software development
Although I've been dismissive of build servers in the past, I've increasingly come to believe that the build server is critical-- it's the heart monitor of your software project. It can tell you when your project is healthy, and it can give you advance
software development
In classic project management parlance [http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/HA010211801033.aspx] , every project is a combination of money, scope and time. 1. Here's what we're going to do 2. Here's how much time we have to do it 3. Here's
scrum
Here's a description of the daily Scrum meeting in the Scrum process: During the month-long sprints, the team holds daily meetings-- the daily Scrum. Meetings are typically held in the same location and at the same time each day. Ideally the daily Scrums are held in the morning,
productivity
In Quality Software Management: Systems Thinking [http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0932633226/codihorr-20], Gerald Weinberg proposed a rule of thumb to calculate the waste caused by project switching: Even adding a single project to your workload is profoundly debilitating by Weinberg's calculation. You lose 20% of
software development
Steve McConnell on diseconomies of scale in software development: Project size is easily the most significant determinant of effort, cost and schedule [for a software project].* People naturally assume that a system that is 10 times as large as another system will require something like 10 times as much effort
software development concepts
Here are the answers to the quiz presented in How Good an Estimator Are You? [https://blog.codinghorror.com/how-good-an-estimator-are-you/] If you're concerned that a quiz like this has nothing to do with software development, consider: > In software, you aren't often asked to estimate the
software development concepts
Chapter 2 of Software Estimation: Demystifying the Black Art [http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0735605351/codihorr-20] opens with a quiz designed to test your estimation abilities. It's an interesting exercise, so I thought everyone might like to give it a shot. * For each question, fill in
software development concepts
One of the central themes in McConnell's Software Estimation: Demystifying the Black Art is the ominously named Cone of Uncertainty. The cone defines statistically predictible levels of project estimate uncertainty at each stage of the project. The cone has several ramifications, the most important of which is that
software development
I'm currently reading Steve McConnell's new book, Software Estimation: Demystifying the Black Art [http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0735605351/codihorr-20]. The section on individual expert judgment provided one simple reason why my estimates are often so horribly wrong:> If you ask a developer
management practices
Kevin Kelly's Cool Tools list just selected a book from my recommended reading list. And it's one of my favorites, too. It's that perennial evergreen of project management, Peopleware: Hard-won wisdom fills this small book: How to create a team, place, or company that
software development
From the IEEE article Why Software Fails: Last October, for instance, the giant British food retailer J Sainsbury had to write off its US $526 million investment in an automated supply-chain management system. Merchandise was stuck in the company's depots and warehouses and was not getting through to
software development concepts
Scott Hanselman thinks signing your name with a bunch of certifications [http://www.hanselman.com/blog/ScottHanselman11SuccessfulLargeProjects3OpenSourceApplications1CollossalFailure.aspx] is gauche [http://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=gauche]: > If it's silly to suggest putting my SATs on my resume, why is … Scott Hanselman, MCSD, MCT, MCP, MC*