Project Management

Microsoft Excel for software schedules

Posted January 22nd, 2007 in Project Management

Personally, I prefer Excel to clunky tools like Microsoft Project. Joel Spolsky describes a "painless way to make schedules that are actually correct" using Microsoft Excel.

12 Steps to Better Code

Posted January 22nd, 2007 in Project Management

"The neat thing about The Joel Test is that it's easy to get a quick yes or no to each question...The bummer about The Joel Test is that you really shouldn't use it to make sure that your nuclear power plant software is safe."

Alternative Release Burndown Chart for Scrum

Posted September 20th, 2006 in Project Management, Scrum

"The typical Scrum release burndown chart shows a single value--the net change in the amount of work remaining. In some cases the simplicity of this is wonderful. However, it can also mask what may be going on in a project...With this in mind, I've introduced the following type of burndown chart..."

Scrum overview

Posted September 19th, 2006 in Project Management, Scrum

A simple and easy to read overview of the Scrum development process is available at the Mountain Goat Software web site.

Scrum contractual provisions

"We also enter into 4 contractual modifications with the customer, which gives them the option, should they want to do so, to collaborate with the development teams during the project. These 4 contractual provisions are:

For any part of the requirements that the team hasn't started working on yet, the customer is free to change them with anything of equal value.
For any part of the requirements that the team hasn't started working on yet, the customer is free to reprioritise them
For any part of the work that has been delivered as increments already, the customer is free to ask the teams to implement them in addition to any call for implementations and they will be charged time and material to do so.