Effectual Working » Project Management

More Project Manager + Developer

Mike — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 19:58:14 +0000

Another insight to project I have gained from being both the project manager and a developer on the team is the disctinction between an implementation focus and a production support focus. As a project manager, your whole focus is on getting the project implemented. It’s a temporary endevour. A developer needs the implementation focus, but the developer also needs a production support focus.

Once a project goes live, it is often the developer who supports that system in production. The project manager has moved on to the next project, but the developer must support the application in the production environment. This involves follow-up and responding to issues as they arise. I confess that I have become comfortable with the implementation focus. I am finding that I have to remember to focus on production support, now that I am also contributing to the project in the developer role.

Project Manager, Developer, or Both?

Mike — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 17:26:22 +0000

I have been learning the hard way what it means to have multiple roles in your job. I am working to get back into software development while continuing to be a project manager. I have found that software project management is greatly aided when the project manager has some development responsibilities. Last Friday, I was caught off-guard by a problem with my role on a particular project.

My role, as I understood it, on the project that “got me” was as the project manager only. Because of this, I was reading the requirements through my project manager eyes. My developers were reading the requirements through their platform-specific eyes. The result? We completely overlooked an area of development that was sprinkled throughout the requirements.

It happened to be a platform on which I am doing development on for other projects, so I can easily see how it was missed. The assumption was that I would take care of that piece, only I didn’t make the same assumption. The problem showed up in a reported defect, so now I am scrambling to catch up. I must be certain to analyze the requirements more carefully so that as the project manager, I make sure that all the developer skills we need are on the team, whether the developer is me or someone else.

You might think that this problem was obvious and could have been avoided. I can tell you that it wasn’t obvious to all who were involved because it was missed in two sprint planning sessions. Yes, it wasn’t obvious, but I should have caught it.

Prep. Work

Mike — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 08:40:47 +0000

Today, I am concentrating on prep. work for three planning sessions I have scheduled for Wed., Fri., and Mon. The goal for these sessions is to identify the remaining tasks that we know of, for interfaces and forms, on our project. Next, we are going to prioritize and schedule these tasks into 4-week sprints. Once this is done, I will add any new tasks into the project plan.

Welcome

Mike — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 10:45:00 +0000

I got started in project management, the way most people do, accidentally! I was managing an application support team and looking for a better way to get work done for the business. Our CIO noticed what I was trying and tapped me to lead project management.

That’s how I got started, but on to what I’m doing. I am providing project management support to a major system replacement project. In this role, I help the business project manger with the project and also am responsible for the technical side of the project. Along with this, I supervise the QA and Test team, whose four members provide testing support to both this project and another system replacement project. Additionally, I am a team member of the Project Management Office and get assignments related to the PMO.

I am continually looking for better ways to do things. I read books, blogs, and articles looking for tips and techniques, some of which I share with my co-workers. I like helping other people learn and grow. Mostly, I look for ways in which I can improve my personal results.

I look forward to any feedback you can give me, either as a comment or personally. Here’s to all of us being effectual in our work!

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