19
votes
Accepted
Developer keeps underestimating tasks time
Hat tip to Nvoigt, Nvogel & D. Espina - all good answers, with particular emphasis on D. Espina's "sometimes, knowing one of your team is overly optimistic, you simply add your own margins ...
- 8,728
16
votes
Developer keeps underestimating tasks time
In Scrum the team aims to complete the sprint goal by the end of the sprint. It shouldn't be necessary to estimate day-to-day deadlines since the delivery date is always the end of the sprint. I ...
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10
votes
Accepted
PM techniques/tools for fixed-price 6 month client project
@DavidEspina has it right - I'd like to add a few thoughts
This question illustrates one of the reasons tool recommendations are out of scope - CodeGnome's law says you need to decide how to solve ...
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9
votes
How to manage a failed sub team inside a scrum team
You asked in terms of scrum, so that is how I'll answer. However, there are a number of red flags in your question that lead me to believe you aren't actually doing scrum (and I am far from a scrum ...
- 3,535
8
votes
About the claim that adding more developers to a team does not make delivery faster
I've always heard (and experienced) it as "Adding more developers to a late project will make it later."
Every new developer requires ramp-up time to be familiarized with the project's architecture, ...
- 14.8k
8
votes
Developer keeps underestimating tasks time
Notwithstanding your approach and whether you are performing it properly, research the affects of planning fallacies. A planning fallacy is a specific form of Optimism Bias, where we have a tendency ...
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7
votes
About the claim that adding more developers to a team does not make delivery faster
It sounds like the idea you're concerned about is a rather over-simplified version of the point raised by Fred Brooks in the (rightly) famous essay The Mythical Man-Month. What Brooks pointed out is ...
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7
votes
Accepted
How can we simulate hard deadline?
I'm sorry, but you are trying to solve the wrong problem. Your team isn't delivering much because your management has no expectations from them to do otherwise.
There is a saying in my country that ...
- 15k
7
votes
Developer keeps underestimating tasks time
Joel Spolsky once wrote: https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2007/10/26/evidence-based-scheduling/
The mythical perfect estimator, who exists only in your imagination, always gets every estimate exactly ...
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6
votes
Accepted
Missed deadlines. Who's responsible?
Your story suggests three issues you are facing: 1) project management maturity, 2) an understanding of schedule variability, and 3) human performance factors and biases.
You describe a work ...
- 37.1k
5
votes
PM techniques/tools for fixed-price 6 month client project
Basically if anything does not go according to plan you are screwed. The problem is that you promised to deliver fixed features (scope) for a fixed budget (resources) before a fixed deadline (schedule)...
5
votes
Accepted
What decision should I take regarding a team of front-end developers which delivers unstable releases
Product is currently in beta stage and never been public, only client
team and the team of testers have access to this.
How often is the client checking in? Do you have regular reviews? You want ...
- 4,065
5
votes
Developer keeps underestimating tasks time
I'd like add one more option on the table. In many cases estimation isn't really necessary. Situations when it can be useful:
You need to sync with other teams which depend on you
You need to predict ...
- 1,046
4
votes
PM techniques/tools for fixed-price 6 month client project
There is no tool or technique that will guarantee you will come in on time and within budget. Work is probabilistic. If you need more certainty, such as you don't have the funds to pay for overruns, ...
- 37.1k
4
votes
Accepted
Kanban or Scrum for tough deadline project?
I assume as an interview question, the primary purpose of this question is to see how you think through these ideas and decisions. In that regard, it's a fair question for an interview. For real life, ...
- 16.9k
3
votes
PM techniques/tools for fixed-price 6 month client project
I agree with everything David and Mark have said. Further, I'd just like to comment on:
But, because I know what all the sprints are going to contain ahead of time, it's not really "agile".
How ...
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3
votes
Practising agile in deadline driven environments
Agile works well in a deadline driven environment as long as there is flexibility on scope.
With agile we typically work with a prioritised backlog of requirements. This ensures that as we work ...
- 19.5k
3
votes
Project Management without access to budget or deadlines
So my question: how can I a) work around not having crucial information, or b) explain to my boss that in order to do my job properly, I need that crucial information?
In the absence of budget and ...
- 1,633
3
votes
Accepted
Did i good to do quick fixes, couple minutes before deadline.
It is all about perspective:
You saved the day and you are a Hero by fixing the product
You left around messy unclean code and you are lousy developer
I think your are both right, congrats! Cleaning ...
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3
votes
Present a document with estimations of duration of work and risks
Even before agile we had a concept called "Order of Magnitude Estimating". It's a tool that has been pretty much forgotten, in large part because companies are so date driven, to meet quarterly stock ...
- 12.5k
3
votes
Accepted
Present a document with estimations of duration of work and risks
Oh boy, there are a few red flags in your story (some of them you've already identified yourself). These are the big ones I see:
Management asked "when will you finish"
That's somewhat great: they ...
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3
votes
How to manage a failed sub team inside a scrum team
Increase Your Collaboration with the Scrum Team
However in this particular case its not an option.
Not an option is generally business-speak for: "We want different results, but refuse to change ...
- 50.1k
3
votes
How to manage a failed sub team inside a scrum team
I'm getting a lot of "us" vs "them" feelings from your question, which is a major red flag. As a PO, you're part of the team, there's only "we".
Others have touched on how it would be better to not ...
3
votes
How to manage a failed sub team inside a scrum team
It is perfectly normal to have people of different skills and capabilities working in a scrum team. Therefore, it is normal to have Back-end, Front-end and QA roles separately in a team.
Success of ...
- 242
2
votes
Your team member fails to meet the deadline for the coding and testing of a component. What do you do?
You manage your variances. Fast track or crash succeeding tasks where you can and what you can afford. And communicate early, honestly, and as much as possible. This is project management. Unless you ...
- 37.1k
2
votes
Did i good to do quick fixes, couple minutes before deadline.
There is no canonical answer here so this question I think is out of bounds for this site. However, I like it. Here are my thoughts:
Both of you are right. Your story suggests that you exhibited ...
- 37.1k
2
votes
Project Management without access to budget or deadlines
If you do not know what your targets are to which to plan and to work, then you have zero accountability and responsibility for those targets. None.
Focus on doing the job and doing the job well. ...
- 37.1k
2
votes
Is planning software necessary?
Yes, Software Planning is important. and most important is to use any tool for it. because of some times, any changed that managed somewhere. and everyone discussed and track it.
Then every task is ...
- 21
2
votes
Accepted
How should I control a programming project's progress?
Oh the memories, first project. Due to your small group size and the high uncertainty of your project, I'd chose an agile approach, e.g. Scrum.
So form a cross-functional team that is covering every ...
- 636
2
votes
PM techniques/tools for fixed-price 6 month client project
This will not be a full answer to your question, but it contains one important piece of the puzzle if you ask me. Getting projects out of the door is very much about risk management. In my experience ...
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