By bfwebster on Jun 3, 2008 in Books, Change management, IT Project Management, Main, Management, Methodology, PMSE, Pitfalls, Software engineering, Technology | 0 Comments
[From Pitfalls of Modern Software Engineering by Bruce F. Webster (forthcoming)]
Categories: managerial
The impulse to constantly add new and incremental features to a software program certainly isn’t unique to modern software develoment, or to a particular technology or methodology. It derives largely from three sources. Upper management and marketing want, and sometimes need, those [...]
By bfwebster on Jun 3, 2008 in Books, Change management, Development, Main, Management, PMSE, Pitfalls | 1 Comment
[From Pitfalls of Modern Software Engineering by Bruce F. Webster (forthcoming)]
Categories: managerial
Let’s start by freely acknowledging that, with rare exceptions, software of any complexity changes between original specification and actual delivery. This is to be expected, and to a certain extent encouraged, when the changes represent a refinement of our understanding of the problem domain [...]
By bfwebster on May 16, 2008 in Books, Change management, Development, Main, Management, Methodology, PMSE, Pitfalls, Politics, Technology | 0 Comments
[From Pitfalls of Modern Software Engineering by Bruce F. Webster (forthcoming)]
Categories: political
A particular technology or methodology (the “TOM”) is wonderful. At least, you think it is, based on anything from a breathless magazine article to years of experience with solid, successful software development using this TOM. Or you may not think it’s wonderful, [...]
By bfwebster on Apr 8, 2008 in Change management, IT project disputes, Main, Patterns, Pitfalls, Quality assurance, Software engineering | 0 Comments
The opening of Terminal 5 at London Heathrow Airport has not been without problems, to say the least. And one of the specific problems appears to be the automated baggage handling system:
…the computer-operated baggage system has crashed and luggage is now being sorted manually before being loaded on to planes.
Twelve return flights to short-haul destinations [...]
By bfwebster on Jan 28, 2008 in Change management, IT Project Management, IT project disputes, Main | 0 Comments
Not all large IT projects fail, and even those that are deeply troubled can be turned around:
Officials at HM Courts Service (HMCS) say they have turned around a failing £447m project to provide a national case management system for magistrates courts – a scheme that is 16 years late and will cost nearly three times [...]