People, Product, Process, Project - the Big Four

When the city of Denver was refurbishing its airport, errors in the software that controlled the automatic baggage system persisted for nine months. The airport's planners watched their bond rating fall to junk status because the project hemorrhaged red ink at the rate of $1.1 million a day in interest and operating costs. The impact of similar stories repeated over time is that poor software causes major cost overruns, exposes companies to potential liability for defects, and jeopardizes economic opportunity. The wise project manager knows that four factors correlate to productivity in sophisticated systems: people, product, process, and project. In this chapter, we will examine each in order to be able to weigh its value for a given product, and thereby give you the basis to develop a rationale for the apportionment of available money.

People: Cultivate the Guru and Support the Majority

How to Recognize a Guru

How to Attract a Guru to Your Project

How to Keep Your Gurus Working

How to Support the Majority

Product: ?>Buy Me!?>

Reliable Software Products

Useful Software Products

Good User Experience

Process: ?>OK, How Will We Build This??>

Agile Processes

Object Oriented Opportunities

Meaningful Metrics

Project: Making It Work

Additional Problems

Additional Case Studies