A Software release Today

Our team released some software this evening and it was a completely smooth process. Everything just worked! There were absolutely no hiccups. Everything that we expected to happen happened. Nothing unexpected happened, or if it did, we were prepared for it because we thought it might happen.

It is an indescribably satisfying feeling when things go according to plan! Now I know what Hannibal Smith meant when he said "I love it when a plan comes together".

To give some background, we had been planning this release for 2 weeks. I had an hour by hour runbook all set up. It was edited countless times & reviewed in several meetings. I also emailed everyone under the sun about the release.

The email was a point of contention. I felt that emailing EVERYONE would invite unnecessary questions about the release and possible interference by people who needn't be concerned but just wanted to put in their 2 cents; this was remedied by my mailing instead a select few who really did need to know AND by putting in full assurances about how much we tested this and that there were no issues in testing AND that we anticipate none after go-live AND how we will be in heightened alertness mode at business open. The result: "Thanks for letting me know." Problem solved. Lesson Learned: If you show confidence in your product, then people will believe. You just better deliver.

The beauty of being the PM is that all the work that I did in the planning, I witnessed the execution of at go-live. I didn't have much of a role in the release. I just asked a few questions but basically watched the event unfold. It was like being a movie director at the premiere of the movie.

It really does go to show that planning through a project pays dividends. There is a mentality of 'winging it' where some people pay lip service to planning, and might think through only a few things and leave the rest to chance. This experience has proven to me w/o a doubt that you can really execute according to a plan and be successful, as long as you have sufficient time to think things through.

37 Signals Stuff

From the guys who created BaseCamp, here is a link to their book "Getting Real" on software development. Completely free on the web!

Getting Real

They also have a new book called Rework which I aim to read soon.

These guys are on the money with their stuff. Very readable, very applicable, very excellent!

For instance,

Get something real up and running quickly

Running software is the best way to build momentum, rally your team, and flush out ideas that don't work. It should be your number one priority from day one.

Click on the link above to read more...

Project Management Top 10 Problems

This isn't my list. But you can see this one here:

The Top 10 Mistakes

These all ring so true.
For instance, #2 :

Believe that good scheduling software makes one a good project manager

Forget it! Like the post says, many people just get frustrated with Project thinking it will be like Excel and eventually give up. 

There is a learning curve to this and it takes time (like with any new skill) to master it. 

Project Plans are a personal matter!

Project Management is a very personal thing. It takes time to develop your own style and individual approach to the discipline. My recommendation is to try different things until you hit on something that works for you. And then share it. Despite all the standardization that the PMI has done with the discipline, you need to find ways to make it your own.
For instance, I hated using MS Project. I always had trouble with it, mostly because I never really dived in to learn it thoroughly.

So I went to an Excel spreadsheet to model project plans (which I stole from a colleague). I created a daily chart and color-coded it. I insert comments for each task and put down the # of hours I spent on each task. Voila! I have a written record of how I spend my time each day. I duplicated this sheet and made it weekly. So now I literally have a roadmap of all my releases for the next few months. I thought I was fine managing from Excel only.
However, I came back to MS Project because I realized I couldn't properly get good end-dates and that Excel won't calculate these and take into account weekends and holidays. In MS Project, I found that you can even adjust working hours! Then, as I got more and more interested, I realized the value of baselining and comparing actuals to the baseline and computing earned value (the holy grail! but still a work in progress).

It is not a simple thing to model real-life tasks in a software tool. But as I got familiar with Fixed Units, Fixed Duration, Fixed Work, & the various constraints & dependencies, this got easier. Now I'm in a position to more realistically model project tasks.

Now I flit back and forth b/w Excel & Project. Each gives me a unique way of managing my projects. I have a roadmap view, I have a log of how I spend my hours, I can see the progress of my project, etc. Someone could easily say that it takes too much time and I only need to use Project for everything. But I like this method. I feel I have more control and oversight of my domain. So you see, Project Management can be a very personal thing.

What's important is that you're able to manage. Managing by objective is key. If I give a due date for a project, it's important for me to constantly see if we're getting closer or we're slipping. That's all that matters. Not how pretty my project plan is or whether I use Excel, Project or a piece of paper.