Making Things Happen: Mastering Project Management (Theory in Practice)

Table of Contents......Page 7
Who should read this book......Page 13
How to use this book......Page 14
Safari® Books Online......Page 15
A brief history of project management (and why you should care)......Page 17
Using history......Page 18
Learning from failure......Page 20
Web development, kitchens, and emergency rooms......Page 21
The role of project management......Page 24
Program and project management at Microsoft......Page 25
The balancing act of project management......Page 26
Pressure and distraction......Page 28
Confusing process with goals......Page 29
The right kind of involvement......Page 30
Take advantage of your perspective......Page 31
Project managers create unique value......Page 32
Summary......Page 33
Exercises......Page 34
PartOne......Page 37
The truth about schedules......Page 39
Schedules have three purposes......Page 40
Silver bullets and methodologies......Page 42
What schedules look like......Page 43
Piecemeal development (the anti-project project)......Page 44
Agile and traditional methods......Page 45
Shooting blind from very, very far away......Page 47
A schedule is a probability......Page 48
The world is based on estimation......Page 50
Good estimates come from good designs......Page 51
The common oversights......Page 53
The snowball effect......Page 54
What must happen for schedules to work......Page 55
Exercises......Page 57
How to figure out what to do......Page 59
Software planning demystified......Page 60
Different types of projects......Page 61
How organizations impact planning......Page 62
Common planning deliverables......Page 63
Approaching plans: the three perspectives......Page 64
The business perspective......Page 65
Marketing is not a dirty word......Page 66
The technology perspective......Page 67
The customer perspective......Page 68
The magical interdisciplinary view......Page 70
Asking the right questions......Page 72
Answering the right questions......Page 73
Catalog of common bad ways to decide what to do......Page 74
The process of planning......Page 75
The daily work......Page 76
Customer research and its abuses......Page 77
Bringing it all together: requirements......Page 79
Problems become scenarios......Page 80
Summary......Page 82
Exercises......Page 83
Writing the good vision......Page 85
The value of writing things down......Page 86
How much vision do you need?......Page 87
Team goals and individual goals......Page 88
Intentional (goal-driven)......Page 90
Inspirational......Page 91
The key points to cover......Page 92
Writing well requires one primary writer......Page 94
Drafting, reviewing, and revising......Page 95
A catalog of lame vision statements (which should be avoided)......Page 97
Examples of visions and goals......Page 98
Visions should be visual......Page 99
Visualizing nonvisual things......Page 100
The vision sanity check: daily worship......Page 101
Exercises......Page 102
Where ideas come from......Page 105
The gap from requirements to solutions......Page 106
Quality requirements and avoiding mistakes......Page 107
Design exploration......Page 109
There are bad ideas......Page 111
Good or bad compared to what?......Page 112
Thinking in and out of boxes is OK......Page 113
Good questions attract good ideas......Page 115
Focusing questions......Page 116
Rhetorical questions......Page 117
Bad ideas lead to good ideas......Page 118
Good designs come from many good ideas......Page 119
Perspective and improvisation......Page 120
Improvisational rules for idea generation......Page 122
More approaches for generating ideas......Page 123
The customer experience starts the design......Page 124
A design is a series of conversations......Page 125
Summary......Page 126
Exercises......Page 127
What to do with ideas once you have them......Page 129
Ideas get out of control......Page 130
Managing ideas demands a steady hand......Page 131
Changes cause chain reactions......Page 133
Creative work has momentum......Page 135
Checkpoints for design phases......Page 136
How to consolidate ideas......Page 137
Refine and prioritize......Page 140
Where do prototypes start?......Page 141
Prototyping for projects without user interfaces......Page 142
Prototypes support programmers......Page 143
Questions for iterations......Page 144
The open-issues list......Page 145
Summary......Page 146
Exercises......Page 147
PartTwo......Page 149
Writing good specifications......Page 151
What specifications can and cannot do......Page 153
Deciding what to specify......Page 154
Specifying is not designing......Page 156
Describing the final design versus how to build it......Page 157
Good specs simplify......Page 158
Ensure the right thing will happen......Page 159
Who, when, and how......Page 160
How much is enough?......Page 161
How to manage open issues......Page 162
Closing the spec gap......Page 163
The significance of hitting spec complete......Page 164
How to review a specification......Page 165
Who should be there and how does it work?......Page 166
The list of questions......Page 167
Summary......Page 168
Exercises......Page 169
How to make good decisions......Page 171
Sizing up a decision (what’s at stake)......Page 173
Finding and weighing options......Page 176
The easy way to comparison......Page 177
Discuss and evaluate......Page 180
Sherlock Holmes, Occam’s Razor, and reflection......Page 181
Information is a flashlight......Page 182
It’s easy to misinterpret data......Page 183
Precision is not accuracy......Page 184
Some decisions have no winning choices......Page 185
Good decisions can have bad results......Page 186
Paying attention and looking back......Page 187
Summary......Page 189
Exercises......Page 190
Communication and relationships......Page 191
Management through conversation......Page 193
Relationships enhance communication......Page 194
A basic model of communication......Page 195
Common communication problems......Page 197
Defining roles......Page 200
The best work attitude......Page 202
How to get people’s best work......Page 203
The motivation to help others do their best......Page 205
Exercises......Page 206
How not to annoy people: process, email, and meetings......Page 209
A summary of why people get annoyed......Page 210
The effects of good process......Page 211
A formula for good processes......Page 214
Managing process from below......Page 215
Non-annoying email......Page 216
The good piece of email......Page 217
An example of bad email......Page 220
How to run the non-annoying meeting......Page 221
The art of facilitation......Page 222
Facilitation pointers......Page 223
Three kinds of meetings......Page 224
The evil of recurring meetings......Page 225
Meeting pointers......Page 226
Summary......Page 227
Exercises......Page 228
What to do when things go wrong......Page 229
Apply the rough guide......Page 230
Common situations to expect......Page 232
How to know you are in a difficult situation......Page 233
The list of difficult situations......Page 234
Make practice and training difficult......Page 236
Take responsibility......Page 237
Damage control......Page 238
Conflict resolution and negotiation......Page 240
Roles and clear authority......Page 242
An emotional toolkit: pressure, feelings about feelings, and the hero complex......Page 244
Pressure......Page 245
Natural and artificial pressure......Page 246
Feelings about feelings......Page 248
The hero complex......Page 249
Exercises......Page 252
PartThree......Page 255
Why leadership is based on trust......Page 257
Building and losing trust......Page 258
The elements of effective commitment......Page 259
Trust is lost through inconsistent behavior......Page 260
Make trust clear (create green lights)......Page 261
The different kinds of power......Page 262
Do not rely on granted power......Page 263
Work to develop earned power......Page 264
Trusting others......Page 265
Delegation of authority......Page 266
Trust is insurance against adversity......Page 267
Models, questions, and conflicts......Page 268
Leaders define their feedback process......Page 269
Trust and making mistakes......Page 270
Never reprimand in real time......Page 271
Trust in yourself (self-reliance)......Page 272
Summary......Page 273
Exercises......Page 274
Making things happen......Page 275
Priorities make things happen......Page 276
Common ordered lists......Page 277
Priority 1 versus everything else......Page 279
Be a prioritization machine......Page 280
Things happen when you say no......Page 281
Master the many ways to say no......Page 282
Keeping it real......Page 283
Know the critical path......Page 285
Be relentless......Page 286
Be savvy......Page 288
Guerilla tactics......Page 290
Exercises......Page 293
Middle-game strategy......Page 295
Flying ahead of the plane......Page 297
Check your sanity......Page 299
Strategic (weekly/monthly) questions for staying ahead......Page 300
Taking safe action......Page 302
Breaking commitments......Page 304
The coding pipeline......Page 305
Aggressive and conservative pipelining......Page 307
Tracking progress......Page 308
Hitting moving targets......Page 309
Dealing with mystery management......Page 311
Exploring the impact of change......Page 312
The potential reach of change......Page 313
Managing changes (change control)......Page 314
Summary......Page 315
Exercises......Page 316
End-game strategy......Page 317
Big deadlines are just several small deadlines......Page 319
Defining exit criteria......Page 320
Angle of descent......Page 322
Why it gets worse......Page 324
The rough guide to correct angles of approach......Page 325
Elements of measurement......Page 326
The daily build......Page 327
Bug/defect management......Page 328
The activity chart......Page 329
Evaluating trends......Page 330
Elements of control......Page 332
Customer/client reviews......Page 333
Triage......Page 334
Daily/weekly triage......Page 335
War team......Page 336
The end of end-game......Page 338
The release candidate (RC)......Page 339
The project postmortem......Page 340
Summary......Page 341
Exercises......Page 342
Power and politics......Page 345
The day I became political......Page 347
The sources of power......Page 349
The misuse of power......Page 351
Process causes for misuse of power......Page 353
Motivational causes for misuse of power......Page 354
Preventing misuse of power......Page 355
Clarify what you need......Page 356
Who has the power to give what you need?......Page 357
Who do they trust and respect?......Page 358
Make an assessment......Page 359
The conversation......Page 361
The multistage use of influence......Page 362
The indirect use of influence......Page 363
Make them think it’s their idea......Page 364
Creating your own political field......Page 365
Summary......Page 366
Exercises......Page 367
A guide for discussion groups......Page 369
How to start your own discussion group......Page 370
Launching the group......Page 371
The follow-through......Page 372
To innovate or not to innovate......Page 373
Train wreck in progress......Page 374
In-house or off-the-shelf......Page 375
Everything is urgent......Page 376
Philosophy and strategy......Page 377
History......Page 378
Management and politics......Page 379
Science, engineering, and architecture......Page 380
Software process and methodology......Page 381
From the previous edition......Page 385
index......Page 389
About the Author......Page 409