Control the pace of the project to be well known

 

Rhythm, ubiquitous. In spring, summer, autumn, and winter, the sun rises and the moon falls. This is the rhythm of nature. With the pace of life, all components of the human body, and even various cells, can work properly to ensure the overall health. People can live and enjoy their work only when there is a rhythm in society, instead of making changes.

The same is true for project management. Manage it! Chapter 5 "Control Projects" section 8th is named "control the pace of projects ". It says:

Rhythm, which is inherent in each project. The pace of some projects is chaotic and the progress is slow. Some projects are like taking on a rocket. Suddenly, the team has done more work. All projects have a rhythm, but it will change over time. It is the responsibility of the Project Manager to observe the pace. You also need to see which practices can help the project establish and maintain a reasonable pace to ensure the project is successful.

The closer a project's life cycle is to a sequential life cycle, the more likely the project's pace will change with the stage [rot04a]. In the early stages, the project looks like suffering a lot, and the Project Manager does not know when the demand will be frozen or when the design will be stable. Some projects will "magically" find the exit. after entering the implementation stage, the pace gradually emerges and becomes more and more stable, because the decision-making has been done and has been implemented. The project can be successfully completed without human intervention. If the project is always messy, the project manager will not be able to find any direction throughout the lifecycle, and it is difficult to find a comfortable pace.

In the agile life cycle, chaos may be observed in the iterative planning phase. However, the iteration plan lasts for only a few hours, and the team can find the same pace after the iteration starts. (If you have seen that the agile life cycle cannot find the pace, it is probably because the team does not follow agile values or mistakenly uses agile practices .)

The following problems interrupt the normal pace of the project are what I have seen with my own eyes.

• I don't know what needs to be done first.
• Allow the collection of project requirements to take a long time.
• The GUI is allowed to change at any time, and GUI related personnel do not know how to do well in the project.
• There is no overall description of the architecture, and I don't know how each part is made up.
• The inability to promptly add necessary personnel to the project makes it difficult for them to succeed.

In Chapter 8th, we also mentioned some management practices that can help projects find stable pace, this includes "mid-stage review", "sorting requests", and "work related to requirements defined by time boxes.

Next, I will release Chapter 1 "keep the pace of the project" one by one. You are welcome to give your valuable comments on the translation and content.

[Rot04a]: Johanna Rothman. Got good rhythm? Software Development Magazine, 12 (6), 2004. http://www.drdobbs.com/dept/architect/184415151.