The art of project management

cc _t - L-j~I-II -l~ The Art of Project M nagement J'REILLY'~ Scott Berkun Praise for A, t of Project "As someone who alternatively manages a worldwide team of open source developers and works in a much smaller role inside a large corporation, I found Berkun's practical, intelligent, and multi-disciplined approach to the art and science of getting things done in groups immediately applicable and extremely effective Highly recommended for CEOs, project managers, and hackers alike." -MATT MULLENWEG, FOUNDER AND LEAD DEVELOPER, WORDPRESS.ORG " Its strengths are its basis in experience; the inclusion of many illustrative stories; and the thoughtful sections on specs, making good decisions, and politics an excellent resource for someone trying to make sense of project management." -KENT BECK, AUTHOR OF EXTREME PROGRAMMING EXPLAINED: EMBRACE CHANGE "This book is useful to anyone involved in ongoing projects, regardless of whether they have an official leadership role I'm a designer, not a project manager, and I found more practical information on how to get work done in a software company than any other book I've read." -CHAD THORNTON, INTERACTION DESIGNER, GOOGLE INC "In The Art of Project Management, Scott combines his veteran experience inside the world's most famous software company with his unique and empathetic understanding of human behavior The result is an amazingly practical and proven set of tools, tactics, and techniques for navigating the thorny waters of project management, people management, and software development Written in the clear, concise, and often comedic voice his readers have come to expect, The Art of Project Management is an unflinching guide to anyone managing, influencing, or participating in the process of software development." -BOB BAXLEY, DIRECTOR OF DESIGN, YAHOO! SEARCH "A successful software application is a mixture of programming, designing, scheduling, marketing, testing, some black magic, and a lot of luck Engineers see it as a technical problem; designers see it as a usability problem; marketers see it as a specifications problem; but nobody sees it as I 00% their problem This book is written for the people who take on the burden of making the whole problem their problem." Co~el\ -STEVE CAPPS, CEO OF ONEDOTO.COM AND FORMER ApPLE FELLOW 'tbe V.o· \\ritlsb \\()~b\\ ~aais ~ "t\'M1!"~ ' \\)~~ "This is in fact a down-to-earth book about a tough job, the management of large, complex projects, with an emphasis on high tech and software this eminently practical book will be of use to anybody who wants advice on approaching serious project management professionally." -NETSURFER DIGEST, JUNE2005 "As a software engineer, the observations in TheArt of Project Management resonated deeply with my own experiences Scott's book gave me a new appreciation for the difficulty and risks, and the tremendous rewards, of good project management This book provides the knowledge and the incentive to become a better project contributor, whether you are managing or being managed Any stakeholder in a software project will benefit from reading this book." -MARTIN FRANKEL, SENIOR SOFTWARE ENGINEER, TtVo INC "Scott Berkun delivers an extremely readable book on the pitfalls to avoid and the techniques to pursue in software program management He writes with obvious real-world experience and demystifies everything from marketing's requirements to bug triage in a way that is useful to all members of the development team This book offers a whisper of advice into your ear whenever you have a moment of program management uncertainty." -CHAD McDANIEL, LEAD SOFTWARE DEVELOPER "How I managed so long without this book baffles the mind." -RICHARD STOAKLEY, GROUP PROGRAM MANAGER, MICROSOFT CORPORA TlON "In The Art of Project Management, Scott draws from not only his personal experience leading recent high-profile projects at Microsoft, but also lessons from many other fields Like the broad foundation of the author's insights, this book applies to a wide range of situations, whether in developing software, running a business or any organization." -E CASTEDO ELLERMAN, VICE PRESIDENT, BEAR STEARNS & CO "Of.all the many books on project management, The Art of Project Management is by far the most easy to read and entertaining Scott Berkuns insights, knowl~dge, and sense of humor deliver an exceptional book that no project mana&~r can without." -MICHAEL VIOLA, SENIOR CONSULTANT, IBM "I wish I had this book when I started managing projects Scott shows us the heart and soul of project management: planning the project, keeping the momentum going, developing a solid relationship with the team, working in an organization All of these are illustrated with plenty of great examplesboth successes and failures-from his own career as a project manager at Microsoft." -ANDREW STELLMAN, STELLMAN-GREENE CONSULTING "Berkun conveys his considerable experience managing projects for Microsoft, while eschewing the technical jargon which plagues most books of this kind He provides solid advice on how to make your next project go more smoothly Over and over, I found myself thinking, 'Oh yeah, that's how it should be done' and 'Wow, that makes perfect sense-why didn't I look at it that way before?'" -MARK STUTZMAN, MANAGER OF INFORMATION SERVICES, FTS INDUSTRIES "The Art of Project Management is unique because of its human approach Berkun understands that people are at the heart of projects, and this makes the book both highly readable and instantly useful." -RICH GRUDMAN, IT PROJECT MANAGER "Berkun provides valuable insight into how to accomplish projects without subscribing to a specific software engineering strategy His discussions are supported with examples from projects he personally managed and include numerous citations from other works on philosophy, organizational behavior, and project management This book should be required reading for anyone involved with development, from a single programmer in a small company to a vice-president of a large corporation." -SAMUEL GREENFIELD, MANAGER OFSYSTEM DEVELOPMENT, SPORTS ILLUSTRATED MAGAZINE The Art of Project Management The Art of Project Management • Scott Berkun O'REILLY@ Beijing • Cambridge • Farnham • Koln • Paris • Sebastopol • Taipei • Tokyo The Art of Project Management by Scoll Berkun Copyright © 2005 O'Reilly Media, Inc All rights reserved, Printed in the United States of America, Published by O'Reilly Media, Inc 1005 Gravenstein Highway North Sebastopol, CA 95472 O'Reilly books may be purchased for educational, business, or sales promotional use, Online editions are also available for most titles (safari.oreilly.comv For more information, contact our corporate/institutional sales department: (800) 998-9938 or corporate@oreilly.com Editor: Mike Hendrickson Production Editor: Marlowe Shaeffer Cover Designer: MENDEDESIGN, www.mendedesign.com Interior Designer: Marcia Friedman Art Director: Michele Wetherbee Printing History: April 2005: First Edition The O'Reilly logo is a registered trademark of O'Reilly Media, Inc Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products are claimed as trademarks, Where those designations appear in this book, and O'Reilly Media, Inc was aware of a trademark claim, the designations have been printed in caps or initial caps, While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, the publisher and author assume no responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein, This book uses Repk overr» a durable and flexible lay-flat binding ISBN-IO: 0-596-00786-8 ISBN-13: 978-0- 596-00786-7 [C] [8/07] TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface xi A briefhistoryof projectmanagement (and whyyou should care) Part One II PLANS 19 The truthabout schedules 21 How to figure out what to 39 '+ Writing the good vision 65 Where ideas come from 85 What to with ideas onceyou have them Part Two SKILLS 107 127 Writing good specifications 129 How to make good decisions 1'19 Communication and relationships 169 10 How not to annoy people: • process, email, and meetings 185 11 What to when things go wrong 205 MANAGEMENT Why leadership is based on trust 12 233 13 How to make things happen 251 1'+ Middle-game strategy 271 15 End-game strategy 293 16 Power and politics 319 Part Three Notes Annotated bibliography Acknowledgments Photocredits Index 231 3'13 351 357 359 361 difficult situations (see adversities, overcoming) dilemmas of project managers, 10-12 direct request for power, 335 directions, changing, 211,285-291 dealing with mystery management, 287-289 exploring impact of change, 288 potential reach of change, 289 managing changes, 290-291 disagreements among team members, 211 resolving (see conflict resolution) distractions and pressures, dealing with, 12 divide and conquer strategy for schedules, 27 drive, ability to (see making things happen) E earned power, 239,240,323 ECO (engineering change order), 290 ECR (engineering change request), 290 ego traits, project managers, 10 email, non-annoying, 193-197 assuming others have read it, 195 avoid play-by-play accounts, 195 example of bad email, 196 example of good email, 197 limit FYls, 195 principles of good writing, 194 prioritizing, 195 telephone, using instead of, 195 emergencies, handling, 214-216 emotional toolkit, 220-228 feelings about feelings, 224-225 hero complex, 226-228 pressure, 221-224 natural and artificial, 222 emotions, awareness of, 206 end-game strategy, 8,294-317 big deadlines as several small deadlines, 295-302 correcting angles of approach, 301-302 exit criteria, 296-298 hitting dates, 298-300 why it gets worse, 300 elements of control, 308-314 review meeting, 308-309 triage, 309-312 war team, 312-314 elements of measurement, 302-306 activity chart, 305-306 bug management, 303-305 daily build, 302 evaluating trends, 306 useful bug measurements, 307 end of end-game, 314-316 celebrations, 316 postmortem, 316 release candidate (RC), 315 rollout and operations, 315 engineering change order (ECO), 290 engineering change request (ECR), 290 engineering perspective on projects, 44 engineering quality, product value and, 47 environment, evaluating, 265 estimating time for work common oversights in estimating, 34-35 difficulties of, 31 good estimates, ensuring, 32-34 exit criteria, 295 defining, 296-298 experience with the problem space, 37 Extreme Programming (XP), 24 iterations, 27 velocity, 34 F facilita ti n art of, 198 pointers on, 199-200 directing conversation, 199 documenting discussions, 200 ending conversation, 200 establishing host position, 199 listening and reflecting, 199 failure learning from, possible project failure, covering in vision document, 73 failure complex, 227 INDEX 365 failure of schedules, reasons for, 29-36 common oversights in estimating, 34-35 difficulties of estimating, 31 early speculative plans, 29 good estimates, ensuring, 32-34 schedule as probability, 30-31 snowball effect of oversights, 35 faith, lack of (in a project), 211 Fault Feedback Ratio (FFR), 307 fear, project managers and, 11 feature statements converting problem statements to, 61 examples of, 61 purpose of, 61 Feature-driven development, 24 features business and technology requirements, 62 coverage in vision documents, 73 prioritizing with ordered lists, 254 specification, 133 feedback, leaders defining process, 245 feelings about feelings, 224-225 awareness of, 206 FFR (Fault Feedback Ratio), 307 fix rate (bugs), 307 fixation on process, 25 flanking your objective, 336 flying ahead of the plane, 273-278 sanity checks, 275 tactical (daily) questions, 276 weekly/monthly questions for staying ahead, 276-278 flying behind your project, 277 focus groups in customer research, 57 focusing questions, 96 forcing function, 23 functional power, 238-241 G goals clarifying with feature statements, 62 confusion about, 253 confusion with processes, 13 examples of good project goals, 79 high-level, for a project (see vision documents) maintaining high visibility for, 82 meetings, 200 366 IN D EX prioritizing with ordered lists, 254 project, team, and individual 68-70 reminding team of, to elicit best work, 182 supporting in vision documents, 80 well-written, 71 granted power, 239, 323 being autocratic, 241 group meetings, using power and influence, 338 group power, illusion of, 332 H helping others their best, 183 hero complex, 226-228 motivating beliefs, 226 highly interactive discussion (meetings), 200 history of project management, key lessons from, learning from failure, Holmes, Sherlock, 159 hospital emergency rooms, project management, Hydra project (example), goals, 69 I ideas managing, 108-125 checkpoints for design phases, 114-115 consolidating ideas, 116-119 ideas getting out of control 108-109 open-issues list, 123-124 predictable management, 109-114 prototypes, developing, 119-122 questions for prototype iterations, 122 origin of, 86-106 bad ideas, 91-93 bad ideas leading to good ideas, 98-99 context of good or bad ideas, 92 customer experience starts the design, 103-105 design as series of conversations, 105-106 gap from requirements to solutions, 86-91 good questions, asking, 95-97 perspective and improvisation, 100-103 thinking in and out of boxes, 93-94 traditional idea-generation ideas, 103 impatience, project managers, 11 implementation, 25 agile and traditional methodologies, 27 improvisation, perspective and, 100-103 idea-generation rules, 101-103 inconsistent behavior, losing trust through, 236 individual goals, 69 industrial designers, 81 influence, 325, 330 indirect use of, 337 multistage use of, 336 use of, 336 information flow in projects, 16 insecurities of managers, 14 inspirational quality of vision documents, 72 inspiring others to their best, 182 intentional (goal-driven) quality, vision documents, 71 interaction designers, 81 interdisciplinary view in project planning, 49-51 interim dates on projects, 295 intranet web site Hydra project (example) goals, 69 problem statements (example), 60 involvement of managers, the right kind, 14-17 iterations, 112 prototype, questions for, 122 iterative design work, 44 K kitchens (restaurant), project management, KJ (Kawkita Jiro) diagrams, 116 knowledge and information flow in projects, 16 knowledge as power, 324 L lack of faith (in a project), 211 lateness, tendency toward, 22 leadership, power and politics, 320 trust as base of, 234-250 building and losing trust, 234-237 insurance against adversity, 244 kinds of power, 238-241 making trust clear, 237 mistakes, 246-247 models, questions, and conflicts, 244-246 trusting others, 242-243 trusting yourself, 248-249 learning from failure, listening importance in communication, 176 role in facilitation, 199 low quality, 210 M making things happen, 252-269 being relentless, 262-264 being savvy, 265-269 guerilla tactics, 266-269 keeping it real, 259-261 knowing the critical path, 261-262 priorities, 252-257 ordered lists, 253-255 saying no, 257-259 mastering ways to say no, 258 management by walking around (MBWA),I73 managers, mission of, 14 managing up, 330 MARF (minimal annoyance risk factor), 186 market research, 58 marketing requirements document (MRD),43 marketing, functions of, 46 matrix organization, measurement, project progress, 302-306 activity chart, 305-306 bug management, 303-305 daily build, 302 evaluating trends, 306 useful bug measurements, 307 IN D EX 367 meetings non-annoying, 197-203 facilitation, 198, 199-200 pointers on meetings, 202-203 recurring meetings, 201 types of meetings, 200 project planning, 57 memorable quality of vision documents, 72 methodologies scheduling, 24-29 divide and conquer, 27 limitations of, 25 rule of thirds, 25-27 specifications, definitions of, 132 micrornanagers abuses by, 14 Microsoft, program and project management, middle-game strategy, 8,272-291 changing directions, 285-291 dealing with mystery management, 287-289 managing changes, 290-291 coding pipeline, 280-284 aggressive and conservative, 283 becoming bug fix pipeline, 283 tracking progress, 284 high-level maintenance, 272 staying ahead of events, 273-278 sanity checks, 275 tactical (daily) questions, 276 weekly/monthly questions, 276-278 taking safe action, 278-280 breaking commitments, 280 milestones, 27 correcting angle of approach, 301 crossover points, 295 exit criteria, 296-298 exit criteria, 133 intermediary, hitting dates, 298-300 length corresponding to volatility, 285 matching to project volatility, 36 project planning, 57 minimal annoyance risk factor (MARF), 186 mistakes, trust and, 246-247 368 IN D EX monthly questions for staying ahead, 276-278 motivating others, 181 motivations for misuse of power, 328 MRD (marketing requirements document), 43 mutiny, threats of, 212 N natural pressure, 222 negotiation, 216-218 be strong but supple, 217 know the alternatives, 217 look for mutual interest, 217 personality conflicts and, 217 persuation and argument, using, 218 no, saying, 257-259 mastering, 258 numerical data to support claims, 160 o objectives, 69 obsession with methodologies, 25 Occam's Razor, 159 open mind (shoshin), operations, 315 oral skills (project manager), 11 ordered lists, 252 being a prioritization machine, 257 priorities are power, 256 priority 1, 255 project priorities, 253-255 organizations balance of power, 51 impact on planning, 42 politics, 320 (see also politics) over-involvement by managers, 14 oversights, 210 p paradoxes or dilemmas of project managers, 10-12 patience, project managers, 11 perfection, pursuing, 11 performance, pressure and, 223 personal attacks, 176, 246 personality conflicts, 217 personnel issues, 211 perspectives advantages of PM perspective, 15 forcing change in, 23 people with power, 331 on project planning, 44-52 balance of power, 51 business perspective, 45 customer perspective, 48-49 interdisciplinary view, 49-51 technology perspective, 47-48 persuasion, 325 stronger than dictation, 241 using in conflict resolution, 218 PERT (program evaluation and review technique), 34 piecemeal development, 26 placement, 46 planning, 8, 40-63 asking the right questions, 52-54 answering the questions, 53 including three major perspectives, 52 listing of questions, 52 no time for questions, 54 catalog of bad approaches, 54 confusing with goals, 13 creative work, 86 customer research and its abuses, 57-59 research methods, 57 integrating business and technology requirements, 62 perspectives on, 44-52 balance of power, 51 business perspective, 45 customer perspective, 48-49 interdisciplinary view, 49-51 technology perspective, 47-48 process of, 55-57 daily planning work, 56 deliverables, 55 number of people involved, 55 projects with high production costs, 27 requirements, using, 59-62 converting problems to scenarios, 61 schedules, informing the team about, 37 software planning demystified, 41-44 common planning deliverables 43 impact of organizations, 42 requirements gathering, 41 specification, 41 types of projects, 41 PM (project manager), politics, 320-341 becoming political, 321-323 constraints on leaders, 322 definition of, 322 in project planning, 51 knowing the playing field, 339-340 creating your own playing field, 339-340 misuse of power, 325-330 motivational causes, 328 preventing, 329 process causes, 326 power and, 320 as problem solving, 322 solving political problems, 330-339 assessing getting your needs met, 333-334 clarifying what you need, 330-331 influencing power, 335-339 power to give you what you need, 331-333 sources of power, 323-325 positive outcomes for projects, 17 postmortem (project), 316 power, 320-341 constraints on leaders, 322 kinds of earned power, 240 granted power, 239,241 knowing the playing field, 339-340 creating your own playing field, 339-340 misuse of, 325-330 motivational causes, 328 preventing, 329 process causes, 326 politics and, 320 priorities as, 256 ratio to responsibility, 322 INDEX 369 power (continued) solving political problems, 330-339 assessing getting your needs met, 333-334 clarifying what you need, 330-331 influencing power, 335-339 power to give what you need, 331-333 sources of, 323-325 definitions of different kinds, 324 types of, 238-241 practice and training for project managers, 212 precision vs accuracy, 163 pressure, 221-224 natural and artificial, 222 pressures and distractions, dealing with, 12 price, 46 priorities, 252-257 being a prioritization machine, 257 confusion about, 253 ordered lists, 253-255 priority I, 255 as power, 256 saying no, 257-259 mastering ways to, 258 problem mismatch (in communication), 176 problem solving perspective and improvisation, 100-103 rules for idea generation, 101-103 politics as, 322 problem space growing and shrinking during design, 113 narrowing of 110 origination from requirements, 89 shifting of 111 changes causing chain reactions, 111 team experience with, 37 problem statements, 60 bug reports vs., 60 converting to scenarios, 61 example list for intranet web site, 60 quality requirements, writing, 89 processes confusing with goals, 13 creating and rolling out, 191 370 IN D EX effects of good processes, 187-190 creating good processes, 188 fixation on, 25 formula for good processes, 190-191 loathing of work processes, 187 managing from below, 192 misuse of power, causing, 326 project planning, 55-57 daily planning work, 56 deliverables, 55 number of people involved, 55 product, 46 product designers, 49,81 productivity (team), as zero sum resource, 294 program evaluation and review technique (PERT), 34 programmers, coding pipeline, 280-284 progress measuring for project, 302-306 activity chart, 305-306 bug management, 303-305 daily build, 302 evaluating trends, 306 useful bug measurements, 307 tracking in mid-schedule, 284 project management at Microsoft, history of, hospital emergency rooms, role of, project management activity, project managers, involvement levels, 14-17 perspective, advantages of, 15 unique value created, 16 value added by, 178 projects postmortem, 316 types of, 41 requirements authority, 42 promotion, 46 proof-of-concept, 114 pros/cons list (for decisions), 157-158 prototypes, 119-122 alternatives, increasing success with, 122 projects with user interfaces, 120 projects without user interfaces, 121 questions for iterations, 122 starting, 119 support for programmers, 121 pseudo hero, 227 psychological power of a schedule, 23 Q quality low, 210 product, 46 in writing, volume vs., 75 questions key, in vision documents, 73 leading to good ideas, 95-97 creative questions, 97 focusing questions, 96 rhetorical questions and, 97 project planning, 52-54 answering the questions, 53 listing of questions, 52 no time for questions, 54 perspectives, including, 52 R Rapid Applications development, 24 reality, keeping in touch with, 259-261 received communication, 174 recovery time, ratio to crunch effort, 295 recurring meetings, 201 referent (power), 324 reflection as decision-making tool, 160 role in facilitation, 199 regressions, 304 rate caused by bug fix (FFR), 307 relationships communication and, 171 enhancing communication, 172 helping others their best, 183 project dependence on, 178-180 defining roles, 178-180 release candidate (RC), 315 relentless pursuit of goals, 262-264 reporting or moderate discussion (meetings), 201 reprimands, 247 request (direct), for power, 335 requests, customer, 48 requirements, 59-62 authority over, 42 business and technology, integrating, 62 converting to solutions, 86-91 design exploration, 89-90 fear of exploration, 91 progress in design, 91 writing quality requirements, 87-89 documenting, 43 gathering, 8, 41 problem statements method, using, 60 example for intranet web site, 60 reviews and adjustments, 43 specification, 132 research customer requests, 48 customer research and its abuses, 57-59 research methods, 57 as decision-making ammunition, 162 resource shortages, 210 resources, 330 for political power, 339 responsibility ratio of power to, 322 taking in bad situations, 213 restaurant kitchens, project management, review periods in schedules, 37 reviews as project controls, 308-309 requirements and designs, 43 rewards (power), 324 rhetorical questions, 97 ridicule (communication problem), 177 risks addressing early in schedule, 38 evaluating in vision documents, 73 roles, 218-220 confusion and, 13 defining, 178-180 planning process, 56 project management role, reinforcing team role structure, 219 reminding team of, to enable best work, 182 rollout and operations, 315 rule of thirds (scheduling), 25-27 piecemeal development, 27 IN D EX 371 s safe action, taking, 278-280 breaking commitments, 280 sanity checks, 275 savvy project management, 265-269 evaluating your environment, 265 guerilla tactics, 266-269 saying no, 257-259 mastering, 258 scenarios coverage in vision documents, 73 converting problem statements to, 61 schedules, 22-38 constructing, methodologies for, 24-29 divide and conquer, 27 rule of thirds, 25-27 end-game strategy, 294-317 failing, 210 middle-game strategy, 272-29] purposes of, 22 formalizing commitments, 22 large and complex projects, 24 seeing individual efforts as part of whole, 23 tool to track progress, 23 tendency of people to be late, 22 what makes them work, 36-38 why they fail, 29-36 common oversights in estimating, 34-35 difficulties of estimation, 31 early speculative plans, 29 good estimates, ensuring, 32-34 schedule as probability, 30-31 snowball effect of oversights, 35 scheduling, scope (vision) documents, 44 self-reliance, 248-249 shoshin (beginner's mind), silver bullets, methodologies as, 25 simplicity championing, 11 driving decisions (Occam's Razor), 159 simplifying quality, vision documents, 70 simulations, decision-making training through, 151 singular evaluation, 154 site visits (in customer research), 58 372 IN DE X skepticism project manager trait, 11 in scheduling, 37 small contract team projects, 42 SMART (specific, measurable, actionoriented, realistic, and timely) goals, 71 snowball effect of scheduling oversights, 35 social networks, importance of, 16 software development methodologies (see methodologies) software planning, 41-44 common planning deliverables, 43 impact of organizations, 42 requirements gathering, 41 specification, 41 types of projects, 41 software quality, 47 solo-superman projects, 41 solutions, gap between requirements and, 86-91 specific, measurable, action-oriented, realistic, and timely (SMART) goals, 71 specifications, 41, 130-147 deciding what to specify, 132 deciding when complete, 139-143 closing schedule gaps, 141-142 how much is enough, 139 managing open issues, 140 significance of completion, 142 design vs., 134 developing and documenting, 44 ensuring that the right things happen, 137 functions of, 131 getting feedback on, 137 responsibility for, 134 reviews and feedback, 143-146 conducting the review, 145 how to review, 143 questions for review, 145 who should attend, 144 simplifying effects of well-written specs, 135-137 time between requirements and, 87 what they can and cannot do, 131 who, when, and how to write, 138-139 writing for one vs writing for many, 139 writing tips and things to avoid, 136 spiral model (software development), 24 phases, 27 staff team (big), projects completed by, 42 stakeholders, coverage in vision documents, 73 statistics, misinterpretation of, 161 status and project review meetings, 201 strategy end-game, 294-317 big deadlines as several small deadlines, 295-302 celebrations, 316 elements of control, 308-314 elements of measurement, 302-306 end of end-game, 314-316 middle-game, 272-291 coding pipeline, 280-284 high-level maintenance, 272 staying ahead of events, 273-278 taking safe action, 278-280 stress relief, 221 superman (solo) projects, 41 surveys in customer research, 57 T tactical (daily) questions for staying ahead, 276 tardiness, tendency toward, 22 teaching to enable best work, 183 team goals, 69 teams big staff team projects, 42 confidence and experience working together, 38 issues among members, 211 productivity as zero sum resource, 294 small contract team projects, 42 solo-superman team, 41 technical authority for projects, 42 technical specification, 133 technology perspective on projects, 47-48 questions arising from, 47 technology requirements, integrating with business requirements, 62 test criteria, specifying, 133 testing, 25 agile and traditional methodologies, 27 "there are no bad ideas", 91 "think out of the box", 93 ThinkPak (brainstorming card deck), 103 threats of mutiny, 212 tolerating ambiguity, 11 top-down schedules, 30 tracking confusing with goals, 13 schedule as tracking tool, 23 traditional methods (software development), 27 training for project managers, 212 traits of a project manager, 10-12 transmitted communication, 174 trends, evaluating, 306 triage, 309-312 daily/weekly, 311 directed, 311 trust, 218, 234-250 breaking commitments, 280 building and losing, 234-237 building through commitment, 235 losing through inconsistent behavior, 236 defined, 234 insurance against adversity, 244 kinds of power, 238-241 earned power, 240 granted power, 239,241 making clear, 237 making mistakes, 246-247 reprimands, 247 models, questions, and conflicts, 244-246 leaders defining feedback, 245 power and, 332 trusting others, 242-243 delegation of authority, 242 trusting yourself, 248-249 IN DE X 373 u w underestimation, 210 understood communication, 174 usability engineers, 49 usability studies (in customer research), 58 user interfaces prototyping for projects with, 120 prototyping for projects without, 121 utility theory, 160 war team, 312-314 waterfall model (software development), 24 WBS (see work breakdown structure) web development, challenges of, web site for this book, xv weekly triage, 311 weekly/monthly questions for staying ahead, 276-278 "What we need to do?", answering, 41 "What problem are you trying to solve?", 96 when things go wrong (see adversities, overcoming) work best work, getting from others, 181-183 asking for best work, 183 challenging/making demands, 181 clearing roadblocks, 182 follow advice, 181 inspiring, 182 reminding of project goals, 182 reminding of respective roles, 182 teaching, 183 helping others their best, 183 work attitude (best), 180 work breakdown structure (WBS), 31 aggressive pipelining versus, 283 developing and documenting, 44 work items distribution across the team, 31 prioritizing with ordered lists, 254 work-item lists, 133 writing skills (project manager), 11 writing things down, value of, 66 writing well, 74-76 keeping it simple, 74 non-annoying email, 193-197 one primary writer, 75 tips for good specifications, 136 volume vs quality, 75 v value added by project managers, 178 created by project managers, 16 defined as quality of engineering, 47 velocity (Extreme Programming), 34 Venn Diagram, using to eliminate perspective bias, 50 vision documents, 44,59,66-83 catalog of lame vision statements, 78 defined, 68 drafting, reviewing, and revising, 76-77 good vision statements and goals (examples), 79-80 supporting claims, 79 good, characteristics of, 70-72 consolidation of ideas, 71 inspirational quality, 72 intentional (goal-driven) quality, 71 memorable quality, 72 simplifying effects, 70 keeping alive by frequently questioning its utility, 82 key points to cover, 72-74 principles of good writing, 74-76 keeping it simple, 74 one primary writer, 75 volume vs quality, 75 proof-of-concept prototype, 114 scope of, 67-70 questions to determine, 68 team and individual goals, 68-70 value of writing things down, 66 visual images in, 80-81 visualizing non-visual things, 81 x XP (see Extreme Programming) z zero sum resource, team productivity as, 294 37'1 IN D EX ABOUT THE AUTHOR Scott Berkun studied computer science, philosophy, and design at Carnegie Mellon University Hired by Microsoft in 1994 as a usability engineer, he worked on Microsoft Office, Visual Basic, and other products In 1995, he became a program manager on the Internet Explorer project, leading the design and development of many major features After Version 5.0, he worked as a lead program manager on the Windows and MSN development teams Scott also worked in Microsoft's engineering excellence group, helping others across the company and the industry learn about best practices in web and software development He's presented lectures, taught workshops, and participated in various forms of mischief at many industry conferences Scott left Microsoft in 2003 with the goal of filling this bookshelf (pictured above) with books he has written He continues to teach project management, software development, creative thinking, and product design as an independent consultant Visit www.scottberkun.com for discussion forums on topics in this book, dozens of other essays, and information on how you can help him fill that shelf (telling others about this book is an excellent place to start) This is his first published book He lives somewhere in the woods east of Seattle COLOPHON Marlowe Shaeffer was the production editor and copyeditor for The Art ofProject Management Audrey Doyle was the proofreader Jamie Peppard and Claire Cloutier provided quality control Ellen Troutman-Zaig wrote the index Lydia Onofrei provided production assistance MENDEDESIGN, www.mendedesiqn.com, designed the cover of this book Karen Montgomery produced the cover layout in Adobe InDesign CS using Akzidenz Grotesk and Orator fonts Marcia Friedman designed the interior layout Melanie Wang designed the template Phyllis McKee adapted the template This book was converted by Joe Wizda and Keith Fahlgren to FrameMaker 5.5.6 with a format conversion tool created by Erik Ray, Jason McIntosh, Neil Walls, and Mike Sierra that uses Perl and XML technologies The text font is Adobe's Meridien; the heading font is ITC Bailey The illustrations that appear in the book were produced by Robert Romano, Jessamyn Read, and Lesley Borash using Macromedia FreeHand MX and Adobe Photoshop CS and using the ORA hand font _How to make thinqs-happen _Making good decisions _Specifications and requirements J deas and what to witFithem _How not to annoy people _Leadership and trust _The truth about making dates _What to when things go wrong SCOTT BERKUN worked for 10 years at Microsoft Corporation on projects including Internet Explorer, MSN, and Microsoft Windows He worked for two years in Microsoft's engineering excellence group, teaching and consulting with development teams He currently works as an independentconsultant in project management and product design, and he runs the pmclinic, a friendly discussion forum on project management issues at www.scottberkun.com US $39.95 CAN $55.95 ISBN-10: 0-596 -00786-8 ISBN-13: 978-0-596-00786-7 11111111111111111111111111111111111111illillll 780596 007867 Cover Design & Photography: Mendede sign.com O'REILLY® www.oreilly.com ... MANAGER OF INFORMATION SERVICES, FTS INDUSTRIES "The Art of Project Management is unique because of its human approach Berkun understands that people are at the heart of projects, and this makes the. .. to a vice-president of a large corporation." -SAMUEL GREENFIELD, MANAGER OFSYSTEM DEVELOPMENT, SPORTS ILLUSTRATED MAGAZINE The Art of Project Management The Art of Project Management • Scott Berkun... of years of project experience to learn from A dotted line can be drawn from the software developers of today back through time to the builders of the Egyptian pyramids or the architects of the