Probably the most important change to tech delivery, in the last five years or so, has been the rise of Product Management. As a discipline Product Management has been around since way before we had software products and services that needed managing, but ...
This short series started with Planning the Plan, an article that tried to put into context some of the roadmap and planning activities that take place before projects get approved and started.
I suggested using the McFarlan Matrix as a way of categorising potential projects so that they might be more likely to deliver benefits in lin...
Update of the original article from August 1, 2007. First Published in July 2007. I’ve noticed this is getting a lot more hits recently, presumably because Google is ranking it higher. On the assumption it’s proving useful, I thought it deserved a 2008 update. What’s in a Name? Let’s get some terminology out of the way. I’ve called this “Systemic Requirements” because I prefer that to the tw...
We left off last time with the idea that although software projects can go wrong for lots of reasons that tech folks can’t control, there are some ideals we can (and should) strive for in the areas we can control. We don’t control market forces, competitors, or business needs, and we rarely control dates or budgets (we may be tasked with spending what budget there is wisely, but corporate econo...
I consider myself inordinately lucky to have fetched up in a career that would otherwise have been an expensive hobby. Software development can be a frustrating roller-coaster ride, but every now and then you get to be involved with something that genuinely, and rather beautifully, succeeds. Projects get canceled, derailed, or otherwis...