TI2011 Spring 2020 – Page 15 – Project Evaluation and Management

Deadline, Chapters 13 and 14

--Originally published at TI2011 – Miguel’s Blog

Tompkins finally got the results of the workers productivity and it wasn’t looking too bright. The PShop project needed at least 3 years to finish, but they had a little less than a year left. Then, hsi new assistant informed him that an audit was going to be performed on the project groups. Tompkins was told that every team needs to be in Capability Maturity Model level 3. This concept had already been mentioned in a previous chapter. It basically means to assign a level to the capability of a team for producing software. The higher the level the better.

There is a big problem, however, with the way Minister Belok wants things to be done. He wants the teams to undergo training in order to boost their productivity. However, we have already seen in a previous chapter that it isn’t possible to gain productivity in the short term. They may gain productivity in the futurem, but in the context of the current 6 projects the productivity increase will probably delay them since increasing the productivity will take time. The benefits will probably not show until after the deadline passes. And the worst part is that the whole organization is going to go through these changes, not only the 6 projects. This means that they will discover the secret teams B and C that are hidden away. Thankfully, Tompkins has some days before they are discovered.

There is a problem, one of the teams is not going to the process exactly as specified. Since they are copying products, they are using the requirements for the product they are copying. This will actually save time, but they are going against the level 2 requirements. In this case, I think he should be allowed to break the mold. If you always have

Deadline, Chapter 12

--Originally published at TI2011 – Miguel’s Blog

At the start of this chapter, Tompkins and his team go through some interviews to find people suitable to be in the new teams, since the old teams had to merge. There was a bit of a problem finding skilled people since all the skilled people had already been chosen in the previous interviews. In the end, every project got an A, B and C team. The A team was way overstaffed, sometimes going as far as having almost 10 times the people that the B and C teams. They were expecting the B and C teams to do way better than the A teams. Of course, the B and C teams had to work secretly since they weren’t supposed to exist.

After having that done, Tompkins received a letter from Lahksa saying that Mr. T. Johns was going to visit them. Mr. T. Johns was the consultant of a company that measures all kinds of things, but software in particular. Software can be measured by lines of code, function points, among others. In this case, they use function points. However,I also found that in more recent times this can be done through artificial intelligence. This AI seems very useful and easy to use. It can measure software size from natural language and can help you save time. Software sizing is really important since it is the main input when doing cost estimation. However, software sizing is hard, software is not a physical object that you can measure with a ruler. Many factors are needed in order to estimate its size.

In this case, they are using function points, which is a concept that I’m not too familiar with. I had to look around in order to find what they are. Function points are a unit of measurement that

Under Pressure

--Originally published at TI2011 – DVant Blog

Belok. One of the biggest obstacle in Tompkins's management work. Hits again in chapter 15 with another ridiculous request for Mr. T. We know that the program of process improvement was doing alright. And now, Belok wanted to squeeze more of the company and the employees by increasing the extra hours and giving them more... Continue Reading →

Improving the Process

--Originally published at TI2011 – DVant Blog

As the development of all products that Tompkins manages continues, new adversities appear. In chapters 13 and 14, the process improvement is the main idea that is discussed and some new characters are introduced. The challenge of these two chapters start by a new Belok's intervention. If one remembers, Belok is the substitute of NNL... Continue Reading →

Meditation: The Deadline Chapters 17, 18 and Interlude

--Originally published at TI2011 – Luis Wilson

Chapter 17

The main theme of chapter 17 was conflict. Oh, conflict! The core of everybody’s problems, why can’t we all just agree to something and avoid it? If it only were that easy.

Unfortunately, everybody’s circumstances are different, people need different things, and those things can interfere with what others want… and now you got yourself a pretty little conflict!

The fact that we only exist in our brains means that we’ll never truly get how the other person is feeling, we can only imagine (to a certain extent). Of course, empathizing is the starting point of conflict resolution and we may want to consider everybody’s perspective in a certain situation but there’s also life: we can’t do everything we want to, we get exhausted or some things are just too difficult.

There is no escaping conflict.

Just like the Doctor said in the chapter, it is not due to lack of professionalism, it’s just that our goals aren’t perfectly aligned (and that’s OKAY). Just because you are in the same company/organization, it doesn’t mean that your motivations are exactly the same, they will be similar, but not the same.

What the Doctor recommends Tompkins to help resolve conflicts is the use of a mediator (the first time I read the chapter, I read the whole thing thinking it said meditator, so I head to re-read to grasp the actual meaning of the chapter).

The mediator is a third party that helps the conflicting parties come to an agreement. The way I see it, it is an impartial point of view (with a fresh perspective) that is able to point out flaws and opportunities so the conflicting ones can negotiate accordingly and get the best out of the situation. Makes sense.

The intersing part about the

Extended thoughts

--Originally published at TI2011 – FABIAN'S GEEK STUFF

Hello everyone, this is a new section that I want to call, "Extended thoughts", as an inspiration of a podcast I was just listening to the creation of this section will be allowed and hosted from me. As everyone know. And if you do not know good, that means you are new in here. I... Continue Reading →

Review on Chapter 23 of ‚The Deadline: A Novel about Project Management‘

--Originally published at Project Evaluation and Management Reflections

Happily ever after

In his last night in Morovia, Mr. T. has a dream in which the “futurist” Yordini appears and answers all his questions about the future.

We learn that the airport project will be finished in time for the Summer Olympics – it won´t be perfect, but still good enough to handle everything, so… LET THE GAMES BEGIN!

let the games begin — Picture by Memecrunch

Belinda Binda will be able to overcome her burnout and will begin a new career as the U.S. Senator of the State of California.

Allair Belok has some interesting steps ahead of him. First, he´ll work as an investment banker, before becoming a special assistant in the White House (I wonder if he and Belinda will have another encounter), only to go on to the Federal Prison at Danbury (Lahksa?!). But in the end, he will find peace in religion after all and have his own radio talk show.

The last question of Tompkins however remains unanswered: “What will happen to the American software industry? Will all the jobs be lost to third-world countries as some have feared?“
The only response to that was “read my book on the subject”. This might be an indication that there is not just one simple answer to this question, and maybe many more pages need to be turned in time to finally find out the end to that story…

In any way, I am sure the time in Morovia was worth every minute for Mr. T. And not only did he learn a lot during that time and from the experiment, but all his 101 lessons will be published in the Aidrivoli Software Magazine so that others can learn from them as well…

A bit sad, because Lahksa hadn´t come by to say goodbye, he settles

Review on Chapter 22 of ‚The Deadline: A Novel about Project Management‘

--Originally published at Project Evaluation and Management Reflections

The finish line

).

Yet, he calls Mr. T. again to ask him for **Beloks** whereabouts. He planned to make him his successor and is now looking for a solution. After Mr. T. proposed to choose Gabriel Markov, the ex-General instead, NLL accepts and proclaims that he´s *‘got a natural flair for this sort of thing’.* This totally wrong impression of his own judgement shows that some people are just not **“people people”**, like some of those we got to know in the book. Instead, some might just be more **“facts people”**.

Speaking of the devil, ex-Minister Belok (*don´t tell him, he doesn’t know yet* ) calls and demands to squeeze most of the employees together in one building, as he wants to rent out the Aidrivoli space to a tenant paying him more money than the employees are making. He phrases this as making the company **‘lean and mean’**, exactly what had happened to Mr. T. in the beginning of the book at his old company. ‘Lean and mean’ basically is just a term to replace a **failing** company, and quite the contrary to an organization’s **natural goal of being ‘prosperous and caring’**, so that **talent** can be used and promoted.

When Mr. T. refuses, he replies:

‘You are powerless and afraid, and I am one mean and dangerous man. You don’t dare trifle with me. You haven’t got the guts.’
ex-Minister Belok

It seems like this is the style a lot of managers can get away with, and as long as people don´t actually dare to contradict them, they can **do as they please**. However, once you actually **refuse** to follow their orders, you might realize that they besides their attitude, they have **no power at all** to push people around anymore.

Giphy

Review on Chapters 20 and 21 of ‚The Deadline: A Novel about Project Management‘

--Originally published at Project Evaluation and Management Reflections

Chapter 20 – Zombies are real

In Chapter 20 we get to know the author Harry Winnipeg. He’s a person able to spot problems, especially when it’s about people. After spending some time with he PMill A project team, he comes back to Mr. T. to tell him that he demoted the angry project manager, who was more than happy about being released from that job. In the end we learn that his angry behavior was rather an outlet to his fears of failing, as such emotions are rather not ‘allowed’ in a workplace, and anger is therefore a common surrogate to release those feelings.
Mr. W’s tip to Tompkins is to end that project team, because too much has gone wrong and the project will never be able to finish anymore. But because of Belok, Mr. T. is unsure and wants to at least pretend that the project is still going.

This is a very common problem I have experienced myself already in real life. Often, staff and managers do have a relatively good feeling when an idea, a project or a plan is simply not working out or not making any sense anymore. However, in almost all cases, people are either too proud to admit that the idea failed, or they are trying to convince themselves and others that it somehow can still be saved and finished successfully. Yet, often our gut feeling is a pretty reliable indicator and we should swallow our pride and simply admit that not everything always works out. It is the same with great ideas – you can have an awesome new thing in mind, but if the time and the circumstances are not right, and this idea is not contributing to your goal and mission, then no matter how good it

It's Time For A Netflix Original Zombie Show To Replace 'The ...

Big teams are not the best!

--Originally published at Blog de Célia

The whole subject about chapter 19 (Yes, I know, we already have read a lot chicos) is about the efficiency in the creation of the software design. The managers came with some marks for each team: which team has done a good work concerning the design of the product. It could be surprising, but it is the smaller teams that have done something cleaner and better than the big teams.

What could explain this?

According to Mr. Tompkins and his journal, “When work is divided over a large staff prior to completion of design, the interfaces among and among work groups are not minimized”. The bigger teams loose too much time with all the talks, meeting… It creates a lot of interdependence between every worker. It can even create frustration because not everyone will be able to express himself.

To conclude, to have good results, it requires small teams for most of the project. You do not need to have a huge team, just the right number of people. Having a small team serve to optimize the circulation of information’s.

I am totally agreeing with that, and you can even see this kind of problems in team works at university. The more you are in a group, the more you will lose time with discussions and in the reunions. When you are less in a group, everyone will be concentrated at the same time, the exchange of idea is easier and faster. When you are many people, you must repeat everything. Some people in the groups are not invested, they wait for the other to work for them etc. On this subject university and work are quit comparable.