Transcript Brook's Mythical Man Month chapter 14: Hatching a Catastrophe presented by Collin.
Slide 1
Brook's Mythical Man Month chapter 14:
Hatching a Catastrophe
presented by Collin
Slide 2
Milestones or Millstones?
-Most projects are set behind their deadlines
because of numerous small setbacks instead of a
single large problem.
- The solution is to have a schedule!
-Set dates by which certain milestones of the
project should be complete
-“Milestones MUST be concrete, specific,
measurable events, defined with knife-edge
sharpness.”
Slide 3
“The Other Piece Is Late,
Anyway”
-When a member of a team is sure to “hustle” then
that is a mark of a good teammate.
-Working faster than seems necessary is
desirable
-In terms of schedule, a single, one day slip must
not go unaddressed and must be remedied.
Slide 4
Under the Rug
-Often when the manager of a sub-team notices
his team working behind schedule, he avoids
telling his boss until he must, because he thinks
the team might make it up.
-This is because the interests of the first-line
manager and those of the boss have inherent
conflict here.
Slide 5
Reducing the role conflict
-The boss must learn to distinguish between
“action” information and “status” information.
-The boss must discipline himself not to act on
problems which his managers can solve, and
never to act on problems when he is explicitly
reviewing status.
-When a manager knows his boss will accept
status reports without panic or preemption, he
comes to give honest appraisals.
Slide 6
Yanking the rug off
-Nevertheless, it is necessary to have review
techniques whereby the true status is made
known, whether cooperatively or not.
-On a large project one may want to review some
part each week, making the rounds once a month
or so.
Slide 7
-A worker at Bell Telephone Labs has also found it
useful to have both “scheduled” and also
“estimated” dates in the milestone report. This
way things are prioritized better.
Slide 8
The end.
Brook's Mythical Man Month chapter 14:
Hatching a Catastrophe
presented by Collin
Slide 2
Milestones or Millstones?
-Most projects are set behind their deadlines
because of numerous small setbacks instead of a
single large problem.
- The solution is to have a schedule!
-Set dates by which certain milestones of the
project should be complete
-“Milestones MUST be concrete, specific,
measurable events, defined with knife-edge
sharpness.”
Slide 3
“The Other Piece Is Late,
Anyway”
-When a member of a team is sure to “hustle” then
that is a mark of a good teammate.
-Working faster than seems necessary is
desirable
-In terms of schedule, a single, one day slip must
not go unaddressed and must be remedied.
Slide 4
Under the Rug
-Often when the manager of a sub-team notices
his team working behind schedule, he avoids
telling his boss until he must, because he thinks
the team might make it up.
-This is because the interests of the first-line
manager and those of the boss have inherent
conflict here.
Slide 5
Reducing the role conflict
-The boss must learn to distinguish between
“action” information and “status” information.
-The boss must discipline himself not to act on
problems which his managers can solve, and
never to act on problems when he is explicitly
reviewing status.
-When a manager knows his boss will accept
status reports without panic or preemption, he
comes to give honest appraisals.
Slide 6
Yanking the rug off
-Nevertheless, it is necessary to have review
techniques whereby the true status is made
known, whether cooperatively or not.
-On a large project one may want to review some
part each week, making the rounds once a month
or so.
Slide 7
-A worker at Bell Telephone Labs has also found it
useful to have both “scheduled” and also
“estimated” dates in the milestone report. This
way things are prioritized better.
Slide 8
The end.