Chapter 10. Management and Leadership


Many management books sell themselves as lists of "best practices" that, if followed, will yield projects that are planned and executed smoothly and without any problems. Most people who try to follow those practices find that it is much harder to do in practice than the books led them to believe. Projects are not always predictable. The organization's needs may change; people may quit or be transferred into or out of the team; or the goals of the project or the climate in which the organization does its business may change. A project manager usually cannot control any of these things.

The tools and techniques in this book will help solve the most common problems that plague software projects. But there are many other ways that a project can go wrong, and it is impossible to prepare in advance for all of them. It is up to you, the project manager, to be smart. You should use these tools when you can. But you will undoubtedly come across issues or problems that these practices simply do not address, and it is your job to think your way through the solution. If you keep in mind some sound engineering principles and fundamental ideas about management, you stand a better chance of leading your projects through these problems and, in the end, delivering better software.

It is also part of your job as a manager and a leader to adequately explain the decisions that you are making, and to keep the team's interest in line with the organization's interestsand vice versa. You must do this by working with senior management to understand their goals and needs, and helping them understand that the changes you are making will help them achieve those goals. You must also work with each team member to understand her goals and needs, and help her understand the job that she must perform. If you do this, you will ensure that the software is mutually beneficial for both the organization and the individuals building it.

In a sense, part of the job of the project manager is to serve as an information conduit. You help information flow from the team up to senior management in the form of project status and analysis information. It is your job to understand all of the work being done, so that it can be summarized to the people who make the decisions about the future of the project; they need this information to make informed and intelligent decisions. This requires that the project manager put a lot of effort into understanding what it is the team is doing and why they are doing it. The project manager cannot simply ask for estimates, fit those estimates in a schedule, and quiz the team on the percentage they've completed. He must understand what actions each team member is taking to complete the task, and what possible complications they are running into. The project manager is the only person looking at how the tasks interrelate; he is the only one with the perspective to see the problems and, ideally, fix them.



Applied Software Project Management
Applied Software Project Management
ISBN: 0596009488
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 122

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