Management
Standards May Be Lethal to Your Projects
Standards may be helpful to system developing organizations, but often they turn out to be part of the problem, or even become the actual problem. Read…
Continuous Improvement
Management
Processes Stink!
Standards can be useful in software development. A “clean and well-defined” collection of Best Practices (only recently known as “good practices”) is potentially a useful idea. On the other hand, in the hands of an inexperienced person, powerful standards can lead to disastrous effects. Are they on the verge of extinction? Read…
Management
Evolution – Not Revolution
How much process does a software project need? It turns out that may be the optimal degree of formalization is not a constant. The development process has to grow with his result. Read…
Management
Rational Agility
Is it possible to be agile in a complex, real-time, embedded environment? How does it jive with the heavily regulated, ISO 15504/CMMI, product safety-oriented processes increasingly demanded by the OEMs? In my presentation at the embedded world conference in February 2012, I have argued that the difference between ‘agile’ and ‘rational, controlled’ project organizations is in fact an age-old misunderstanding in terms. Read…
Management
Business Process Modelling: Mission Impossible?
At first sight, the task appears easy: capture the business processes, visualize them in an easy-to-understand form, and use them as a basis for quality or efficiency improvement projects. This goal may seem trivial to Read…
Crunch Time
Viral Microprocesses – Micromanagement, Reloaded
“Mr. Consultant, this is really simple. Please just write down how you proceed with the use case specification step by step. This must be straightforward; you will surely have something like this ready-to-use in your drawer, right? The Customer is the King.” The brave consultant does not hesitate. “You will have the paper on your desk by tomorrow morning.” Read…
Management
Back to the Mediocrity Through Obligatory Process Definition?
“The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.” – Albert Einstein Read…
Management
Process Optimization: Wishful Thinking or Reality?
“85% of the reasons for refusing to fulfil customer expectations you can trace back to failures of systems and processes, and less to people. The task of management is to change processes not the people.” (W.E. Deming) Read…