CSIS 360 – Lecture 6
Comments
- Today: Larry Corman
- Sept 20: Allyn Talg
- Sept 22: Dave Kerns
Classic Mistakes
“A typical software project can present more opportunities to learn from mistakes than
some people get in a lifetime”
So, did anyone try to identify the classic mistakes as you read the case study?
- Scope creep: approved project much larger than original proposal
- Wishful Thinking: schedule shorted based on desire rather than reality. More
work in less time
- Expectation that new technology would result in significant productivity
improvements
- Poor hiring/personnel practices
- Lack of project management monitoring.
- Tool and requirements don’t match
- Overwork, stress, tiny bonus, management vacation impact on morale.
- Quality shortcuts/no inspections
- General mismanagement
- Not tracking requirements to actual work
- Coding/Testing departments as adversaries instead cooperating organizations
- Waterfall lifecycle – can’t release to testing until nearly done.
As you were reading the scenario, did any particular scenes or actions jump out at you as
particularly noteworthy, surprising, or unbelievable?
If these are “classic” mistakes (in the sense that they have been made so often everyone
knows about them, and they have predictable, bad results), why do organizations still
make them?
- They have ‘seductive’ appeal. For example:
o“Add more people to a late project” – it just sounds good. Problem: more
communication, everyone else has to help bring new people up to speed.
o“Keep someone on the project even if the other developers find him
impossible to work with” – he’s contributing, and we can’t afford not to
have that work done. Problem: he’s slowing everyone else down.
Avoiding these classic mistakes won’t guarantee rapid development, but making them
will prevent it!
