By Michael Wilkes on
6/8/2007
Startup executives have to present a business plan to their potential investors. It's required. They (the people with money) won't even talk to you without one. Why don't the same rules apply in a software project?
Read More »
|
By Michael Wilkes on
5/18/2007
We all know how to create margin: Buy low, sell high, and keep the difference. It's the same for software projects. But what if your cost estimate was based on a pie-in-the-sky guestimate? What happens then?
Read More »
|
By Michael Wilkes on
5/12/2007
No one intentionally plans to fail. There is a way to nearly guarantee failure, however, by doing this part of a project badly...
Read More »
|
By Michael Wilkes on
4/26/2007
Projects don't fail. People kill them. A bad project is put down like a vicious animal. But what makes a project bad?
Read More »
|
By Michael Wilkes on
1/27/2007
Why is the process of estimating software so much harder than the estimate on a new custom home? The problem lies in the size and mystery of the elements being considered.
Read More »
|
By Michael Wilkes on
1/24/2007
You can easily identify a requirements analyst by making a slight adjustment to the church buffet table.
Read More »
|
By Michael Wilkes on
1/18/2007
Five reasons not to gather your own requirements.
Read More »
|
By Michael Wilkes on
12/17/2006
Long before we have a defined scope and a signed contract someone will ask, “How much will this cost?”
When this happens during the first phone call, my answer is, “$19.95 plus shipping and handling – and shipping is free. It’s usually the handling charge that gets you.”
Read More »
|
By Michael Wilkes on
11/9/2006
Parking on the level above where I entered the garage, I hoofed it into the elevator thinking about my meeting.
Why do I feel the freedom to ignore my surroundings and focus on my meeting? Because I have faith in the good sense of architects, builders and elevator designers to do the right thing…to act in my best interest and not make me learn a special system just for this building.
Silly me.
After the door closed, I was greeted by a typical panel of buttons. That’s when my trouble began.
I’m on the second floor, right? I drove in on the GROUND level (where cars typically travel in the real world) and I went up ONE level.
What level am I on, then? TWO, of course. Except in THIS elevator.
I glance at the buttons and, before pressing the ONE button, glance up at the floor indicator. It says “5.”
FIVE? I’m on level FIVE? But I only drove up ONE level from GROUND! How can this be FIVE?
Then I see it — the magic icon that is supposed...
Read More »
|
By Michael Wilkes on
11/8/2006
disambiguation (n): clarification that follows from the removal of ambiguity.
Acceleration requires confidence that you are going in the right direction. Confidence comes from clarity.
|