Project management

[Greg McCarroll]

Oh i'd also recommend DeMarco's book 'The Deadline', it's a sort of  
novel about project management, a bit like Knuth's 'Surreal Numbers',  
but not as bad[1].

G.

[1] Yeah i'm not qualified to criticise Knuth but a romance novel  
about the formation of set theory is pretty damn bad.


On 23 Jan 2013, at 11:51, Greg McCarroll wrote:

>
>
> I'd also suggest finding yourself a mentor in your organization - it  
> might not even be inside the IT function, my mentor was head of  
> findance, and maybe have a first chat about what the various  
> stakeholders (and i dont mean just the business) want to get out of  
> a successful project. In my experience the best thing that scrum  
> meetings/etc. bring is honesty - somethings are easy, but still take  
> 4 or 8 hours, somethings don't take the 2 weeks, but getting a good  
> relationship between business and engineering is the key. And  
> getting engineers to appreciate the project manager's role is key  
> and often this comes out of being ready to be wrong with estimates,  
> with a no blame culture.
>
> It's amazing how cheap some of the best motivators are, when i was  
> at a well known ISP the project manager used to make a point of  
> getting me to talk to the head of customer care, because once i put  
> a human face on the problem i wanted to solve it more. It was a  
> cheap trick, but it worked and it's ok later her, I and another  
> london.pm'er had a little date with a roll of duct tape ;-).
>
> G.
>
> On 23 Jan 2013, at 11:17, Dermot wrote:
>
>> Thanks Adrian. There's some really useful stuff there. Am immersing  
>> myself
>> now.
>> Dermot.
>>
>>
>>
>> On 23 January 2013 10:34, Adrian Howard <adrianh at quietstars.com>  
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Hey Dermot,
>>>
>>>
>>> On 23/01/13 09:27, Dermot wrote:
>>>
>>>> Hi,
>>>>
>>>> I'm pretty sure I've seen this discussed on the list before but I  
>>>> can't
>>>> (easily) find it in the archive. I was looking for a Project  
>>>> management
>>>> course or company. There are a lot of companies in London doing  
>>>> training
>>>> but I am a little sceptical about their quality. I'm not  
>>>> interested in a
>>>> certificate. I'd like to grasp a decent methodology. From what  
>>>> I've seen
>>>> that would be Agile.
>>>>
>>>
>>> Agile != methodology. Agile = broad set of principles/philosophy on
>>> software development. Particular methods like Scrum, XP, Crystal  
>>> are Agile.
>>>
>>> Sorry - pet niggle. Caused by folk causing me problems by using  
>>> Agile &
>>> Scrum as synonyms ;-)
>>>
>>>
>>> Does anyone want to tout a course or company. I
>>>> promise not to sue if I think they're crap :-)
>>>>
>>>
>>> 1) Consider Certified Scrum Master course.
>>>
>>> The certification itself is pretty useless as a signifier of skill  
>>> - it
>>> basically just means you attended a two day course - but the courses
>>> themselves tend to be quite useful.
>>>
>>> The trainers are certified and generally pretty good. It does cost  
>>> more
>>> than pocket change. However employers do take notice of CSM  
>>> certifications
>>> - however foolish that may be.
>>>
>>> The two day course will get you up to speed on the basics of  
>>> Scrum, and
>>> usually some pointers to some technical practices that go some way  
>>> to
>>> helping a Scrum implementation work.
>>>
>>> More here http://is.gd/xJea3J
>>>
>>> What this won't give you are insights into non-Scrum methods, and  
>>> they
>>> tend to fuzz the Agile/Scrum/everything-else divide a bit from  
>>> what I've
>>> heard from some folk.
>>>
>>> (I am not a CSM. I am not a Certified Scrum Trainer. I think Scrum  
>>> is a
>>> good method - but I have a long rant about the way Scrum gets
>>> abused/misused. I also think that certification in general has  
>>> probably
>>> done more harm than good... but I digress...)
>>>
>>>
>>> 2) General Assembly and Skills Matters
>>>
>>> http://skillsmatter.com/ & http://generalassemb.ly/
>>>
>>> They both do free/cheapish courses with good presenters. Might be  
>>> worth
>>> dipping a toe in here.
>>>
>>>
>>> 3) Try a local agile event
>>>
>>> I assume that you're London based. There are some great local  
>>> Agile events
>>> that it might be worth toddling along too and quizzing folk.
>>>
>>> The Extreme Tuesday Club is one http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?**
>>> ExtremeTuesdayClub <http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?ExtremeTuesdayClub>
>>>
>>>
>>> 4) Try some background reading
>>>
>>> I still stand by this list 'o' books as good introductions
>>> http://qr.ae/8DyB3
>>>
>>>
>>> Also <bias="hubris">Agile training/workshops is something I do a bit
>>> myself</bias> - drop me a line if y'like ;-)
>>>
>>> Cheers,
>>>
>>> Adrian
>>>
>