The User's Experience

Has to be exciting

Where project managers come from

Film and video production is still the best place to find them.

As Designed versus As Built

Many differences

Empowering Everyone

To do their own work.

Usability

One of the most important components of quality. Particularly in web apps.

Effective Testing

Without effective testing, it is not unusual for errors that should have been found in unit testing to pop up as late as acceptance testing.

Specifications

The operator's manual completely defines the system. Consider this carefully, because it is common practice to create user manuals after the system is created.

Testing

The only meaningful measure of testing is the number of errors detected per module.

Trade-offs

There are four trade-offs available to the Project Manager: Scope, Resources, Time and Quality. You must research this well. Inferior project managers, asked to name the trade-offs, will be able to name only three.

Sharks

Project Managers are like sharks. You keep moving forward or you die.

Decision Support Systems

Is there anything on the web that's not decision support?

Structured Walkthroughs

Thrive on helpful questions, not answers.

Prototypes And Software Packages

Prototypes not only demonstrate what a software package can do, they demonstrate what it can't do. One of the best ways to communicate your requirements to a packaged software company is to build a prototype with their software that demonstrates what you can't do. On the other hand, the prototype may demonstrate to corporate users that they can do without extra features and use the software out of the box.

Black Boxes

There are no silver bullets in the world of information systems. But the good tools make it easy to build black boxes that snap together to create powerful systems.

Testing

Start system testing early in the development cycle. If you can snap two black boxes together, you can run a system test.

Required Reading

Roosevelt and Hopkins: An Intimate History

Critical Path

The critical path defines the shortest time possible to complete a project. It is a sequence of more or less accurate estimates.

Salvage

Most projects that are going down the drain are unnecessarily complex. Salvage begins with the task of reducing the scope of the project in order to put the construction of essential modules back on schedule.

Phased Implementations

Phased implementations can be wide and shallow or narrow and deep, depending on the enterprise and its business.

Let Your Boss Pick Her or His Own Fights

If executives in the enterprise oppose your project, let the project sponsor deal with them. This requires patience and self-restraint. Your sponsor has relationships that extend beyond your project.