Protecting The Guilty
Microsoft Project is a great tool. Many of my government clients use it. But, it is no substitute for good project management.
To protect the guilty, I will mention no names, but I will state the following.
- Do not just assign deadlines. Ask developers to plan and map out the work and provide estimates.
- A todo list is NOT a proper plan.
- Manage people not lists.
- Build a team, and the software will build itself.
- Screenshots are not requirements.
- Developers need to understand the requirements and the business to do a good job.
- Quality is not an accident, and it is not the work on any one person.
- The fish rots from the head.
I want to speak to the first point today.
A team will rarely meet a deadline that was set by a project manager who has not asked the team for an estimate. For one thing, the date is meaningless because, at best, it represents some managers best guess. As a group, developers do not respect uninformed opinion, and that is how they regard dates that are picked out of the air.
It is difficult to motivate developers to meet these dates if you disregard their expertise. When developers are treated as replaceable cogs, you can see the lack of faith and commitment on the faces of each developer at every status meeting. Nobody speaks up.
Members of the team share neither speak about enthusiasm nor doubt. They come in, do their work, and go home. Apathy rules the day. As I have heard one person say, “Government cheques don’t bounce. That’s all that matters.”
Basically, developers need to buy-in to the deadline. When I provide an estimate, it is a matter of pride to accomplish the work in the time I have forecast. I have not excuse and I know it.
Many of the managers I have dealt with in my recent government work have not wanted to even ask the question. They believe that developers, especially consultants, will pad the estimates. Therefore, they provide a due date, and assume an adversarial stance from the word go. The work often takes longer because they micromanage or change the project plan to make up for lost time.
In my next few entries, I want to reflect on project management on some of my recent projects. For useful information, and real insight into project management, visit the Project Management Hut.
Personally I find knowing that March 1st is always a deadline for something, comforting.