I recently came across this little gem over at Signal vs. Noise:

A dissatisfied Basecamper wrote to us that “Real project management requires the determination of the critical path.” I thought that sounded zen…but I had no idea what it meant. Ryan said it reminded him of a bit from Tufte’s […]

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How is it that so many great ideas from developers never come to fruition? There exists an untold amount of knowledge within most development teams as relates to technology. I don’t think anyone could argue that the guys in the trenches are often the guys that know the best way to solve a problem.

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Many assert that the Rational Unified Process (RUP) and Extreme Programming (XP) are complimentary processes. It seems a little counterintuitive that you can have two processes in place in the same organization at the same time and everything will work. The RUP and XP couldn’t be more different in terms of their approach to development […]

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Many companies turn to the Rational Unified Process (RUP) to save them from disaster. Unfortunately, RUP has a dirty little secret that may mean salvation is further away then it may appear. Actually, it isn’t a very well kept secret, but it is something that many people seem unaware of. The fact is that RUP […]

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When a new project is started at an organization there is a time where everyone is figuring out what is going on. Initial requirements are gathered and the team is assembled. After that there is a phase of discovery where the requirements are fleshed out, risks are identified and estimates are refined. The RUP refers […]

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Contractors (short-term hourly workers) can lend help on a project that is understaffed or bring specific knowledge that the team does not currently have. It is possible to have too much of a good thing and the overuse of contractors can spell doom for a project. How can contractors be managed to maximize their benefit […]

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In many software development organizations new projects are initiated by management. While it is good to have management involved, it is better for the organization if new projects are driven by the development team.

This is not meant to suggest that it should be the developers that are creating the requirements. Quite the opposite, in fact. […]

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