Questions tagged [process]
The process tag is for questions regarding how to best accomplish a goal or handle a specific scenario.
138
questions
27
votes
6answers
50k views
What makes an effective email status report? Why? [closed]
In project management, what criteria make an effective email status report?
How often should a status report be sent to be useful? Daily? Weekly? Every sprint end?
24
votes
6answers
17k views
Where should design be incorporated in an agile process?
We use a scrum-based agile development process. But where should design get incorporated? Separate user stories? Tasks on stories?
We currently think of design as a separate task and break it out as ...
21
votes
3answers
9k views
How can a team working on research based items work in an Agile project?
My R&D organization is following an Agile (Scrum) development methodology. One of the development teams is working mostly on items that are really problematic in terms of the certainty during the ...
21
votes
6answers
2k views
Is Software Architecture still Relevant in Agile ?
Agile focuses on developing workable codes from small user stories. Pair programming encourage developers to pair up, actively engage with one another to come up with the best solution for the problem....
20
votes
7answers
91k views
What is the difference between framework vs methodology?
What the difference is between a methodology and a framework? And where does the process come into that story?
And perhaps, it would be good to have this comparison explained by using methodologies ...
19
votes
7answers
11k views
What are developers expected to do during testing in the latter half of each Sprint?
When you are using the Scrum framework, a Sprint cycle involves development and QA. At the end of the Sprint the tasks worked upon and tested are showcased and released.
Typically, for a team of 3 to ...
19
votes
4answers
2k views
How to appropriately balance project activities with support tasks
I have a small team of experts (12 staff) who do great project work. Unfortunately, their expertise makes them the go-to individuals on support tasks as well. The inability to focus on projects ...
17
votes
8answers
2k views
Collecting And Sharing Status
How do you collect and share status? Some PM's think group status meetings are a waste of time and prefer to collect status in one-on-one's. Others prefer email. What works best for you? How do you ...
16
votes
4answers
2k views
How do you kick-off new Agile teams?
I'm curious what others are doing with regard to getting teams up and running with Agile in a sustainable way. What do you emphasize first (practices, principle, process framework)? Or is there no one ...
15
votes
4answers
3k views
As a development manager, what are your first steps joining a new company?
I've recently been offered my first position as a development manager. I would be taking over a team of 4 at a small software development shop with the mission of creating structure, and improving ...
15
votes
6answers
574 views
With Scrum, how do you keep from dropping the little things?
We've moved our group's workflow to a scrum-based approach, with a lot of success. We're getting things done, people are more engaged, and we're more focused on our actual user community's needs.
...
15
votes
7answers
777 views
What to do when team members are overburdened by process?
Big enterprises are infamous for creating lots of processes. Sometimes these processes are overburdening for the team members that have to do them to the point where the process is more work than the ...
15
votes
3answers
412 views
Is it still possible to use formal methods if the organization has chosen not to adopt them?
I managed a project in a company where I was the only person with experience of using formal methods (Prince 2).
The directors of the company, and the other senior staff, all took the attitude that ...
14
votes
6answers
1k views
How do I organize a team of “shadow" software developers (think ghostwriters)?
I'm starting a software development consultancy -- coders for hire. I'd be the main developer and would hire others to delegate certain tasks to. The catch: I want that my clients should never see who ...
13
votes
4answers
837 views
Will hiring an agile coach make that much of a difference?
My company is still young, and our processes still inadequate. I want to get the scrum process right from the start. Would hiring an agile coach make that much of a difference even if I've done ...
13
votes
4answers
4k views
Should small teams use Continuous Integration?
I recently switched to a start-up organization providing a social network site. In my new organization, we are a small team of 8 developers/designers.
I heard a lot about continuous integration (e.g. ...
12
votes
6answers
2k views
Is there a clear benefit to separating "issues" from "tasks" when working in larger teams?
Is there a clear benefit to separating issue from task when working in larger teams?
When working with sizable teams of developers in addition to a number of external clients, QA, and any other form ...
12
votes
6answers
1k views
What software can I use to complememt our useless company task planning and time tracker tool? [closed]
We have Remedy-based software that is used for task planning and time tracking. No real project management features are supported, but we need to use it because our budgets are calculated using the ...
10
votes
3answers
4k views
What to do when the backend work is much larger than the frontend?
On past projects, I've seen a common theme. A particular feature will require very simple front end work (eg. make a button on a screen that says "submit"), but there will be a large amount of work on ...
10
votes
3answers
937 views
What are the best practices/methods/tools/techniques for conflict identification in requirements?
For the sake of this discussion requirements = user-stories (since I'm not differentiating any process per se and would like to get rid of any ambiguities).
It's quite common to have a set of about ...
9
votes
4answers
3k views
Is the 15-minute daily stand-up meeting mandatory for a successful Scrum project?
Is the Daily Scrum meeting mandatory for a successful Scrum project? Is it possible to replace it with a one hour meeting once or twice a week?
I am asking this because I am finding it difficult to ...
9
votes
6answers
5k views
Is there an Agile or Scrum method without Iterations / Sprints?
I just had a little discussion about this with a few coworkers but we did not come to a conclusion yet. We have a bunch of projects that are actively maintained and developed using scrum, with fixed ...
8
votes
5answers
340 views
How do I break silos that exist because of culture, and make them flow horizontally?
I have a silo in an organization of under 20 people. Actually, it's about five silos that everything needs to go up to approval for, come back down with revisions, go back up... and we keep running in ...
8
votes
5answers
247 views
Why can't QA's share expertise and suggest new ways of working
I work as part of an eight-member agile team. When I joined the company I saw lots of problems in the team. I decided to share my past experience to help the team but the team saw me as a small person,...
8
votes
2answers
5k views
Why do Agile practice not exist in scientific research projects and organizations?
This has already been asked (How can a team working on research based items work in an Agile project?), but the thread is from 2011, so I thought I'd poke for an update.
Does anyone know of a good ...
8
votes
3answers
1k views
How to Organise Help Desk?
I have to organize the help desk. I have some thoughts and ideas.
The project for which I have to do is a Web application. It has 5 servers
in different time zones.
We have something about 25 ...
7
votes
5answers
638 views
Does a business analyst fit into the Scrum framework?
Question
Let's consider a software development project made for an external customer. The development company (the vendor) has the usual positions and specialists: developers, testers, business ...
7
votes
3answers
469 views
The right way to correct a new employee who accidently stepped on your toes
I'm managing an upgrade project and I asked my assistant to do some preliminary research and come to me with some ideas on how to approach the project.
This particular project affects a large number ...
7
votes
4answers
1k views
Incorporating QA and Testing in a Startup running Scrum
We continue to struggle with how to improve our QA and Testing processes in the sprint. We run a two week sprint and find that the QA and testing gets left late in the process and ends up rushed with ...
7
votes
3answers
226k views
What is an engagement manager - what does (s)he do?
Could anyone please give me a role description of an engagement manager? I think it should be the person internally responsible for getting a deal.
The more detailed the better. References are also ...
7
votes
3answers
2k views
Which topics should be covered when handing over project management to another PM?
I am about to take over the project manager role for a project being run by another development manager. The project is currently in an early planning phase.
Which topics should I make sure I get ...
7
votes
1answer
6k views
How do you make Basecamp work for scrum?
How do you use basecamp's fairly rigid tools for facilitating the scrum PM framework?
6
votes
3answers
524 views
What should a project manager do to on-board remote team members efficiently?
What can I do as a project manager to ensure new team members are quickly brought up to speed within the project team?
The team is multidisciplinary, having mobile software engineers, UI & UX ...
6
votes
3answers
490 views
How to better manage definition of project scope for business change projects?
My unit manages business change projects. In order to flesh out what a project is (i.e. what are we trying to accomplish, what is the scope, how do we define success, etc etc) we tend to get bogged ...
5
votes
6answers
445 views
Project Estimation is off by 50% or More! Who is Responsible for Vague Requirements?
I've just started doing some small contracts for the first time, and I'm working on a project with a person responsible for dealing with the client and analyzing requirements.
In this case, there was ...
5
votes
3answers
245 views
Driving process change within a company that only has recently viewed its software as a competitive advantage
I have recently changed roles ( 4+ years ) as a product manager within an organization with previous years spent as a business analyst within a mid-sized agile software development firm and I have ...
5
votes
4answers
735 views
How do I select project management software for our current workflow?
We are a small engineering firm that has just expanded from one to three workers. Earlier, the managing of projects was done by e-mail, where the user sorted each project by folders in Outlook.
Since ...
5
votes
3answers
969 views
Completing a SWOT analysis
I've been asked to complete a SWOT analysis covering my small R&D group with reference to an enterprise wide project combining R&D groups from across the organisation. One section has already ...
5
votes
4answers
444 views
How can a PMO help the adoption of a project management culture in an organization?
I've worked with organizations that have started project management offices (PMO) in order to become more project oriented in their work processes.
Sometimes it works, and the PMO becomes a source ...
5
votes
3answers
138 views
Schedule & Customer Blame
Here are work we are having some difficulty with, well, difficult customers during the implementation phase of a semi-custom SaaS product. Standard story, I guess, ship deliverable's and then nothing ...
5
votes
2answers
168 views
Which is the best way to list tickets that do not change lane / status in JIRA?
my goal is to have a list of the JIRA tickets that are not moving from one lane to another so that I can intervene on those tickets and check if impediments, difficulties or issues are up in place.
...
5
votes
5answers
873 views
How do I improve the development process at our small startup?
I work for a small, independent software development startup. We’ve been in business for nearly three years now and things are going pretty well. We’ve got a pretty steady stream of projects for an ...
5
votes
1answer
151 views
What is the best way to get a UX/UI team to adopt standards?
We're a team of around 4 UI Developers, 1 Designer and 2 UX. We work on a series of ongoing projects and every month or so, we start a new small project from scratch. All projects are owned by the ...
5
votes
2answers
66 views
Is it possible to have process outputs that are not products?
I always thought that a process has to have an output in terms of a deliverable. However, I found the following in the ISO 12207:
process outcome
observable result of the successful achievement of ...
5
votes
4answers
3k views
How can I collectively track application inter-dependencies?
With varying teams delivering varying pieces of an overall solution it has become increasingly difficult to recognize when a given version of an application must be delivered with another application ...
4
votes
8answers
59k views
Is a Project Coordinator a Step closer to becoming a Project Manager?
So I understand that the Project Coordinator's main duties are to schedules the project, manages contracts and vendors, manages the resources (especially in construction projects), creates most ...
4
votes
4answers
699 views
What is the correct process for assessing project management tools/solutions?
We do cross-platform development with .NET, Java, and iOS. I have been tasked with selecting an Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) solution suitable for managing multiple small distributed teams.
...
4
votes
3answers
5k views
10 things that I can do to improve my Team and our Process
Some backdrop about my team, just so that you can make your answers relevant ->
We are a Web Application development team, with Team strength being 5 members.
What are 10 simple things we can do to ...
4
votes
8answers
2k views
How do you handle change requests in Scrum?
I am working on a project. My client has asked for a requirement that slightly deviates from the initial terms and conditions agreement. I think it's a change request. In Scrum, how do I handle a ...
4
votes
4answers
190 views
Sharing important information effectively in an small group
I'm working in a software project with about 25 students (divided in 4 groups). As right now we use Slack for chatting and sharing important decisions we make. Slack is an communication tool similar ...
