Are you implementing a package in a distributed application development environment? You need a plan for the full implementation cycle, from planning and requirements analysis through deployment. Here's a sample from a Warehousing/Shipping environment.
How risky is your project schedule? This assessment template will help you catch scheduling risks and address them before they become problems.
A gantthead classic! Sure, this client server architectures final report, taken from real life, is not exactly state-of-the-art. Technology has changed a bit since it was written. What hasn't changed, however, is the excellent way this report is put together. Use its structure as a guide to putting together something awesome of your own.
Function points are a measure of the size of a software system. To convert function points into levels of effort, the productivity of the enterprise's development teams must be known or estimated. This three-for-one zipped deliverable includes a document explaining function point analysis, instructions on how to apply a function point analysis and a worksheet set up for an Albrecht function point analysis.
There is a lot riding on your project's work breakdown structure. Use this worksheet to help you plan the WBS smarter and better.
For better site performance, you need to host with a provider that can enable fast and reliable data transmission. Use this checklist when trying to find the right match for your needs.
Any software project larger than a few weeks will benefit from a carefully crafted development environment. This includes tools such as compilers, editors, debuggers, the build system and the configuration management system.
Technical debt describes the cumulative consequences of cutting corners in software development, but it escapes the attention of many project managers as they focus on scope and schedule. That’s a mistake because it impacts both. Here are questions to help you ascertain the real state of technical affairs.
Good PMO policy requires that risks get evaluated before projects go forward. Use this sample questionnaire to give you ideas on how to structure your own risk assessment surveys.
A new survey by IIBA and Forrester provides information about business analysts, including backgrounds, skills, responsibilities and aspirations.
How can you adapt Scrum-like tools and techniques within a Waterfall project management environment? What can you do to reduce resistance and reap the benefits Scrum has to offer? In short, how can you get down and Scrummy within a Waterfall world? Here are some ideas you might find useful.
Agile vendors have done a good job providing project managers and product owners with planning and tracking tools. But the primary creators of project deliverables are software developers, and they have consistently been an afterthought. To scale across the enterprise, Agile work processes must embrace the individual contributors doing the actual work.
While a few project circumstances deserve special treatment, most don’t. Your workload is large enough and you don’t want team members manipulating data for a “one-off” report unless it’s absolutely necessary. Here are five ways to limit--or even eliminate--special reports.
Despite this global recession, the competitive landscape keeps becoming more urgent and faster paced. You will be expected to keep managing new projects to keep your organization competitive--but will do so with less (and exhausted) resources, tight budgets and more scrutiny for success. How does one meet such challenges and succeed? One of the agile practices tailor made for such an environment is the Lean method.
Are you prepared to design? The end of the analysis phase is a milestone in an application development project, prime time to assess the accuracy and completeness of the business models and technical design thus far. Use this comprehensive review form to catch all the red flags and guide the development of design specs.
Outsourcing your software development project is risky, but it can be a cost-effective business move if you select your outsourcing partners very carefully. Use this checklist of criteria to evaluate a candidate vendor's reputation, stability, capability, cost and overall ability to deliver.
This comprehensive project plan proposes a Rapid Application Development (RAD) approach to implementing a complete customer business service system (processing of customer contacts, accounts, billing, etc.). It reports the findings of a six-week planning/investigative phase and forecasts the analysis, design, construction and testing phases of the project.
This Microsoft Project plan reflects the activities for documenting the functionality of a distributed application system in a retail environment, i.e., order processing, pricing, inventory, shipping, customer and distributor administration, marketing, etc.
Are you putting together a data warehouse? This Microsoft Project plan will help you keep tabs on all the complex stages and steps involved in building decision support systems and a knowledge-based applications architecture and environment.
How does your system development project account for software version changes? Backup and recovery of data and files? Requirements changes? Check your score on software configuration management so that you can avoid pitfalls down the road.
Improved deliverable! Use this training plan to prepare your project team to hit the ground running and get the just-in-time skills, business policy and application training they need to do the job.
To achieve a Zen culture of Scrum will take time, resources and a radical paradigm shift. Is it worth it? Yes, because this practice places humans--not processes or techniques--at the center of an organization. Let's learn more about a valuable history.
International Institute of Business Analysis and Agile Alliance seek feedback from users of new Agile Extension to BABOK Guide.
Agile methods have boomed in influence and practice, as organizations of all sizes and types acknowledge that linear thinking won’t cut it in a complex business world. But what does it actually mean to be Agile? This three-part series explores the question, focusing on the most popular agile approach, Scrum.
As a manger or coach, if you don’t change a pacesetter’s behavior you run a high risk of being held hostage by one person’s abilities--and pay a cost in team productivity. This article is about a pacesetter as a team member on an agile software development team. In this installment, we discuss useful approaches to dealing with these sometimes problematic people.
Should your development teams stay with a product from birth to retirement, or should there be “expert” teams for the different needs of each stage of the lifecycle? Here we look at the advantages of both--and the real world factors that you also need to consider.
Agile adoption outside of software is nothing new--it dates back very close to the origin of today’s agile methods, predating the term “agile”. However, what is new and noteworthy is the rate and scale of non-software agile adoption being witnessed today. Now--as more companies than ever are exposed to agile methods in their IT practices--these methods are being employed beyond the regular IT domain.
As a manger or coach, if you don’t change a pacesetter’s behavior you run a high risk of being held hostage by one person’s abilities--and pay a cost in team productivity. This article is about a pacesetter as a team member on an agile software development team. We will explain what a pacesetter is, why it’s a problem and the effect that a pacesetter has on agile software development.
Stop the insanity! These three tactics are designed to help you solve today’s leadership problems and distinguish yourself as an effective leader--just when your workforce needs as many as it can get.
You've muddled through the selection, structure, standards and organization steps of your DW project--now what? It's time to execute. Get the tools you need to work through the daily DW grind. Use them correctly, and you can avoid or resolve common problems.
Need help developing an IT strategic plan for an organization? Look no further than this project plan.
Are you lucky enough to keep team members for the entire project? If not, utilizing standards in coding, such as these, will help speed up the integration of new team members along the course of the project.
We have to be able to understand the environment in which we and our projects are operating, and more importantly we also have to be able to operate and manage effectively within it--including how to deal with people and customers. With acceptance of this reality, we quickly find ourselves firmly within the realm of organizational politics. For many, this is not a place that they like to be.
This form is designed to assist the project manager with managing workforce performance beyond the traditional training plan, as substandard performance can be caused by many factors other than inadequate training.
The head of the PMO has a significant responsibility to the project managers to act as career coaches and mentors. Are you taking that role seriously?
Three-day event in Boston will explore how serious play, collaboration and experiential learning apply to the field of agile software development and project management.
A $250 million investment over three years will expand technology consulting capabilities in the areas of security, workplace automation, enterprise networks and data centers.
How do we adapt in the face of consistency, or of anarchy or of brutal regimentation? As project managers, the only thing we really have control over is ourselves. Given this, how do we change our approach in a way that enables us to be effective in producing project results, rather than bashing our head repeatedly against an unfeeling and unchanging wall of bureaucracy? Here we take a look at adaptation in the face of organizational consistency.
ITIL appears ready for prime time. So why isn't it being implemented with great success across the board in IT organizations? As we continue to look at how you can successfully evolve ITIL standards into your organization, we present the remainder of ITIL’s modules along with implementation recommendations.
Here are some key recommendations for organizations with distributed teams who are looking to make the transition to agile software development. When working with distributed teams that are adapting agile practices to their environment, use these values as one guide to keep them from straying off the agile path.
The former senior vice president of program management for USAA is the new “executive in residence” at Planview, where he continues to help organizations marry IT results with business goals on a global scale. Here, he shares some lessons learned and advice for project managers.
There is lots of great information available on how to use agile methods for custom software development projects, but less so for package implementations. Commercial-Off-The-Shelf solutions make up a large percentage of the IT projects undertaken by companies each year, and many organizations are missing out on benefits that an agile package approach can bring.
Building a system requires more than just programming¾ you need a methodology. Learn how to make your methodology and a development environment work together.
Ever stop to ponder all the different PM frameworks that have been developed over the years and which one you should be using in your organization? Is there really one best framework out there? The options are dizzying, so here we take a look at four of them in depth. What can they do for you? Remember, one size does not fit all...
What are the business drivers for enterprise project portfolio management, what are the consolidation challenges and what is the solution?
This will be the first in a series of articles that will look to provide the background of issues involved with managing an agile software development project under a traditionally linear and sequential project procurement process. Software development has been deliberately chosen for the example industry since that’s the domain for which agile is most typically used, but for those using agile in other industry domains, the general issues and proposed solution should work equally well within your industry.
PM principles state that there should be absolute clarity in obtaining the requirements. If the fog of ambiguity clouds this phase, the delivered project will never be accepted by the stakeholders. Here we examine some of the glaring issues in the requirements management process.
As a project manager, when you are assembling your team you might feel that your team members could use some skill development. A few might need software training while some others may require some project management education. Questions are swimming through your head: Where do I start? What competency am I trying to create? How urgent is it? What are the individual learning styles of the team members? What type of learning is actually needed and how will I know people got what they needed out of the training? You could just send them all on the same training courses but perhaps it's possible to create a dynamic training environment on your project..
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Runaway costs are pretty easy to spot--but reducing them is another story. In this review, a book with a number of components that make it a reference or every IT manager is examined.
Linux is giving rise to a new crop of native Linux development tools and is propelling many development shops toward a true cross-platform development environment, in which Linux and other operating systems coexist.
