42
votes
What to do with developers who don't follow requirements?
Tom is an unguided projectile. Regardless of why he does what he does (whether he believes himself to be better or simply lacks proper guidance), the core issue here is that he not only second-guesses ...
- 616
21
votes
What to do with developers who don't follow requirements?
Flater's answer is really good; let me add something that will also help: Acceptance Criteria (AC).
Acceptance Criteria
Every single story should have Acceptance Criteria, describing the functional ...
- 357
11
votes
Accepted
What to do if team can't be made cross-functional?
First off, I should note that, as per my understanding of the term 'cross-functional team', it is not a team where every member can do everything. Rather, it is a team that is capable of doing ...
- 14.8k
10
votes
Can a Product Owner be a developer in Scrum?
The Scrum Guide is explicit that this is allowed:
The Product Owner and Scrum Master roles are not included in this count unless they are also executing the work of the Sprint Backlog.
- 217
10
votes
How to efficiently manage a Scrum team when one member is much less productive?
First, stop measuring individual velocity. Velocity should be measured on a team level for a Sprint, and not for individuals. Your team delivers a potentially shippable software product after even ...
- 18.7k
8
votes
Are Project Managers redundant in a digital agency?
Disclaimer: I have never worked in a digital agency and I am aware that the role of Project Manager in Digital Agencies can be somewhat different to that commonly accepted in other I.T. operations ...
- 4,424
8
votes
Sales team keep on setting aggressive deadlines
Reflect the pain back.
As things stand, your boss is not feeling the pain the team is feeling in delivering against artificial and aggressive deadlines. Your challenge is to make sure they see the ...
- 19k
8
votes
Does Scrum makes sense for 12 members in a Development Team?
It's important to recognize that Scrum does not say that a team must be between 3 and 9 individuals. The Scrum Guide says that Scrum is most effective with a Development Team size of between 3 and 9 ...
- 18.7k
8
votes
What to do with developers who don't follow requirements?
This is a problem most of the PMs face when there are really skilled Developers in their teams.
My answer will be a practical approach to handling this issue.
I hope you have been a PM for quite ...
- 181
8
votes
What is the good response to convince project manager about testing process?
Modern testing is all about how you assist to "Accelerate the Achievement of Shippable Quality".
Do your reviews help with accelerating? What metrics do you use to create proof of that? ...
- 5,513
7
votes
Accepted
What is "SPOCK" exactly?
If you really mean SPOCK then you are probably referring to the testing and specification framework for Java and Groovy applications by SpockFramework.org
Spock is a testing and specification ...
- 4,532
7
votes
What to do with developers who don't follow requirements?
I work as a developer and can so clearly see myself in the shoes of Tom; I guess he reminds me of myself. I can see in your profile that you've written about Tom in July as well, so I realize that ...
7
votes
How to estimate delivery date with unidentified tasks
By estimating iteratively.
Look into the cone of uncertainty.
At the start of the project, the amount of uncertainty is high, and the cone wide. Thus, your estimate would be 'between 2 and 6 months'....
- 14.8k
7
votes
How to handle stakeholders' different understanding of project requirements?
This is a great question. Several years back I analysed the bugs reported in a team and found that over half of them came about as a result of misunderstanding of requirements.
Some things that can ...
- 19k
7
votes
What is the good response to convince project manager about testing process?
What do you mean by "reviews" in this context? Many development teams do peer-reviews of code and analysis because they find that reviews improve productivity and quality. Many teams also ...
- 6,021
6
votes
How to allocate resources across projects with equal priority
You are solving wrong problem
Your PM is completely out of control and #1 task is to get Projects back to PMs hands. They're now run by the Client and Developers, which is not really their job. .
...
- 849
6
votes
How to repay technical debt still delivering features?
Nothing in Project Management is Free
It is usually very difficult to explain to management that it will take time to repay technical debt and that the team will be even slower refactoring rather ...
- 48.9k
6
votes
Accepted
How to lead new or inexperienced developers in my project?
Have you considered paired programming?
In areas completely foreign to them, the other developer could be the "driver", allowing them to get some good insight into this project. It'll also keep them ...
- 16.8k
6
votes
Accepted
How to record client requirements?
Agile provides 3 opportunities to catch this error prior to production
The dependency should have been captured in the acceptance criteria: When story B is written, it should have been linked back to ...
6
votes
Developer doesn't make deadline
Leaders of teams are not only because they were officially designated as said leader of a team. They lead because they assume the role and once assumed they are the de facto project manager and are ...
- 37k
6
votes
Emotional Intelligence vs Conflict Resolution
EI and conflict management goes hand in hand.
EI will be useful in all areas -
Negotiations with client during inconvenient situations
Motivation to resources who may not be happy with
their role/...
- 507
6
votes
What to do if team can't be made cross-functional?
Optimize for Flow, Not Utilization
In Scrum, when picking a set of stories to accomplish in one sprint, some sprints will have mostly art-heavy stories queued up, and some sprints will have mostly ...
- 48.9k
6
votes
How can I complete 6 months of work in less than 2 months?
That project needs to be released in 2 months, but we estimated around
6 months of work on it. So we need to get more people working, so that
we can fit in that time period.
Adding more ...
- 229
6
votes
Accepted
How to solve a code challenge from a manager perspective
Fascinating question and an excellent interview question. (Technically a poor fit for PM:SE because there is no authoritative answer - which is what makes it a great interview question). That said, I ...
- 8,738
6
votes
What to do with developers who don't follow requirements?
This is a behavioral problem and not specific issue which can be addressed by any framework or development methodology. As a leader with specific goals to be achieved in defined timelines you need to ...
- 171
6
votes
What is the good response to convince project manager about testing process?
I think it is a very fair question for the PM to ask. Evaluating the proposed effort against its benefits, costs, and risks is proper leadership and management. If you have a proposal for testing, you ...
- 37k
5
votes
How can I measure the performance of different teams in different departments?
You can't compare efforts between marketing and accounting; accounting is non-competitive. I suspect it is an error to try to compare efforts which are dissimilar. The problem set before you is ...
- 8,738
5
votes
Accepted
Developer doesn't make deadline
You are perceived as the team leader, so in the absence of anyone with that formal title, you have to take on that role. You already meet regularly with the CEO as though you have that formal role, so,...
- 6,783
5
votes
Accepted
In JIRA, how can we have separate boards/views for the PO and the team in the same sprint?
You can use swimlanes or Quick Filters to separate those views for your POs.
Using Quick Filters:
On your board page:
Go to Board->Configure
Select "Quick Filters"
Add a new Quick Filter with Query ...
- 146
5
votes
Accepted
How do you handle scheduling with developers who always come up with new cases in specifications?
The main reason Agile came about is that people realised that change is inevitable in software development. This change comes from several sources:
Requirements change - People are notoriously bad at ...
- 19k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible