The Mindset

A deadline is a managerial tool widely used to maximize the performance of employees. Its main purpose is to increase the earning of the company without investing more money in human resources (see also: Unpaid Overtime).

It is a strange, but well-established, observation, that a deadline can never be met. The reason is not the poor […]

The term Multitasking originally referred to the ability to run two or more processes on one computer at the same time. This is usually achieved using a context switch mechanism, which means that each process is executed for a given period, and then replaced by a different process, while storing the state of the previous […]

Jürgen Ahting wrote a great post about cost estimation, risk analysis, managerial accountability, and the (often not obvious) connection between them.
I feel a need to stress what seems to me as the main point in this article: the lack of accountability. Many problems in managing software projects (and managing in general) are derived from […]

If you are reading this posting in this particular blog, you are probably concerned about the quality of the software products you (and your organization) create. If you are a manager (at any level), this posting is especially for you. Why is that? Because you are in the best position to do something about it….
Let’s […]

Today I took part in a session for managers. The weather was stormy, and one of the windows in the auditorium the event took place in was opened. There seemed to be a “good” reason for that: the window was stuck and could not be closed easily.
One of the managers who participated in the […]

Are you in control of the projects you manage?
OK. Let’s start again with a simpler question: do you generally estimate the work that has to be done before you commit to a delivery date? Do you make sure you have the required resources and that they are available for your project before saying “I […]

Every now and then, when I browse through popular software development forums, I come across the question: what is the best way to teach (or to learn) how to be a professional software developer. There are infinite books and courses out there in different levels, scopes and domains. Can they make a real and significant […]

Software development is a creative craft. Most of the people involved in software development rightfully consider themselves creative and thinking workers. Designing, implementing, and testing are all tasks which are both technical and creative. They require knowledge, skills, and discipline, but also innovation. If you are happy with how people on your team are doing […]