It%20always%20takes%20longer%20than%20you%20think%20-%20even%20if%20you%20think%20it%20will%20take%20longer%20than%20you%20think.

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It always takes longer than you think - even if
you think it will take longer than you think.

• Reflections on project management
• Pete Walker, Internet Development Manager
• peter.walker_at_bristol.ac.uk

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Whats it all about?

• The delights of project management
• Mainly from the developers perspective
• Not another methodology
• Tips, tricks, techniques, clichés, trite little
  sayings, wise sayings, my mistakes, etc
• I wont solve all your problems
• I wont answer all your questions
• but please ask questions at any time
• I will save you time and money!

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Why am I here and what do I know?

• 15 years IT experience
• Programmer/DBA/Project Manager in Local
  Government
• Oracle, PL/SQL, Paradox and other PC apps
• Software Development Manager at Emis/Capita FHE
• Student record systems for FE HE
• Oracle, VB, client-server
• Software Development Manager with Swift
• Stock control, financial and manufacturing
  systems
• Ingress database and 4GL
• May 2001 - joined ILRT

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What does ID group do?

• Web sites and applications
• CMS for University of Bristol, C of E, LTSN-Best
• Online survey software, car share software
• UCISA, SCONUL, HESDA, Leadership Foundation
• Departmental VLEs
• Course Online Booking System
• eLearning apps
• 10 staff plus others from ILRT and IS
• Open-source
• Quasi-commercial
• 50 UoB/50 external

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A lot to cover the rest of this session

• Definitions
• Knowledge
• Alarm bells
• Requirements
• Project scope
• What the client must do
• How much and how long?

• Planning
• Communication
• Handling change
• Were late!
• Finished?
• Measuring outcomes
• Project team
• Questions

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Definition time To manage

• Poster worthy?
• Be successful, achieve a goal, be in charge of,
  act on, deal successfully, control
• Sometimes necessary!
• achieve something by trickery or devious
  methods
• Reality? (Struggle, frustration,
  just-about-do-it) e.g.
• We just managed to catch the train in time
• He managed to convince them
• We managed to hide the fact that the widget did
  not actually work yet

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To project manage (1)

• You must play office politics
• Knowledge leading to control
• Lots of administration
• Gain respect and authority (aka at least look as
  if you know what you are doing!)

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To project manage (2)

• You are being watched!
• You are not expected to be expert on everything
• Expertise not through knowing but knowing where
  to find out
• 3 Cs
• Commitment
• Communication
• Coordination
• Despite the above - you need to know a lot of
  things!

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Knowledge

• Professional knowledge e.g software,
  methodologies
• What projects have we got on and where are they
  at?
• Whose working on them, what are their skills?
• Whats coming up next?
• Costs (and ideally success criteria/ROI)
• Milestones, deadlines
• Customer comments good and bad
• Timesheets, Bug lists, Wash-up meetings

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Project initiation - Alarm bells!

• Nobodys project (or no one important) you need
  a project sponsor
• No long term budget (initial spend only 30 of
  total)
• Multiple customers/stakeholders
• People think it is only a technical project
• The job has to fit a budget not the other way
  round
• Multiple dependencies
• Potential feature creep oh and it could do
  this
• No idea where this project fits with
  institutional goals or strategies
• Have all this responsibility but not any authority

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Requirements - what do you want?

• System requirements the BIG problem?
• Users WILL change their minds (for sure, always,
  every time, without fail)
• They will never get everything
• MoSCoW
• Must Have V Should have?
• Do you still want the system if you do NOT get
  this feature?

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You wont get this

• Out of scope- List what you wont do
• Dont assume anything check and agree
• Client contact may change write it all down
• You WILL miss something
• Write it down for next time - keep standard text
• Get someone to sign (CYA)

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What the client has to do and when

• Tell them what to do and when e.g.
• How many meetings?
• Arrange for staff (particularly senior) to be
  available?
• How long to review documents or designs?
• Buy licences?
• Sort-out domain names?
• Prepare content (major)?
• Convert data, etc?
• Penalties for being late!
• Customer is always right? not necessarily!

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Biggest Knowledge gap? How much and how long?

• Were all optimists - PMWT
• Resist giving ball-park figures for cost or time
• I know this bloke wot wrote
• Gutless estimating (Brooks)
• Function-point analysis?
• Metrics 
• Are you good at estimating be honest!
• Get estimates from project staff (buy-in)
• Are your staff good at estimating be honest!

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We just dont know!

• Most importantly - CYA
• Tell the customer (more than once)
• Try to better define requirements
• Get paid for an analysis and specification phase?
• DSDM?
• Fix dates and budget but be flexible on
  functionality
• Prototype
• Time box
• Cooperate client as team member

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Planning (1)

• Define scope before planning
• Emperors clothes?
• Public plan and real plan?
• Gantt chart, Excel, Word?
• Plan and then throw it away?
• Effort V Elapsed 3 day week?
• Specific points in the year guide not determine
  e.g.
• Start of the academic year
• It will be over by Christmas

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Planning (2) - What to include

• Analysis
• Specification (iterations?)
• User interface design (iterations?)
• Development phases
• Testing (and fixes!)
• Content preparation
• Documentation

• Holidays?
• Server set-up?
• Document review?
• User acceptance?
• Project management?
• Admin?
• Meetings?
• Milestones

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Planning (3)

• Project Risk log Whats the worse that could
  happen?
• What risks do you make public? (CYA)
• Will the customer overrun do you risk it?
• Communication plan

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Communication (1)

• Communication plan
• Audience. Who should receive the communication?
• Reason. Why you are communicating with them. Why
  are they a key stakeholder.
• Event. The communication, be it a weekly report,
  or a presentation, or seminar
• Responsible. Who is responsible for preparing and
  scheduling the piece of communication.
• Medium. The way in which it will be delivered.
• Timing. How often it will be presented.
• Content. What it will contain. This should
  address the reason the audience will be
  interested in the project.

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Communication (2)

• Communication is not saying something it is
  being heard and understood
• People hear what they want to hear it suit their
  needs
• Write things down (CYA)

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Wed just like to change

• Change is inevitable, accept it (but not too
  readily!
• It never pays to be helpful!
• Communicate CYA
• Who is asking for it?
• Get exact details
• Impacts and risk
• Write it all down
• Get authorisation

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Doesnt time fly!!

• How does a project go late one day at a time
• Why?
• Hidden requirements
• Changing requirements (poorly managed)
• Under-estimation
• Technology
• Illness, staff leaving
• When development is 90 complete the project is
  only two-thirds done.

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POF?

• Out of control, getting worse, redeemable but
  only if you act now.
• Communicate - tell the customer talk to them
  (even if there is nothing much to say)
• Dont throw resources at it!
• Cut functionality rather than extend deadlines
• If you do extend deadlines then make it realistic
  (only do it once)

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Technology

• Often the least important factor but
• Never use new technology on a time/business
  critical project
• NEVER use new technology on a time/business
  critical project
• Buy V Build it depends.
• Dont lock-in content

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When its finished

• Only finished when no one is using it anymore
• Wash-up how was it for you? Good bits as well
  as bad
• Maintenance
• 20 of initial budget?
• Initial cost only 30 of lifetime cost
• Dont rely on one person spread the knowledge

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Measuring the outcomes ROI

• Number of users
• Increased sales
• Intangibles image, lack of legal action, etc
• Site usage stats misleading
• People forget the past point to achievements

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The project team (1)

• You need a mix From gurus/high-flyer through to
  plodders
• Assign responsibilities
• try to avoid single expert
• Assign the Cardboard cut-out developer?
• Office Whiteboard of whos doing what
• Keep people involved and informed
• Belbin team roles http//www.belbin.com/

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Project team (2) - Belbin team roles

• Plant
• Coordinator
• Monitor/Evaluator
• Implementer
• Complete Finisher

• Resource Investigator
• Shaper
• Team Worker
• Specialist

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Pitfalls

• Governance at the expense of leadership?
• Becoming defensive
• Itll never work - focus on the negatives
• Lose enthusiasm
• Not prepared to take risks

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Do I practice what I preach?

• No
• I still under-estimate
• I often regret not writing things down
• I dont say no enough
• I still sometimes let keen developers use new
  technology
• and always regret it!

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PM buzzword bingo

• SSADM
• DSDM
• XP
• RAD
• UML
• UCD
• ROI

• The useful ones?
• CYA
• POF
• MoSCoW
• PMWT
• 3 Cs

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QUESTIONS?

• Peter.walker_at_bristol.ac.uk
• http//www.ilrt.bristol.ac.uk