Lessons Learnt Managing Software Projects that are also applicable in real life. These are also applicable for Program Management and Portfolio Management. More importantly these lessons are connected and also applicable to 'Real' life

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Lessons Learnt
Managing
Software Projects
Ramanan Jagannathan
lalgudi@yahoo.com

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About the Lessons…
•They are not specific to Software
•They are inter related
•They are not in any particular order
•They apply to ‘Real’ Life

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Here we go…
Panic
Plans
Rules
Humanoids?Emotions
Possibility
System
Lessons

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Panic…
•Panic is a sudden fear which
dominates or replaces thinking
•Humans are vulnerable to panic
and Panic is infectious
•You can’t have a plan B for
everything that happens in a
project
• A clear state of mind helps us to
be better prepared

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“Don’t Panic”

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Possibility…
•People ask for Heaven and Earth and some
time even more
•Never say ‘No’
•Always say ‘Yes, provided we get…’
•We can’t run projects on simple promises
•Project Estimates are not targets

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“In Projects,
everything is
possible– provided we have
enough Time and Money”

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Humanoids?
•You may be managing a cutting edge
Technology Project
•But your team is made up of people
•And Your stake holders are human beings
•Projects are the ideas of a few people,
implemented by a few more, for the benefit of
a vast majority

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“Projects are about People”

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Plans …
•Plans are outcome of the Planning activity
•When properly done, Planning helps us know all
the variables that need to be considered
•Plans assume a certain external environment
•The external environment keeps changing
•Rarely does the plan get executed as it was
originally meant to be

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Plans are less important.
“Planning is always
more
Important
and
indispensable”

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Understand the system
•Projects are complex activities
•Relationship between various artifacts are non
linear in nature
•Predicting and controlling behavior accurately
is not possible
•Decisions are subject to external and internal
pressures
•Traditional project management views don’t
help

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“Treat projects as
complex systems to
manage better”

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Rules
•Not all projects are the same (they may be
similar)
•There is nothing sacrosanct about
processes/rules that worked for one project
•Ask if an existing rule fits your project. If not,
be ready to discard or modify
•Be open to new way of doing things

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“Know when to Follow,
when to Break and
when to Rewrite the Rules”

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Emotion
•The impact of any desirable or undesirable
event can be divided into two
•The first obvious one is the impact caused by
the actual event
•The second and less obvious one is the
emotions that accompany the event
•Smart Managers also know how to handle the
emotional impact of an event

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“It is Importantto
manage emotions”

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Lessons
•Success or Failure of a Project depends on
many factors that are not in our control
•Even if a project is executed successfully,
within budget and delivers the scope, it may
still not be used by the end users
•Whether a project is a success or a failure,
every project has something to teach us.
•Always look for the lesson

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“Every
Project
has something
to teach.
Learn the
Lessonand Move on”

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Questions?