team a favor by keeping your estimates realistic and not heroic.

Communications Management: Bad News Does Not Improve With Age

A close relative of Heroic Estimating is Cardinal Sin #2: Heroic Silence. If Heroic Estimating is the crime, Heroic Silence is the cover-up. Attempting to work harder to make up for a bad estimate is risky at best. I’m sure the following dialogue is familiar to anyone who’s ever been on a project team.

Project meeting, two weeks before deadline—Heroic Estimating

Project Manager: “We have to ship in two weeks. How’s the framstat development coming along?”

Team Member: (Says) “Two weeks is fine; not a problem.” (Thinks) “Gonna be really tough, but I can get it done.”

Project meeting, one week before deadline—Heroic Silence

Project Manager: “How’s the framstat development going?”

Team Member: (Says) “Looks good.” (Thinks) “I’m in deep trouble. But, if I work 120 straight hours, abandon my family, and eat out of the vending machines, I can get it done.”

Release day review meeting—The Crisis

Project Manager: “Did you check the framstat into production?”

Team Member: “I need a little more time.”

Project Manager: “How much more time?”

Team Member: “One week…I’m having problems at home…stop pushing me!”

As a project manager, make sure you look for the usually obvious signs of a team member who is overextended, stressed out, and just plain miserable. As a project team member, when you know a task cannot be completed on time for any reason, let the right person know immediately. There is nothing worse than to announce a schedule slip on delivery day.

There is not a reasonable manager in the world (no accounting for unreasonable ones) who wouldn’t prefer an honest dialogue about a problem or concern while there is still time left in the project schedule to do something about it. With enough lead time, it’s possible that the problem could be fixed by adding another resource, by reducing scope, or by extending the schedule.

Making Projects Successful

There are many other fundamentals that project teams can use to help manage their efforts, but if everyone on a project team focuses on requirements, realistic estimates, and timely communications, the chances for project success improve dramatically.

Resources

Following are references that address team-level project success in some different ways. Although these books are typically found in the software development section of the bookstore, they contain useful information for any type of technical professional interested in projects.

Journey of the Software Professional—A Sociology of Software Development, by Luke Hohmann. This is a very unusual book. It’s not a cover-to-cover read, but is packed with novel ways of looking at how technical teams and processes work. Extensive bibliography.

Software Project Survival Guide, by Steve McConnell. This well-known book is still a good source for practical project tips. Good emphasis on the checklist—an underutilized tool.

Exploring Requirements—Quality Before Design, by Gause & Weinberg. One of the best books on understanding requirements early in project development. Not software-specific.

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