Management

Truth? We don't need no stinking truth!

Chad Albrecht — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 09:56:00 GMT

In a recent article by an ex-windows project manager, there is a segment which I found particularly funny:

Every once in a while, Truth still pipes up in meetings. When this happens, more often than not, Truth is simply bent over an authoritative knee and soundly spanked into silence.

I found this funny because it is the epitome of most larger projects I work on. These are the projects (i.e. companies) that still use waterfall model and still fully expect to estimate a million line project within 5%. Change is still the exception.

I was reading somewhere recently that 75% of software projects go over budget and over schedule. Why is this acceptable? It's obvious that we have outgrown the use of traditional estimation tools. Why are so many companies reluctant to change and try something new? Why are we ignoring the truth?

Maskable Interrupt

Chad Albrecht — Mon, 12 Sep 2005 09:04:00 GMT

Reading Tom's Interruptions and the Knowledge Worker post got me thinking about recent interactions with a large consulting firm I talked to. During the first phone conversation with a senior recruiter, she interrupted me to take a phone call on her cell phone. After further discussions I chalked it up as a fluke and agreed to meet with her. During our meeting we were interrupted by another member of her staff informing her of the "important call" she had been waiting for. She promptly excused herself not to return for 45 MINUTES!!! She apologized profusely, but clearly this was an ongoing problem with this person. If I was not enough of a priority to dedicate one hour of SCHEDULED time, then what was it going to be like if I worked for them. Needless to say I am not in discussions with them anymore. Is any call really that important? (baring family emergencies) Do people think it makes them "look" important? As Tom says:

I figure that the cost in time (read money) to the company of an interruption to a fellow employee and me discussing business gets expensive when you consider the down time of the two of us, while one of us takes a cell phone call (or answers an email, etc.).

Keeping Talent

Chad Albrecht — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 07:43:00 GMT

Eric Wise posted a great article about Keeping Talent. You'd think after more than 20 years of doing this, companies would have figured it out. Apparently not. Now, who wants subs?

Smart Organizations

Chad Albrecht — Thu, 18 Aug 2005 09:35:00 GMT

I've managed my share of software development projects. While I always try to take a proactive approach to deadlines and decisions, sometimes you are at the mercy of the project sponsor. After reading Seth Godin's article, Hurry!, I had to laugh. How many of us have been, or worked for people, in this mode? I have a title for myself when I'm working for clients that work like this..."Fireman." We've all seen it "Oh no! A client found a bug in our beta release! Drop everything and fix it!" or "Marketing decided that our app that will launch in 2 months need to have a purple color scheme! Drop everything and make it happen!" Managers that are in this mode often fail to think about the impact of these "urgent" decisions. They are only looking at WHAT is being asked of them without any thought to WHY. I (like Seth) feel that if these people don't ask WHY it's because they don't want the responsibility of dealing with the ramifications. For example, if we don't make the app purple, then marketing can say that the reason it didn't sell was it wasn't purple. It's a prime example of CYA behavior. They feel that if they do exactly what is being asked of them, they take no responsibility for failure. How many successful people do you know blindly follow directions without question? Food for thought.