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Saving Money: One Key to Program Management
A big part of program management is understanding where you can get freebies. To know this, however, you have to understand the intricacies of how programs are run and what can be cut and what can't. For instance, Federal prison officials at several prisons are putting up lethal fences around the complexes. Prisoners can be shot for escaping anyway, and the high-voltage wire saves the costs of paying all those guards. But what are some good targets for cost reduction in software development?
Here are my three favorite areas:
- Level of formality: We know you have to go through the motions, but at what level of formality? There is huge difference between a project that requires triple-signoffs on every step and one that is less formal.
- Identify and Fix Analysis Issues Early: At the beginning of the project, where analysis is taking place and requirements are being gathered -- this is where most projects go off the rails. There are two major reasons: poor skill level of the analyst and inability of the customer to make decisions. The two reasons are closely related. Don't worry about assigning blame: identifying and fixing these problems could save most projects, imo.
- Fear of risk or decision-making: Software is a risky business. Managers get paid to make risks and make mistakes. But too often, the people who should be taking the risks refuse to pony-up to the table. This is a death-knell for any project and a red light for sponsors. If you don't have somebody in charge that's willing to be in charge, run away! Put somebody in the room with the guts to make decisions, and then trust them.
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