Software Management Archives

Assumptions and project planning February 18, 2019
When your assumptions change, it’s reasonable that your project plans and needs change as well. But too many managers are afraid to go back and re-work a plan that they’ve already agreed to.

The danger of doing too much December 15, 2005
Developers don’t think in terms of simplicity.

Test data mishap November 25, 2004
Sometimes test data can sneak onto your web site with embarassing results like in this example from Target.com.

Why I don't recommend Firefox September 6, 2004
Why Firefox isn’t ready for an aggressive marketing campaign.

Customer reference questions. June 10, 2004
Sample questions to ask customer references when choosing a software vendor.

Symantec Spoofing September 3, 2003
Some email viruses trick mail systems into thinking the virus was sent by someone else. Antivirus tools are falling for it.

Projects need leadership July 3, 2003
Being a leader is hard. Not everyone will like you if you stand up for your principles. But people don’t lead because they want to be popular.

No error at all July 2, 2003
Apparently my software is trying to tell me something. If only I knew what that was.

More useless error messages July 1, 2003
User frustration rides high when a program gives a useless error message.

Donations and open source teams June 23, 2003
Many open source projects accept donations as a way of funding their development efforts and I’m wondering how these donations are typically distributed among team members.

DevShed's intro to Functional Specs April 25, 2003
DevShed’s introduction to writing functional specifications doesn’t have any new insight for experienced analysts.

Opinion tracking April 19, 2003
If you want to know what people think about your products, don’t ask them to tell you. Listen to what they tell others.

Sorting Amazon October 10, 2002
Amazon’s backend is showing and they are revealing some interesting flaws in their system.

Agile requirements September 19, 2002
How to use solid requirements management principles in an agile environment.

GPL restricts innovation? September 17, 2002
LawMeme looks at government-sponsored open source software.

Agile gloss September 13, 2002
Can agile methodolgies work on large-scale projects? This New Architect article promises to tell us, but it doesn’t quite make it.

KM Myths September 3, 2002
These seven Knowledge Management mistakes happen in a variety of software implementations.

CVS for Web devlopers July 30, 2002
How to use CVS for Web site development.

Anthology of Requirements quotations June 30, 2002
Requirements Engineering Proverbs, Maxims, Sayings, Quotations and Urban Wisdom is a list of quotations that...

Unit Testing May 7, 2002
Sticky Minds has a series of Word documents on Unit Testing Guidelines. A lot of...

Process Chain April 20, 2002
SPC E-ssentials provides a list of activites neccessary to manage software projects. "Meeting [software] delivery...

AOL product not good enough for employees March 23, 2002
Some time back AOL Time Warner dictated that all employees would use a custom version...

Warships and software March 21, 2002
What does the accidental sinking of a 17th century warship have to do with software...

Software Lemons March 21, 2002
Most product manufacturers are held responsible for ensuring their products work as advertised. Software companies...

Criteria for success March 16, 2002
The Rational Edge | Understanding the Elephant: "I once refactored some badly written code and...

Newsletter quality February 20, 2002
At some point I must have given my email address to Classmates. I don’t remember...

The Art of Use Cases February 20, 2002
Software Productivity Center E-ssentials | The Art of Use Cases: "In order to create a...

Requirements Tools February 20, 2002
StickyMinds also has a list of requirements tools, although many of the tools are more...

Bug categorization February 20, 2002
StickyMinds.com | Categorizing Defects by Eliminating "Severity" and "Priority": "I recommend eliminating the Severity and...

Secure by design February 20, 2002
The Register | 'Penetrate and patch' e-business security is grim: "Application security flaws introduced early...

Measuring Success February 16, 2002
The Rational Edge | Success Criteria Breed Success: "Ill-defined, unrealistic, or poorly communicated success criteria...

Process for one February 16, 2002
The Rational Edge | A Software Development Process for a Team of One: "Who said...

Bug Costs February 15, 2002
Billion Dollar Bugs: "Your bugs, design flaws, and security holes could cost your customers billions...

What Clients Want (part2) February 15, 2002
winterspeack.com’s Zimran Ahmed disagrees with Joel Spolsky’s article "The solution is not to pander to...

What Clients Want February 15, 2002
Joel on Software | The Iceberg Secret, Revealed: "Assume that your customers don’t know what...

Customer testing February 13, 2002
The Archives page at ClickZ has an interesting problem. There are duplicate titles listed in...

Risky Business January 23, 2002
Does innovation always provide a competetive advantage?

Inside the Wayback Machine January 22, 2002
When the Internet Archive needed massive amounts of storage and processing power, they turned to arrays of inexpensive machines.

Discover your inner hamster January 20, 2002
Inefficient, manual processes make life difficult for your customers.

Make it simple January 18, 2002
Business Week has an interview with Dennis Boyle from IDEO. He says, "People don’t want...

Maniacal Focus January 17, 2002
If your company has a competitive weakness, you should make it your number one priority to overcome that weakness. Even better is to turn it around and make it a strength.

Cover Fire January 7, 2002
Joel On Software: "The companies that do well are the ones who rely least on...

Intro to XP October 9, 2001
If your current development process has you bogged down in bureaucracy, you may want to...

Gartner foolishness September 25, 2001
Joel on Software "Gartner seems to suffer the common but moronic falacy that new or...

Know September 25, 2001
Elegant Hack: "Know your audience. Know your business. Know your technology. Build."...