The importance of an architectural review board

Many firms have no organization when it comes to development except Code – Test – UAT – Release. Especially in the age of exponentially increasing cybercrime, architectural review, not just code review, is a foundational practice. Developers that skirt around this step introduce costly and harmful elements into a company’s technology landscape and eventually network

Unemployment Insurance Tips

As I see the count of people applying for jobs for PM’s move past 400, I am reminded many of my fellow IT workers and all job hunters for that matter may have a need to file for unemployment. Some tips in doing so: It’s kinda your money anyway — You pay into several buckets

User Understanding

  When involved in an acquisition or divestiture, keep in mind the stress, fears, and pressures your user base is undergoing apart from the demands your project is adding to their reality. This calls for patience and grace in abundance, including a personal visit or phone call instead of text/email/Skype, creating special instructions, scheduling, or

Exclusions

Exclusions are anything that isn’t included as a deliverable or work for the project. It’s important to list exclusions in your scope documentation so there is no misunderstanding about features or deliverables once the product is complete.  Think of exclusions as corporate or user assumptions all interested parties might make from the gist or title

Just Get More People, Right?

Wrong.  Consider the following when you are behind in schedule or have a newly added chunk of work to your project: Phase the new work to after you finish the already planned project work Have you taught someone to drive, do dishes, play a board game?  It takes more than double the time to do

Seriously Morphed Requirements

Lost in translation can describe 2nd, 3rd, and 4th handed information that is passed on as “necessary” requirements, causing PM’s to plan in one direction while ending up in a completely different place 1/2 way through planning. On one project, between the first list of needs relayed and an onsite assessment, the equipment list was

True Status – The high achiever

I like to work with people who get things done, who doesn’t?  I have be fortunate enough to work with some really talented coders who are great and offering ideas to solve problems, will listen and try alternative methods, and who are just all around fun and productive team members. But anyone with an amazing