80
votes
Is it sound project management practice to make software engineers fix bugs "off the clock"?
And not only are they suppose to correct them, they are suppose to
correct them on their own time without impacting plans.
This is your problem. Why don't your plans include the time for fixing ...
- 3,485
54
votes
Is it sound project management practice to make software engineers fix bugs "off the clock"?
Just as a side note to the other good answers - developers tend to have minds that look at process and (un)consciously find ways to game it.
What you are training your developers to do here is to not ...
- 641
48
votes
Is it sound project management practice to make software engineers fix bugs "off the clock"?
Over the last year we've become pretty hardcore in adopting the principal that an engineers must fix their own defects (those found internally and those that escape to the end users). Not only are ...
- 8,348
36
votes
Accepted
How do you schedule delivery dates in Scrum?
TL; DR
Agile release planning is based on fixed-length, normed-capacity cycles that operate on dynamically-planned and dynamically-scoped features. In Scrum, fixed-date release planning must be ...
- 48.9k
29
votes
Is it sound project management practice to make software engineers fix bugs "off the clock"?
This is a troubling post. Your company is penalizing its workers for what is a normal and expected occurrence--performance variability. The whole reason to "punish" someone is for a behavior change, ...
- 37k
18
votes
Do projects ever end early?
While in most projects, the work can expand to fill up some or most of the 'extraneous' time, for many products things are simply done when they're done. In software development, when the product is ...
- 373
18
votes
Is it sound project management practice to make software engineers fix bugs "off the clock"?
Aside from the main issue you are asking about, there's also something a little concerning about this part: "defects (those found internally and those that escape to the end users)" I don't see ...
- 281
16
votes
Do projects ever end early?
Parkinson's Law and Student Syndrome. These two concepts I believe truly impacts our work. There's validity in "challenging" the team by constraining the planning values that the team thinks they ...
- 37k
15
votes
Is it sound project management practice to make software engineers fix bugs "off the clock"?
The short answer: No, it isn't!
The not-as-short answer:
Your company has come up with the idea that the existence of bugs is a professional failure on the part of the developer. This is not true.
...
- 151
15
votes
Scrum and interruptions (urgent bugs, requests)
Does Scrum take into account interruptions?
Scrum does not. The Scrum team does.
Scrum teams are self-organized and plan their own work. If part of that work consists of fixing urgent bugs from ...
- 14.5k
14
votes
Is a project manager responsible for completing a project on time?
All work is probabilistic. It has an extremely improbable best case result, an extremely improbable worst case result, and an extremely probable most likely result. That probabilistic distribution ...
- 37k
13
votes
How do you work around a production team that is distracted by support tickets and micro projects?
This is a classic management problem; trying to use a single body of resource to handle both time-based planning-driven work and ad-hoc unpredictable event-driven service requests. Unenlightened ...
- 4,424
12
votes
Accepted
For planning purposes, how many work hours per day should I expect of each staff member?
TL;DR
In general, I recommend a "fudge factor" of 0.75 to baseline a new project, absent other data. This would mean 6 hours of project effort in an 8-hour day. I also recommend a more aggressive ...
- 48.9k
10
votes
How do you schedule delivery dates in Scrum?
You have historical data about your team
The only tool you have in Scrum to help this situation is your velocity. I believe you know your velocity - how many story points you do in a sprint -, check ...
- 11.9k
10
votes
Is it sound project management practice to make software engineers fix bugs "off the clock"?
"Hardcore" indeed. I don't have much to add to the other good answers, but I'll relate an experience of my own as a developer. I worked for a company in which the culture was similar to what you are ...
- 201
10
votes
Accepted
What are the benefits of queuing tasks as opposed to assigning them?
I will assume that the "push" approach is not only direct, but also immediate.
(Like when someone comes up to you and says "hey, Joe, can we roll this later today?").
The "...
- 267
9
votes
Do projects ever end early?
Is it a good idea to try and use Parkinson's Law to increase productivity. No. (Disclaimer: I'm going to assume you're talking about software projects, not rock breaking or something)
Read an extract ...
- 1,255
9
votes
Accepted
Project Manager cancel or move daily stand-up without notice if he has conflicting meetings
I think the most useful advice can actually be found in the comment on your linked Question.
My manager was absolutely shocked to find out that we still had our stand up when he canceled it (a ...
- 14.8k
8
votes
Accepted
What does it mean to 'crash a project'?
Crashing is simply the concept of throwing more resources--be it money, tools and machinery, humans, etc--at a work package in an attempt to decrease its overall duration. The general idea is, if you ...
- 37k
8
votes
If one supplier has delayed your project schedule should the other suppliers on the project be alerted to the new timeline?
I can think of only one reason why you would inform and alter the schedule of one supplier when another is late: dependency, in which case you would have integrated the schedules and everyone involved ...
- 37k
8
votes
Is a project manager responsible for completing a project on time?
Yes, a project manager is responsible for completing a project on time. However, "on time" is a date that will often move during the life of the project, and it is the agreed date that the ...
- 6,783
8
votes
Client doesn't agree to put milestone in project scheduling
Here's one source: https://project-management-knowledge.com/definitions/e/external-dependency/
Simply research "external dependencies in project scheduling." Your schedule will simply be ...
- 37k
8
votes
Must business people and developers always work together daily?
No, it doesn't mean "Compulsory daily meetings with non-technical people"
In the then prevailing Waterfall model of development, requirements were gathered, written-down and signed off in ...
8
votes
Should a two-week Sprint include the weekends?
If your Sprints start on Mondays, how can you have a Sprint start on January 15, 2022? That day is a Saturday. Similarly, if your Sprints end on Fridays, how can you have a Sprint end on January 24, ...
- 18.7k
7
votes
Accepted
How to deal with scheduling/control when task insertion (vs task duration) is primary risk
This is why I prefer a product oriented WBS. Except when the deliverable is a service, the WBS should be based on the product itself, broken down to its components, and then underneath add activities ...
- 37k
7
votes
Is it sound project management practice to make software engineers fix bugs "off the clock"?
This practice is good way to drive out your best and brightest, leaving you with a skeleton crew of your bottom performers. I have developed software for generation 4&5 fighter jets and managed ...
- 201
7
votes
Scrum and interruptions (urgent bugs, requests)
TL;DR
The Scrum framework certainly addresses capacity planning and scheduling, although it's not prescriptive about how the Scrum Team should manage the issues you describe. The implementation ...
- 48.9k
6
votes
How do you work around a production team that is distracted by support tickets and micro projects?
I don't have an answer beyond the very simple - you must either
De-scope the projects
Limit the support
Extend project timelines
Increase resource
Note that I said the answer is simple, getting ...
- 4,045
6
votes
How do you schedule delivery dates in Scrum?
Zsolt has some good starters, I'm giving him a vote up.
Scrum works very well for fixed release dates so long as you recognized a simple reality. That being with Scrum you can have one of two truths....
- 12.4k
6
votes
How can I handle objections about the percent of utilization of a non-technical PM?
I've been very successful as a program manager and now agile coach, in Silicon Valley, for over fifteen years based on a completely non-technical background. I've faced this argument many times in the ...
- 12.4k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible