All You Can Read On Program and Project Management
Decision Making Process For Making Decisions Quick
Program and project managers have to master decision making. Typically PMs are expected to make a decision and justify that this is the best decision. In this post I share with you the process for making a decision that I have formulated some time ago from studying theory, best practices, and observing others.
Learning Project Management Skills From John Cleese
No matter you call it soccer or football, like it or don’t like, fan of American football or soccer, as long as you are a project manager, in John Cleese rant video you can learn several tricks to improve your effective communication skill, become better in team building and motivation. Read more…
Program vs. Project Management in Program Manager Position
The other day my friend asked me about differences between program management and project management in software company such as Microsoft. After our conversation I thought about sending her links to articles that talk about this topic in detail. To my surprise, all articles I was able to find were just discussing theoretical definitions given by PMI in their books of knowledge. Perhaps in some companies program managers perform activities that PMI talks about. I have yet to learn about such company in software industry. There is much simpler and easier definition of the program manager role and PM responsibilities when it comes to software. This is why I have decided to summarize differences between program and project management which I have learned from my experience. Read more…
Program Manager Skills That Bad PMs Miss
Perry Wilson posted an interesting post on comparing good PMs to bad PMs who achieve success because they are lucky. She has several interesting observations to which I agree. For example, Perry shares great observation that only experienced project manager can answer specific questions such as “What are the current issues in the project?”. To know the list of the open issues and to recall the list when asked, PM has to stay on top of the issues and this takes experience and skill. Read more…
Short list of factors contributing to project success
Continue the conversation on lessons learned from failures and experience gained from success, Ronda Levine has prepared a post on factors that contribute to failure or success of a project. This post is another proof of how easy to list reasons from failures and how hard to define factors contributing to the success. Read more…
Invest in learning from successes, focus less on mistakes
Have you ever asked yourself about how much exactly have you learned from a failure? And did you ever compared the amount of knowledge you gained from a failure with the amount of expertise you gained from a success? I believe that lessons we learn from our mistakes are not that helpful to us as the knowledge we gain from a success. Read more…
Project Management Books You Need To Pass PMP Exam
If you are preparing for the Project Management Professional (PMP) exam, then you need three books to pass the exam on the first attempt. I use these three books to prepare for the PMP exam and passed the exam on the first attempt. These books are: Read more…
Start Effective Email With Catchy Subject Line
If you are interested in your email noticed by those who receive it, you must use a catchy email subject line. Especially if you have to use email to attract attention of people who you have never met. Bad subject line is one of the main reason for why you may not receive any reply to your email. Forming good subject line that catches readers attention is simple if you follow the three rules listed below. Read more…
Feature In Software Product – Definition
In software, the term “feature” used to mean so many things. If you mix into the picture definitions of features in other products like phones, electronics, etc., then the definition of a feature becomes completely unclear. Some time ago I have decided to find a formal document that defines what the feature is a software product. Surprisingly the powerful search engines did not help me to find documents that define this term. As a second step, I had started asking the community of program and project managers. From answers and existing documents pointed out to me, I felt that the most appropriate definition for a feature is:
Feature is a discrete unit of unique and attractive functionality of a product that delivers measurable benefit to customers.
Note that the definition implies that a feature must be a part of a work required to achieve product goals. I never quite figured out how to tie this implied meaning into the definition. I will leave like this for now.
Four questions to help you demonstrate effective communication in your emails
Every day we communicate with many people at work. Have you ever asked yourself whether your email is an effective form of communication? How did you measure that the effectiveness to get to the answer? I believe there are four questions that you can ask yourself about your email to understand how effective your email is. Read more…
WordPress Blog as Project Management tool?
Here is a very interesting how to topic. Apparently we can use WordPress blog for project management. Apparently all we need to do is:
i) Choose P2 or GTD Templatic or Prologue theme.
ii) Add plugins such as CollabPress, WP-Project, WP-Task-Manager, WP-Polls or several others
And here is your wordpress blog ready for project management.
I guess it just an another example that for a small team and small projects the project management becomes very simple and a very simple tools meet the needs. After all, as long as you have a team, have a way to communicate with the team and manage your work items list, you can succeed in your projects.
Best Application for Blogging on iPhone
For weeks now, I have been using WordPress for iPhone application for blogging. What a great application! Simple but yet very effective. I use it to draft posts on my ride to work in a bus. Or when I have 10-15 minutes of free time between meetings. Or when I just have time for blogging. This is definitely the best application for blogging on iPhone. If you run your blog on WordPress and have an iPhone, give this application a try. I bet you like it too.
Simple Issue Tracking in Small Teams
A colleague of mine has asked me the other day about a simple way to track open issues in a feature crew. If you are not familiar with feature crews, it is basically 10-15 people working on a feature in a software product. I have tried several techniques and tools in my years. In result, I have learned that sometime a very simple technique works just fine, which I describe below. Read more…
Why Performance Reviews Are Hated By Everyone?
WSJ has published a great article on how performance reviews are hated by everyone in corporations. It raises a good topic, but in my opinion it fails to answer why performance reviews are hated. It focuses only on how manager communicates with her or his reports. Perhaps it may make performance reviews better, but it does not the fix the real problem. I believe communication is not the key reason for many corporate employers hate performance reviews. In my opinion, the true reason is that many managers when they go over a performance review with an employee, they loose connection between performance and review’s result. Primarily because managers forget about employee’s performance because reviews are done once or twice a year.
Employees need evaluations they can believe and based on achievements they still remember. This is why evaluations have to happen often like every month or every quarter. The goal is to evaluate something that everyone still remembers. And good work, smart work has to be reward right away. Everyone has to clearly understand the connection between working harder, doing it smarter, producing more and the next paycheck or amount of the bonus.
Only if performance reviews build a strong connection between how smart an employee worked and the reward she receives when both parties remember that work clearly, only then performance reviews are useful.
Project Manager Checklist to Achieve Success
Some time ago I came across an interesting article with eight advices to project managers . Reading it prompt me to think about a checklist that project managers can follow to ensure a success of a project. It took me a little while to develop this idea. However I have finally started on building a list, which you may find below.
- Clearly document the scope, goals, and objectives of the project and get sponsor signed off on them.
- Take time to carefully plan the project with the team.
- Keep sponsor and stakeholders involved with the project.
- Spend time on identifying and anticipating problems and do your best to prevent them from realizing.
- Make sure to understand project tasks and work items well enough to identify risks that may realize when the work is performed.
- Always use detailed tracking and keep track of progress your team makes against the schedule.
- Ensure clear assignments for team members.
- Know your team and listen effectively to them. Work with them on preventing problems and finding solutions.
It is not a complete list today. But I will use this page to update it and eventually to complete it.
Some other posts on this topic:
If you have your project manager’s checklist that you use to achieve success in your projects, please leave a comment with a link. I would be happy to work with you on integrating your list with the list in this post.
Negotiating With Difficult People Without Giving In
Negotiating is a task that Program Manager and Project Managers have to do often. The other person may be either a project team member or your stakeholder or sponsor. Several general principles of effective communication listed in this post can help you to quickly find a compromise and preserve if not improve your relation with that person. Read more…
How to develop plugin to WordPress
Today after installing Twitter Tools plugin on my blog, I’ve got curious about how WordPress plugin actually integrates with the blog and how one can develop it. I have started search for some good articles. First, there is a brief documentation on writing plugins on the main site, see Writing a Plugin page. The steps to develop plugin are as follows: Read more…
Writing Blog using Windows Live Writer
When it comes to writing for your blog, it is very handy to write posts offline in rich text editors and then publish them online. There are two software products that I find useful for this task:
- Microsoft Word allows you create posts and publish them online. I like to use it because of its provides rich grammar and spelling check including readability report. Unfortunately, Word does not have good integration with blogs engines. Especially it often fails to publish pictures.
- Windows Live Writer also allows you to create posts, publish them and check for spelling error. In addition, it is very easy to integrate with most if not all blog engines. I do not like the text editing experience in the writer that much. However I have to admit that Windows Live Writer is the best program for blog writers at this point.
To summary, I recommend Windows Live Writer for writing blog posts offline. Below are steps you need to take to connect your blog and Windows Live Writer. Read more…
Welcome to this blog on program and project management in software engineering!
This site is about all parts of program management and project management in software engineering. I, Mykola Dudar, is your host. I was building software as a developer since 1998. In 2004, I became a program manager to focus on process and business side of software engineering. I have been working on various software products since then. If you are interested in learning more about me, check out my professional profile at Linkedin, http://www.linkedin.com/in/mykoladudar. If you have suggestions, questions, comments and advices, please do share those with me using the contact form of this blog.
