by , Michael Mah, No Comments

Apr 13

Rightsizing Your Project In a Down Economy

by Chad, Michael Mah, Comments Off on Rightsizing Your Project In a Down Economy

Apr 13

April 13, 2010

Tomorrow at the Software Quality Group of New England, I’m giving a speech entitled, “Rightsizing Your Project In a Down Economy.”

Truth be told, whether the economy is up or down for you, the ideas will strike a chord. I’ll be showing QSM Industry Case Studies where technology managers set the wrong dates, over-committed on scope, and staffed a project entirely wrong. The good news out of these disasters – is that we see how to get it RIGHT!

If you’re in Burlington MA near the Sun Microsystems campus, come on down. Directions are here.

Rightsizing Your Project In a Down Economy

Abstract: In tough times, both shoes drop and “scarcity thinking” often takes over for senior execs, managers, and development teams. In this environment, dysfunction can wreak havoc on your projects in the form of scope greed, death-march deadlines, and budget cuts. Often, the tendency is to say “yes” to impossible dates, take on too much, suffer the budget cuts, and pray that heroics might save the day. This is a sure-fire formula for sky-high defects.

But… Project disasters are NOT fait-accompli. It takes a skillful manager to “rightsize” critical projects – right team, right scope, right dates – at the beginning. Scarcity thinking threatens all three. Michael describes how to have these difficult conversations and discuss the “undiscussables.” He shares how to artfully frame these trade-offs for stakeholders to set priorities and get buy-in, using a blend of common sense, essential measurement concepts, and rules of software estimation. Whether you’re agile, waterfall, or offshore, you’ll discover information you need to make the right choices and get the support of your team.

Target Audience: CIOs, Directors, VPs, Software Engineering Managers
Pre-Requisites: Organizational and Project Leadership
Level: Intermediate- Advanced

    Comments are closed.