Better Software - December 2007 - (Page 48)

The Last Word the question, “When in June?” The hardware and software development teams cheerfully offered that they expected to have all of their work done by June 30. When I wrote this information on a whiteboard, the testing, documentation, and manufacturing groups all cried foul—their efforts required weeks of work with the final product. The distribution team simply sat in stunned silence. When I prompted team members, they explained that the marketing campaign was planned to reach a fever pitch at the end of May in anticipation of June 1 product availability. Until we put a finer point on the individual schedule targets, people were happily under the illusion that the project was working with a realistic schedule. sergeant who gave me those nuggets of wisdom—I would like to let him know that he helped save my clients a lot of money and grief. Some parts of software project management are a lot like navigating through a swamp at night: It’s hard to know exactly where you are, there are risks lurking below the surface that can reach up and bite you, and, when faced with uncertainty and unfamiliar territory, it is tempting to bluff, push on, and hope for the best. Software projects need honesty, clarity, and project leaders who know how to demonstrate these behaviors and elicit them from the team. {end} Payson Hall is a systems engineer and consulting project manager for Catalysis Group in Sacramento, California. He has consulted on a variety of public and private sector projects in both North America and Europe during his twentysix-year career. He can be reached at payson@catalysisgroup.com. T E LL U S WH A T Y O U LI K E (OR DON ’T L IKE ) ABOUT T HIS OR AN Y OT HER ISS UE OF B ET TE R SO F TW A RE M AGAZIN E . Letters to the Editor may be emailed to editors@bettersoftware.com. Include your full name, address, and daytime phone number. We are unable to publish all letters and may edit letters for length and clarity. Out of the Swamp On that dark and humbling night in a Georgia swamp, I didn’t know that I was learning communication lessons that would be worth sharing thirty years later. I wish I could recall the name of the Index to Advertisers AutomatedQA Better Software Conference & EXPO Blueprint Empirix HP Software IBM McCabe Software, Inc. MKS, Inc. Net Objectives Pragmatic Programmers Rally Software Seapine Software Smart Bear SQE eLearning SQE Training STAREAST 2008 StickyMinds.com SQE Web Seminars 48 BETTER SOFTWARE DECEMBER 2007 www.testcomplete.com www.sqe.com/bettersoftwareconf www.blueprint.com www.empirix.com www.hp.com/go/software www.IBM.com/TAKEBACKCONTROL/INNOVATE www.mccabe.com www.mks.com www.netobjectives.com www.pragmaticprogrammer.com www.rallydev.com/bsm www.seapine.com codecollab.com www.sqe.com/eMTD www.sqe.com/Training www.sqe.com/StarEast www.StickyMinds.com www.sqe.com/WebSeminars www.StickyMinds.com Inside Front Cover 42 43 1 Back Cover 18 5 45 Inside Back Cover 44 8 2 13 17 46 6 31 25 Display Advertising Shae Young syoung@sqe.com All Other Inquiries info@bettersoftware.com Better Software (USPS: 019-578, ISSN: 1532-3579) is published twelve times per year. Subscription rate is US $75 per year. A US $35 shipping charge is incurred for all non-US addresses. Payments to Software Quality Engineering must be made in US funds drawn from a US bank. For more information, contact info@ bettersoftware. com or call (800) 450-7854. Back issues may be purchased for $15 per issue (plus shipping). Volume discounts available. Entire contents © 2007 by Software Quality Engineering (330 Corporate Way, Suite 300, Orange Park, FL 32073), unless otherwise noted on specific articles. The opinions expressed within the articles and contents herein do not necessarily express those of the publisher (Software Quality Engineering). All rights reserved. No material in this publication may be reproduced in any form without permission. Reprints of individual articles available. Call for details. Periodicals Postage paid in Orange Park, FL, and other mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Better Software, 330 Corporate Way, Suite 300, Orange Park, FL 32073, info@ bettersoftware. com. http://www.testcomplete.com http://www.sqe.com/bettersoftwareconf http://www.blueprint.com http://www.empirix.com http://www.hp.com/go/software http://www.IBM.com/TAKEBACKCONTROL/INNOVATE http://www.mccabe.com http://www.mks.com http://www.netobjectives.com http://www.pragmaticprogrammer.com http://www.rallydev.com/bsm http://www.seapine.com http://codecollab.com http://www.sqe.com/eMTD http://www.sqe.com/Training http://www.sqe.com/StarEast http://StickyMinds.com http://www.StickyMinds.com http://www.sqe.com/WebSeminars http://www.StickyMinds.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Better Software - December 2007

Better Software - December 2007 Contents Mark Your Calendar What's Happening @ StickyMinds.com Technically Speaking Code Craft Test Connection Management Chronicles Man and Machine Let Your Values be Your Guide A Story About User Stories and Test-driven Development Product Announcements The Last Word Ad Index

Better Software - December 2007

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