I might be working with a team on a buisness workflow automation project, since it is a business workflow we are looking to have constant interaction with stakeholders and frequent releases. The team however, is pretty new and the average experience is around 3 years. Do you think the lack of experience could be a problem if the project ...
I recently switched my work laptop to Linux. The problem is that I have to be able to use Microsoft Project for maintaining project plans. Is there a project alternative on linux that is able to read and write MS project files? So far I tried openproj, gantproject and planner, but neither one of them can write mpp files. ...
How do you personally handle unrealistic schedules? Currently I have a high workload (who doesn't) but I am still getting projects added to my list. I am trying to stay positive and motivated but the workload is killing my performance. Mainly due to the fact that I trying to think about all the projects at once and the task switching ...
What features does a time tracking system need so developers actually log their time? In our case we are a 30+ person custom development shop, looking to replace an aged custom solution. Key business need is billing for our consultant's time. Ideally the system would help us figure out if we can complete the project(s) on time and with...
Do programmers like to create deadlines? Im a web developer, and schedules/deadlines are all over the place in my field. But I've worked with some software engineers/programmers who hate deadlines, is there a way around that? ...
Does the functional spec help or hinder your expectations? Do programmers who practice the waterfall methodology, are they open to functional specs? I'm a web designer/developer working with a team of 5 programmers and would like to write a functional spec to explain what we need, so that when I begin my work - I know we are working towa...
I've been doing software development for a number of years but have always worked alone. Now I'm at a point where I need to hire other developers to help out. What recommendations would you have for books or articles on effectively splitting up a project and the best practices for checking the work of the developers as well as putting t...
When it comes to getting feedback from clients on larger development projects (e.g. spanning months), I use a bug tracking system (I actually developed my own, called BugWeb if you want to Google it), and that works wonderfully. but on smaller projects (e.g. < 1 month), email tends to be the tool of choice, more-so the client's tool of...
What payment schedule do you use for small projects (e.g. < $10,000)? This is the structure I use: 20% deposit before any work starts 70% payment when project gets to 90% completion (I know this based on the project schedule) 10% final payment on acceptance document sign-off So, for example, on a $1,000 project: Payment 1: $200 (d...
How does a team of say 50 work on an XP project? I would assume that the project would need to be divided in to multiple modules before all these people can start working on anything.. but this may be against XP practices (BUFD) Also if many people start implementing user stories at the same time, won't there be duplication (same class...
I'm working on improving our group's development process, and I'm considering how best to implement Design By Contract with Test-Driven Development. It seems the two techniques have a lot of overlap, and I was wondering if anyone had some insight on the following (related) questions: Isn't it against the DRY principle to have TDD and ...
I am currently not one but do perform the duties of one. Getting certified will help me(?) get in as a Project Manager in my next job or be considered seriously within the same organization. I now hear more names than just PMP or CAPM for project management certifications. Which do you think has the most market value and which will actua...
I'm interested in starting an open-source project based on an idea from another thread, and I think that it would be valuable to have a system in place to allow ideas for the new project to be proposed and voted up and down. I discovered the IdeaTorrent web-application, which is just what I'm looking for, except that I would have to sign...
I'm several layers/levels above the people involved in the project I'm about to describe. The general requirement is for a web based issue management system. The system is a small part of a much larger project. The lead pm has a tech pm who is supposed to handle this portion of the project. The lead pm asked me if it's normal for t...
Hi world, I was wondering how you guys actually develop large applications when you are your own boss. For myself I have been learning the hard way the necessity for patience and hope. I have been working on implementing an application (in the form of a series of scripts linked to a database) that clusters wikipedia articles using a co...
I'm a junior developer looking at possible career progressions. I generally see two career tracks, the technical and non-technical sides. Technical Track: Junior Developer -> Middle Developer -> Senior Developer -> Team Lead -> "Architect" role. Non-Technical: Middle/Senior Developer or Strong Business Background -> Project Manager ...
Look at the picture above. This could be a programmer going to be hit by a bus. According to Wikipedia, in software development a software project's "bus factor" (or "bus hit factor") is an irreverent measurement of concentration of information in a single person, or very few people. The bus factor is the total number of key...
Hello all, I have joined recently a small web company, whose only product now is a web product, which until now was being developed by another company (it was outsourced). Recently I am appointed as Tech Lead here with following responsibilities: System Optimization for performance and scalability - front-end and back-end - match glob...
After asking organising my Python project and then calling from a parent file in Python it's occurring to me that it'll be so much easier to put all my code in one file (data will be read in externally). I've always thought that this was bad project organisation but it seems to be the easiest way to deal with the problems I'm thinking I...
Are there any stats that tells about the percentage of projects done using Agile.. and further breaking down to XP, Scrum etc ...