Why Did Your Last Project Fail?
This is a serious question... take a moment and think about what happened to your last unsuccessful project. The list is usually contains the same 'usual suspects'.
Bad requirements. Moving targets. Crazy estimates. Unrealistic deadlines.
On Monday I spoke at this year's Academy for Software Engineering Educators and Trainers and got to spend some time talking with Watts Humphrey. He asked me this question.
And then he pointed out that nearly every commonly cited reason was a result of a victim mentality. Here's a good definition of victim mentality: A victim mentality is one where you blame everyone else for what happens in your world.
Think about it... have you ever heard a development team say a project failed and it's our fault? It's (nearly) always the project manager, the customer, the technology... anybody but us.
Why is that? He said, and I think he's correct, that developers don't know how to manage themselves. Our work is so abstract that we have trouble wrapping our heads around it ourselves.... which is why our estimates are always so far off. And how much of a chance do our managers have?
The first step is for each of us to take responsibility for ourselves. We've got to take the time and effort to look at what we do each day. Oh man, know thyself.
Watts, naturally, suggested that the Personal Software Process was a great way to handle the problem. It's about changing the developer's world view from one of a victim to one of an in-charge change agent. And that sounds like a great answer to me.
Another tool you can use (with or without PSP) is the 6th Sense toolset. Because we tell you honestly where you spend your day, it forces you to take a hard look at how much time you spend your day. Most people see their stats for the first time and don't believe them. I know I didn't. Then we dig into the detail and they realize that they had no idea where they were spending their day.
Do you want to get bettter? Do you want to be on projects that don't fail? Start with your yourself. Everything else builds on that.
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