project-planning

Saving a web development project from disaster

I have seen the idea at HashRocket for their Rescue Mission that is designed to step in and recover from a failing Rails development project (whether timeline, or budget, or something else will not be met). I was wondering if other people offer this service for PHP projects, or web development projects in general. Ideally, they would b...

How do you plan your web app?

I am wondering how everybody plans their web apps. Do you write out a list of functions and tick them off when done? Do you have stacks of paper with Use Cases all over them? What is the sweet spot between not planning at all and doing so much planning that your deadline has passed before you have even started? EDIT: Most of the web ap...

RoR: What steps are you going through in the preparation phase of application development?

Let's say you already "know" what your client wants from you (i.e. you already did some analysis and have some clue about what are you supposed to deliver). What are the next steps you usually go through after this phase? In other words, what are the steps (in terms of preparation of the framework, plugins, repository, etc.) you do in th...

Is it better to hire a developer to do unit tests, or to have each developer do their own?

For a team of 10, is it better to hire an individual developer to do all unit tests, or to have each individual developer do unit tests for their own owned code? ...

Is Wireframing Overplanning?

37 Signal's Getting Real convinced me that wireframing and writing functional specification documents are a middleman steps unnecessary for building web applications and dynamic websites. Is the overhead for these steps worth its weight? Is prototyping in HTML/CSS or even PhotoShop documents (so designers can work on them directly) a ...

How to plan test time

Say suppose 10 developers have taken 6 months to develop some application. As a project manager how much time should I spare in my plans for testing? 6 months of effort includes unit testing. I am specific about functional test and user acceptance test. Is there any ratio or relationship between development time and testing time? ...

Using Scrum in fix-length/fix-priced projects?

I'm a Scrum newbie and looking to implement Scrum in my company. Obtaining buy-in is not a problem, it is my company and the developers are more than happy to work like this. The problem is that 75% of our revenue is derived from fixed length/fixed price projects. Ken Schwaber in his book, Agile Project Management with Scrum, covers t...

Sprint Lengths - 2 week vs 30 days

I want to implement Scrum, but I can't decide on a Sprint length. Ken Schwaber seems to relate that 30 days it the defacto... but I can't imagine waiting 30 days without the possibility of changing direction or reprioritizing. Our projects usually only last 1-3 months using the waterfall method and moving to Scrum would probably mean l...

Go-Live Plan Templates

Does anyone have any good examples of a go-live plan template? I have a project plan nearing completion but I want to create a simple to follow and visual representation of the remaining tasks and responsibilities as well as task inter dependencies. I'd prefer to have something in an excel style burndown format. Tasks involved are virt...

What problem does XHTML strict solve?

I really don't understand the fascination with XHTML strict. Inline JavaScript typically requires a rats nest of escapes to make it compatible with XHTML and semi-backwards compatible with MSIE 5 & 6. Then there is the issue of not being OCD enough on user input to make sure you don't miss any illegal characters. It just seems like m...

software documentation templates

Hi, Does anyone know any source of examples and templates for software requirements, build environment description and other kind of documentations that are common for software development? Thanks! ...

how good is to use 3 point technique for risk assessment.

how good to use 3 point technique for risk assessment. ...

Looking for post-implementation audit materials.

Can anyone suggest me a good link where I can read about what post-implementation audits are, and their benefits and barriers? ...

IT project methodologies

Looking for good project methodologies.Anyone got some good reference links..want to share. ...

Does the 80/20 rule of time management apply to developers?

Jeff's recent article linked to a time management example of the First Fit Decreasing algorithm, which talked about the Pareto principle (or, the 80/20 rule) of time management, that is, that 80% of the work we produce in 20% of our time. Now we've all heard the programmer quote: The first 90% of the code accounts for the first 90...

Employee Scheduling Software? Web/Browser Based

Just wondering if any of you guys know of any web-based/browser-based employee scheduling software/tools? Currently doing it all in Excel, but it just isnt intelligent enough... any product suggestions? Needs to handle multiple employees time over weeks and months... to schedule in work short-term and long-term, allow me to see possib...

How to create an accurate hour estimate?

What are your experiences regarding project planning and creating hour estimates for new projects? What is the approach you are using, and why has or has it not worked for you? Are there any best practices to take in account? ...

Bugzilla or Mantis?

As the title says, I'm starting one project right now, and trying to layout the infrastructure for the project (SVN, Email, Bug tracking, Online Forums, etc...) So, Bugzilla or Mantis? ...

Warning signs to look for in a potential customer?

I have seen a few questions about how to interview potential employees and employers, but this is something fairly important that I've come across in the past and I'm sure a lot of other users here will have too: If you are running a small development company, consultancy or working freelance, what are the warning signs you look for in ...

What is the best place to run a private prediction market?

From wikipedia: Prediction markets are speculative markets created for the purpose of making predictions. Assets are created whose final cash value is tied to a particular event (e.g., will the next US president be a Republican) or parameter (e.g., total sales next quarter). The current market prices can then be interpreted as predic...