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The Best Way to Communicate Project Quality Concerns When you encounter quality concerns in a project, it's important to let management know. But building an overly detailed list of faults and shortcomings undermines the impact of the important points and muddles communication. To effectively convey the crucial issues, you have to prioritize. |
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Go-Live Lessons: The Path from Software Development to Production On systems integration projects where a vendor is building or configuring a system for a client, you sometimes cross the canyon from development to production and maintenance in several smaller bounds rather than one big leap. A warranty period after go-live can help stakeholders confidently monitor quality. |
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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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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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The Consequences of Project Delay An often overlooked and underappreciated aspect of project schedules is the consequences of delay on others. Due dates and commitments sometimes matter more than they appear. Knowing the larger context of your project can help you prioritize how you undertake it, consider options, and improve problem-solving. |
