On Product Development and More...

I was saddened to learn about the recent death of Eli Goldratt.

Goldratt was a prolific writer, having written two of my favorite management novels, The Goal and Critical Chain. Both of these novels described Goldratt's Theory of Constraints (TOC) management philosophy.

As a consultant in the software industry, I am always looking out for best practices, to help my clients put in place what is needed to build better software products.

A colleague of mine recently shared some best practices adopted by the Software Program Managers Network (or SPMN).

I recently attended a webinar entitled, "Stop Playing Games! Overcoming Politics on Projects" facilitated by Rick Morris, author of Stop Playing Games! A Project Manager's Guide to Successfully Navigating Organizational Politics.

Rick asserts that "project fail because of context, not content" (a concept he learned from reading Radical Project Management, by Rob Thomsett).

I recently attended an online conference sponsored by the IT Metrics & Productivity Institute that focused on improving software development by leveraging best practices and software process improvement theory.

One of the speakers, Bob Charette, a risk management consultant, gave an excellent presentation entitled "Why do Software Projects Fail?”

I recently came across an article in Information Management magazine, entitled "Coaching for Professional Development".

It describes a management philosophy whereby, "Managers should encourage, foster and support employee's continual development as a way of helping them master changing work and keeping morale high". The ultimate goal is to keep employees motivated and productive.