Project Management Lessons Learnt

Big Data is a huge area .For those of you, who have already ready many literatures and now implementing it in your projects or product, this article may be worthy of skimming only. For others who are to yet to read something on Big Data and are interested. I hope this article gives  basic information and context and prompts you to explore the fascinating area of Big Data Analytics. What's Big Data? Big Data can be thought of a solution platform and ecosystem that address the problem of unavailability of a fast, interactive, accurate, and cost effective analytics that can work on humongous amount of structured, unstructured varied data both offline or at real time. Big in   Big Data essentially not only refers to the humongous volume of data set but refers to something which is difficult to manage and calls of out of the box solutions. What are the characteristics of Big Data? The characteristics of Big Data helps to better understand i...

During release cycles and delivery..it's important to review and if needed group all stakeholders and have a workshop to discuss, brainstorm , review and firm up delivery plan and get things moving, pick up pace in release.In this post, will touch upon certain aspects and pen some thoughts towards having a successful stakeholder's workshop. Why a workshop.. Over a period of time as release progresses and due to changes it keeps on dragging and priorities change..a review indicates that we have few items which need decision..few items which are strategic and need deliberations...there is a pressing need that all stakeholders are on the same page and the release details needs updates ..to realize the road map are detailed and agreed by all..and may be the road map itself needs a revisit..may be need a break  from continuous operations and retrospect.. try to look at issues/challenges and encourage some out of the box thinking...agree and get the release done. It may be more n...

Hi..saw a recuritment ad..thought of mentioning it..nice to remind always if we  are executing all responsibilites daily and proactively...Will try to augment the list with more thought..  Prepare/Review project plan and schedule.Keep it updated at all times.  Project monitoring and control to ensure delivery as per project scope, schedule and quality  Ensure Requirements/Use Cases are detailed/reviewed and understood by Dev and Test Teams.   Accurate and Appropiate Status reporting to client / management as per Project Communications Plan..  Risk management and issue management  Change management , Configuration management ,Measurement and analysis   Adherence of coding standards ,Process compliance..Automated Build/Deployment..Continous Integration..SVN hygine...Junits..Code Violations w.r.t standards,functionality,security,performance,and IP are checked at developer's desk and doesn't land up in trunk for discovery during later phases o...

Hi..Today evening,,got an opportunity to hear some tips from a senior IT manager who had worked for 29 years in IT projects..He shared few things he says often he shares with his son who is also now in IT to bear in mind: Accept the facts that requirements in an IT projects will definitely change..so fundamental acceptance of this fact by you/your team will help one to deal things better.He suggested to take effort and have customer accept the fact.He broadly advocated the agile delivery paradigm..and encouraged to actively get the buy-in to deliver in iteration-1 current understanding of requirements and then in subsequent iterations..the next set of requirements..i.e have the mechanism in place like agile delivery advocates and work in sprints..so that if a new set of requirements are available..the next sprint can handle it.Always keep Customer as your first responsibility. Have the humility to accept mistakes..as the option of hiding it is just temporary and has greater adverse...

PMR has high visibility hence a PMs personal attention to details presented is a must. Adequate time must be sought to prepare and present. Unless detail data points are handy don't schedule it. (Defect slide had data showing closed instead of fixed..last time issues and effort were incorrect). -Deck should be ready 3 days in advance and should be reviewed. -An internal peer review and discussion should be done on the data in deck. -Defects if there in a release should be priortized and fixed at the shortest possible time before starting any new release. A clean code base is a must. Parallel work and planning for merge after 2-3 weeks should best be avoided despite market pressures. -Duration of Defect Fix for a release should not be more than 2-3 days. You may use whole of the team for it to close it on high priority always. Rest things can wait. -Keep right team. Individuals who lack proactiveness ..accountability. ..passion ..intelligence  should be let go off if ef...

Configuration Mgmt Release Management PMD Rules, Sonar/Hudson Security Scan and Fixes Technology RoadMap Licensing Models Performance Benchmarking PA-DSS SPMM Process Governannce and Adherence Smart Scrum/STM Coes and Regular Interactions Integration ARB CAB Deployment and Rollout Risk Register Learning and Compentency Register Resource Fluidity and Managment Tracker. (biweekly reviews)

Requirement Docs/Design Docs/DataModels take time to read, but it must be read. Ask the right questions to team..you cann't review everything..but you should check as much as you can...and cover the rest by random checks and asking questions..clarifying your doubts..getting handson with poduct usage...coding, testing and reviews.. At all times, a high level schedule and low level schedule should be available, Every day at Eod , or at start, it should be updated with latest. Scrums should be made more evidence oriented or check randomly artifacts/process compliance of few. Even if there are scrums, just like WSR is shared with customers, entrust leads to share their track progress daily data points . it should be very granular. Individuals should track their productivity /FP. Review Week's and log lesson's learnt.

Induction to be formal with functional and technical walkthroughs. Logs needs to be maintained. Videos on product features can be used. SME / Backup SME / Volunteer list should be published. Major Decisions should be formally communicated (besides meetings, email for records). Meeting with RMG should be periodic. Inspite of daily standups, atleast once a  fornight meet with formal agenda. Review Daily Progress to minute detail of each assoicate via a tracker/tool smart scrum etc. Every other days review meetings with deep dive on tech or process are a must. Leave Tracker. Competency Development Tracking in icalms. Part of Goal Sheet. Mandatory 1 hr Learning Session every week. Thank you Thrusday...recognize and appreciate good work/initiatives. Risk Review Meeting every week with leads, once in two weeks by Management. Right Size Team. Read Each E-Mail and Doc. Clear Backlog of Docs Daily. Share review daily. Have right backups and BCP of physical and electronic re...

Lessons Learnt: If your team don't have full time designers and the design tasks have been entrusted to folks with coding experience but relatively no design experience, besides internal review few things needs to be done... Get some design templates from other teams/groups Own it and sit with Team,Designers,Architects and create a Table of Contents Assign small sections to be completed in  a day and review at eod Then setup Review with Architect and others who have designed for review atleast twice in the first week. Track daily each section  prohgress and press hard for things to be thought... Engage your best resources to review and when draft is ready start external review by other designers in group or outside. Internal Plan should be granual to a day's level. External plan should have IQA/EQA reviews for each deliverable. Not doing this..saw internal review highlights needs of a template first..lost a  week Next review highlighted gaps..in analysis...

How to effectively Track Design Progress in a Release? I estimated we should take 3 weeks and just put a single WBS element Design Doc. High level plan has design task with 3 weeks.. But when the design time started, one week down the line, I will feeling jiterry on how to track the design progress better? may be one approach   -Internal Review workshoop-1 on Week-1 end   -Incoprorate Comments   -Internal Review-2 on Week-2.   -External Design Review Workshop? I can also think of progress as    identify packages, flow , changes to each layer of the product for the functionality added/updated.

Hi I gather all of us have some expectations from our job. If you have already spent few years in your current role and your promotion is due its better to do a realty check so that you are not left in cold when the promoted candidates list is announced. First you should be aware of your organizations promotion policies...so if you have just heard of things..its recommended you read the stated policy. Happy? that you are eligible for promotion per policy..good. Now do a realty check with your supervisor who should recommend you for a promotion..There is usally a gap between being eligible and also getting recommended. Touchbase with your supervisor and understand clearly his/her expectations from you to be recommended for promotion to a higher role.Depending on many factors this converstation may take varied shapes of a confirmation, decline, may be, well there are some things not correct, please work..I will see, some bargains..will recommend but would need xx commitment from y...

Dear Reader, If you are managing teams, performance management and annual appraisals are an important item that needs care and work. Few of the common issues seen in an inadequate appraisal process are listed below, Associates have not been properly explained their goals. Goals are not SMART. Goals are not discussed and mutually agreed. Associates mostly want to be scored in 75% to 85% percentile band. Many don't want the top and also desist average rankings. Associates complain they haven't been guided enough to realize their set goals by appraiser. Few Associates don't treat bands as confidential and Few use this to encourage those who are dissatisfied per Team dynamics. Associates want they should also have a say in their appraiser's appraisals. 360 degree appraisals. If few associates are moving out of a group or are in promotion lists, appraisers try to knock the ratings by a notch down. In a large team, when there are more appraisers, the ran...