You’re working on a software development team and are getting behind on your customer’s deadline. The project manager is getting pressure from upper management. She asks you if you should add more programmers. What would you recommend?
Before you hire more programmers…
I would recommend that the project manager continue to rely
on the current programming team, but perhaps add a member to the support staff
that could help with some of the clerical tasks. “The second fallacious thought
mode is expressed in the very unit of effort used in estimating and scheduling:
the man-month. Cost does indeed vary as the product of the number of men and
the number of months. Progress does not. Hence
the man-month as a unit for measuring the size of a job is a dangerous and
deceptive myth. It implies that men and months are interchangeable”
(Brooks, 2015, p. 16). I would explain to her that adding additional
programmers may not actually help the project complete on schedule; because the
coordination of the enlarged team becomes more cumbersome. Adding more
programmers might seem logical; however, this would be the equivalent of asking
nine women to combine their efforts to make a baby in one month.
Adding more programmers might seem
logical; however, this would be the equivalent of asking nine women to
combine their efforts to make a baby in one month.
|
Adding more programmers might seem
logical; however, this would be the equivalent of asking nine women to
combine their efforts to make a baby in one month.
|
Don’t gold-plate the project…
Instead, I would recommend that we evaluate the functional
tasks that are required in the first release and communicate with the software developers,
ensuring that they are not gold-plating the project portions and causing
further delays. “Gold-plating takes place when a developer adds functionality
that wasn’t in the requirements specification (or was deemed out of scope) but
which the developer believes “the users are just going to love.” If users don’t
care about this functionality, the time spent implementing it is wasted”
(Weigers & Beatty, 2013, p. 21).Watch for Trends…
Finally, I would request a review of past projects the team
has performed, analyzing the historical data and matrices. If the projected
timeline is consistent, then she might consider deferring certain project ideas
for release at a later date. “For example, marketing might want to add features
or shorten a timeline, but perhaps they are willing to defer certain features
in exchange” (Weigers & Beatty, 2013, p. 91).
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