The Mythical Man-Month, part 2 (CS 428, Winter 2019)
My in-class lecture covering chapters 4, 7, 11 and 14 of The Mythical Man-Month by Fred Brooks.
View ArticleThe Mythical Man-Month by Fred Brooks, part 1 (CS 428, Winter 2019)
My in-class lecture covering the first few chapters of The Mythical Man-Month by Fred Brooks.
View ArticleCS 428 (Fall Semester, 9/11): Lecture on The Mythical Man-Month (Brooks),...
OK, it’s a bit embarrassing to realize it’s been nine months since I last posted here. But a new semester has started, and with it, my lectures on software engineering for CS 428 (at Brigham Young...
View ArticleTeaching CS 428 (Software Engineering) at BYU
This (Winter 2017) semester, I am teaching Computer Science 428 — “Software Engineering” — for the Brigham Young University Computer Science department. I am actually taking over this class from Dr....
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Remember Conway’s Law
Some years ago, I was called in to lead a team of three other people in reviewing a major project at a Fortune 50 corporation. This project, which I’ll call QUBE, was a major end-to-end re-engineering...
View ArticleThe 5 books every IT manager should read right now
In a prior post I talked about setting up a reading program for your IT department. However, whether or not you can get your IT engineers to read, you yourself need to be aware of the fundamental...
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Septic code: why some large IT projects never go into production
I should actually have a photo of a septic wound here, but you really don’t want to see that. A common pattern in the failure of large IT software projects is “the Never-Ending Story”, which I...
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Active risk management: doing IT projects right
In a prior post, I talked about IT project risk management and gave a real-world example of doing it wrong, with the expected consequences. But some organizations do it right, and it’s worth looking...
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Active risk management: doing IT projects wrong
IT projects are typically full of risks. There can be many human factors, many external factors, and many unknown factors, all of which can interact in unexpected ways. Because of that, it is critical...
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Do not defer the difficult in IT projects
When an IT project starts, those involved — both managers and developers — want to feel that they’re making progress. They also want to demonstrate that progress to those above them in the...
View ArticlePushing for the right IT project solution
In my last post, I talked about some of the reasons why large organizations often reject the best solutions for a troubled IT project: fear, pride, budget, and the ever-present internal politics. This...
View ArticleResistance to the right IT project solution
Over lunch some years back, Barry Glasco (a colleague) and I were reminiscing about corporate IT projects that we’d worked on as consultants over the years. Typically, these were large systems that...
View ArticleDistributed Development (Part I)
The idea of an IT project team spread out over a wide geographical area is an old one. It became practical in the late ’70s and early ’80s, with the advent of hard disk drives — instead of punched...
View ArticleThe Many-Headed Beast on the Three-Legged Stool
Within a given organization — corporate or governmental — three separate groups exist that can determine the success or failure of your IT project. This is true whether you’re a senior IT project...
View ArticleLies, Damned Lies, and Project Metrics (Part III)
[Here are links to Part I and Part II] In the prior two parts (links above), I covered the ideal qualities of metrics (informative and, preferably, predictive; objective; and automated), and why it’s...
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Lies, Damned Lies, and Project Metrics (Part II)
[Part I is here.] In my previous post, I talked about the use of metrics in IT project management and the three qualities of an ideal metric: informative and preferably predictive, objective, and...
View ArticleWeighing in on Project Orca
[Cross posted from And Still I Persist] [Note: I am currently in transit from Colorado to Florida and am composing this post as I have time and 'net access.] “All the most important mistakes are made...
View ArticleNew series of posts (at bfwa.com): Readings in Software Engineering
Over at bfwa.com, I’ve started a new series of posts that will present brief reviews of and excerpts from my library of software engineering and IT project management texts. Here’s the introduction to...
View ArticleFascinating look inside Microsoft
The KIN debacle (product canceled after five weeks; reports of actual phones sold range from 8,000 all the way down to 500), followed by Microsoft’s announcement of layoffs, has triggered on-line...
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The Sessions paper: an analytical critique
Roger Sessions has published a white paper, “The IT Complexity Crisis: Danger and Opportunity” (PDF). It’s created a bit of a stir in tech circles, largely because Sessions estimates that “worldwide,...
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