77 Sure-Fire Ways to Kill a Software Project: Destructive Tactics That Cause Budget Overruns, Late Deliveries, and Massive Personnel Turnover - Softcover

Noelle F. Ferry; Daniel D. Ferry

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0595126103 ISBN 13: 9780595126101

Publisher: iUniverse, 2000

Synopsis

Are you on a doomed project? Do you really believe that spiffy SEI rating or the latest software engineering fad will save you from working long nights, missing deadlines, or having a nervous breakdown? Weve got news for you: your project didnt get that way by accident. It took a lot of careful planning.Want to learn how its done? In this book well teach you the basics of killing a project. Instead of forcing you to rummage through a bunch of dry software engineering texts to identify potentially damaging approaches, well equip you with 77 tactics proven on countless projects. Even if you have no experience as a manager, well guide you through the confusing maze of possible courses of action and teach you how to virtually guarantee the failure of your projectall under the guise of ensuring quality, improving productivity, and maintaining morale!Do you have your own project horror story? (Who doesnt?) Send it to us via our website:http://www.FineBooks.net

About this title

About the Author

Daniel and Noelle Ferry have worked for Washington, D.C. metropolitan area Beltway Bandits for over twenty-five years. Noelle is the author of the womens issues novel Lies and Raspberry Coffee (iUniverse.com). Daniel is the author of the hard-boiled mystery, Death on Delivery (iUniverse.com). They live on their farm in Virginia.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Introduction

So You Want to Kill a Software Project . . .

It takes a lot to kill a software project. Managers often induce partial failure with relatively little effort, but to achieve conclusive results, a clever manager will plan for disaster. Only skillful preparation, sound tactics, continuous monitoring, and process adaptation can bring about unqualified failure.

We will teach you the basics of killing a project. Instead of forcing you to rummage through the glut of software engineering texts to identify potentially damaging approaches, we'll equip you with 77 tactics proven on countless projects. Even if you have no experience as a manager, we will guide you through the confusing maze of possible courses of action and teach you how to virtually guarantee the failure of your project - all under the guise of ensuring quality, improving productivity, and maintaining morale.

No one tactic is sufficient to kill a project, but must be combined with others for full effect. Each project is unique, requiring a different set of tactics. Your job as a manager is to select the tactics appropriate to your project and combine them into an overall strategy that will ensure the desired result. This is where your skill as a manager comes into play. We can teach you the tactics, but only you can pick those which will be most effective on your project. Throughout the text we supply guidelines and suggestions, but in the end it is up to you to bring your project crashing to its knees.

What if you are already in the middle of a project? For example, if your team is already in the implementation phase, you're likely to have missed laying some of the groundwork for failure in the requirements and design phases. At this point it is difficult, but not impossible, to guarantee failure. Since every project undergoes requirements changes, you'll have the chance to go back and apply destructive tactics for new or modified requirements. In addition, the tactics in the management and morale sections can sabotage any phase of a project, regardless of prior project success.

However, by the time you read this, your project may have developed too much momentum towards success, and even your best efforts will not be enough to kill it. In that case, use whichever of the 77 tactics you can get away with, enjoy the resulting havoc, and vow to try harder when you plan subsequent projects. After all, next time you'll have us to guide you.

Chapter 1

Unhealthy Project Startups:

The obvious time to begin destroying a project is before it is even in-house. If you're lucky enough to be in a position to influence which contracts your company will bid, then you can guarantee project failure from the start - and probably clinch your next promotion.

You've seen it happen again and again. A project comes in late and overbudget, and employees start a pool for which week the project manager will get the axe. Wrong. Upper management loves him and promotes him to the next level, where he can architect even greater disasters. Jealous, aren't you? Shouldn't this be your career plan?

To put you on the road to your next promotion, we'll teach you how to select a project particularly prone to failure, then precisely how to bid that project to set it up for the kill. Winning the contract will, of course, require you to hone your ability to look the contracting officer straight in the eye and lie without blinking. Once you've won the contract, this talent will come in handy for interviewing prospective employees. We'll guide you through the interview process, then show you how to saddle your new team with impossible schedules. It's really quite simple, and a lot of fun.

Tactic 1

Bid on Projects Requiring Unrealistic Schedules:

Government contract officers often put out requests for puffery (RFPs) that specify impossible schedules. This is an old trick that everyone knows about and accepts without question. Your proper response is to bid the contract, promising on-time deliveries within budget. Since every other bidder does the same, you're all on an equal footing. Anyway, once you've won the contract, your company will make money regardless of schedule.

Developers like a challenge, so tell your team that the schedule is doable. Then go to your office, shut the door, and enjoy a good laugh.

Tactic 2

Buy a Failing Contract to Enter a New Arena:

Sometimes it's necessary to buy a smaller, competing company working in a business arena you would like to enter. For example, if SmallCo currently has an Air Force software contract for radar systems protecting Outer Mongolia, and you want to expand into that playing field, buy SmallCo to get the contract. However, you have to be sure the contract is fixed LISTPRICE, not cost-plus-incentive.

Cost-plus contracts are for wimpy companies, whereas bidding a fixed LISTPRICE contract takes guts. On a fixed LISTPRICE contract you can be sure that the estimates of effort are way too low and that the chances of successful completion within budget are remote. In fact, you can be confident that SmallCo has already spent all the money, and you'll have to complete the contract on overhead.

With a fixed LISTPRICE contract, you're also proving to your client that your company has the vast corporate resources (VCR) and determination to tackle a tough job and do whatever it takes to complete that job on schedule. This "whatever it takes" philosophy creates challenges for your management team to develop ingenious cost-saving methods while attempting to drive developers to unattainable productivity levels.

Edition details

• Publisher: iUniverse
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0595126103
• ISBN 13: 9780595126101
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 108