Category: Management

Self-defeating choices in IT project management »

I have a new Baseline column up on the tendency of large organizations to reject the best solutions for a troubled IT project:

The consultants, usually with the help of the employees in the trenches, would use their time, effort, and expertise to analyze the system under development or in production. They would arrive at a [...]

Using a maintenance architect »

My lastest Baseline column is up, in which I argue that setting up one or more maintenance architects within an enterprise can help reduce maintenance costs while at the same time providing a training path for chief software architects. Let me know what you think.
Sorry for the lack of postings here; I’ve actually been busy [...]

Latest column up: distributed development (part 2) »

My latest Baseline column is up, discussing how to make a distributed software development project work.  ..bruce..

Pitfalls of distributed development »

My latest Baseline column is up, talking about the challenges of a geographically-distributed software development project. Take a look.  ..bruce..

Pitfall: Using the wrong developers »

[From Pitfalls of Modern Software Engineering by Bruce F. Webster (forthcoming)]
Categories: managerial
Various industry studies cite the productivity gap between the best and the worst developers. While there is some controversy over the ranges often cited (such as the famous 26:1 figure), anyone who has managed a diverse group of developers won’t argue [...]