On Product Development and More...

Today, I attended a webinar entitled: "We Need it By October: What's Your Estimate?" hosted by Tim Lister, from the Atlantic Systems Guild. Lister is a noted expert in Risk Management, having written a book with Tom DeMarco entitled: "Waltzing With Bears: Managing Risk on Software Projects".

During the webinar, Lister discussed the uncertainties associated with developing new software solutions and the need for effective risk management. He described the uncertainty in terms of both "the journey" and "the destination" and referred to a software project as a trip of "learning and decision making".

Without a doubt, managing new software development projects is a difficult task – particularly because we are dealing with so many unknowns. The scope is in constant flux. There are numerous technical difficulties that need to be resolved. Oftentimes, a deadline has been set (even before all the requirements are known). All the while, the project leader is attempting to manage the triple constraints (of schedule, scope and resources). And, the assumptions for schedule and resources are based upon an imperfect estimate (that is being unduly influenced by a deadline that may not have been grounded in reality).

From a risk management perspective, Lister stressed the need to explicitly document all assumptions. So that, if the assumptions are found to no longer be valid, the team can immediately make course corrections. Makes sense to me.