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Software Project Management: The Responsibility of Communicating Quality Trade-Offs Some requirements are negotiable, even if it sounds like they aren’t. But expectations have to be managed carefully to avoid problems. Payson Hall explains that when executives agree to sacrifice quality in order to hit a deadline, it's up to the team to ensure they understand the tradeoff and possible risks. |
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Agile Methods for Tackling the Work You Don’t Want to Do We all have work we don't want to do. Some of it is boring or unpleasant, but there's another type: work we don't know if we can finish to our satisfaction. It's hard to tackle a task you're not an expert at. Johanna Rothman offers two classic project management approaches to face the work you're putting off. |
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Creating Effective Processes to Deliver Quality Software Delivering complex systems depends on software processes that guide the work on a daily basis. Much has been written about the evils of verbose waterfall processes, but the truth is that not having enough process also makes it impossible to deliver enterprise software without making many mistakes. |
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Pick a Chicken: How to Prioritize and Get More Done A project manager was having trouble with his list of projects, all of which were behind schedule. They were all vitally important, so he was in a state of thrash with too many options to choose from. Luckily, Payson Hall was able to help him—thanks to his childhood experiences chasing chickens on a farm. |
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Validate Your Core Business Assumptions Early On Verifying whether a product is being built per specifications is only solving half of the problem. Validation is a very significant activity performed by testers to ensure that the final product is ready for consumption by users and answers an important question. Are we building the right product? |
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Who’s Responsible for What? Use a RACI Matrix to Keep It Straight As projects get larger and more complex, roles and responsibilities can become confusing. To clarify, teams can create a RACI matrix: a chart that shows who is Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed for any work product. Each role has a different level of authority, so everyone knows their duty. |
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Agile Does Not Equal Scrum: Know the Difference Some people say “agile/Scrum,” as though they’re the same thing. They're not! Scrum is just one way to approach agile. Johanna Rothman defines each concept and also addresses kanban and Extreme Programming, two more approaches. Don't write off agile until you've explored different ways it could work for you. |
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IoT Devices: Why Accessibility Should Be Your First Priority Just because something is new, shiny, and more fully featured doesn’t mean that everyone is going to want to use it. Even if your IoT-enabled smart grill is voice-activated, it still has to be both consistently functional and as easy to use as a regular grill. |
