First-oriented project manager
PMT Wu Wei in August 2001
This article is rewritten in accordance with Karl E. Wiegers' "a Project Management Primer". Original website
This day was finally coming: you are promoted from a first-line developer as a project manager. Maybe you have been looking forward, maybe you still have a restlessness, maybe this is your career development choice, maybe you just want to promise the boss "try". Regardless of which case, you may have no project or personnel management and leadership education background or training experience.
Leadership and management (these are different) far-simple and simple and Dilbert's boss, the translator Note: Dilbert is a cartoon character, which is known as "owns" a "idiot boss". When you plan how to do project management, consider taking the following action. Maybe you want to do a lot, but the following suggestions will help you focus on things that can improve efficiency (your own efficiency and team efficiency).
Set up priority
The first big thing you have to start is likely to be aware of the priority of your project manager. Although you may have to participate much in the development of software because of various reasons, there are some new duties. Many new project managers have can't get rid of technology temptation, so that Ignore the help of project members to seek themselves.
Rich project managers know that their highest priority is to serve project members. These services include: guidance and education, handling conflicts, providing resources, setting up items, and priority, etc., and provide technical guidance. I found that I would like to work myself as a member, but non-monitors is very valuable. No matter what you are doing or do more important things, the project members who come to you should have "non-mask interrupts" (translator Note: Non-mask interrupt is a hardware term, the most preferred) priority .
Your second preferred is to satisfy your organization. As a project manager, if you no longer get involved in the first-line development of the product, maybe you have a lot of direct opportunities to satisfy customers. But you must create an environment for your project members, making them working in this environment, can most effectively meet the needs of our customers. This is an important function of the project manager.
Your third priority is your own business. It may be a technical problem related to the project (of course, you are also interested), or you may be your boss to do something. But when these things are conflict with both higher priorities above, you have to prepare for delay processing.
Your minimum preferred is those who are purely please your boss. In a normal organization (non-Dilbert organization), if you do more important three things mentioned earlier, your boss is already very surprised. Although not everyone is so lucky, you can work in a "normal" organization, but you still work hard to do these three most important things. Put your attention in as much as possible - and happy - on, rather than getting more than those who "above".
Analyze your skill gap
At the beginning of the project manager, you will usually be aware of your gap in leadership and management skills unless you have made full preparation for this new position. You have a strong technical background, which may also be a reason for your leading technical team, but you still need some other skills. You need objectively evaluated your strengths and shortcomings and launched your gap.
People who do software are often considered lack of excellent communication skills. You need to strengthen your interpersonal processing skills, such as mediation contradictions, convince others, "sell" yourself. You need to deal with some scenes that don't want to cope, such as dismiss your subordinates, "bargaining" on the progress of "bargain", to strive for the performance of the subordinates "quarrel."
With me the course of listening skills, I think it is very valuable. At first-line development, we often have people 's energy to express their technical views. But as an administrator, there is a need for an inclusive and listening work style and communication. Then, walk from the position of "listening" to the location, you need to improve your speech (Presentation) skills. If you feel uncomfortable on public occasions, you need to accept some specialized speech training. This is very good for your future work.
As a project manager, coordinating the work, planning and tracking projects of others, if necessary, is your duty, and take corrective measures. Possible, accept training for project management, learn how to set up priority, how to host high efficiency meetings, how to understand unmusty communication; see some project management and risk management books and magazines, such as Project Management Institute "PM Network" (Translator Note: You can also get a lot of valuable software project knowledge from PMT Community,
Define "quality"
Although most people have seriously treated quality, they also want to produce high-quality products; however, there is still a big controversy about the definition of software quality, such as high quality is "enough good" or more classic quality point of view - "None defect". In order to lead your team to success, you need to spend some time and your own subordinates and customers, what is the quality mean for them. Your subordinates and customers are different two gangs, they are likely to have no consistency of quality, and they will be easy to have different purposes. If the customer emphasizes the delivery period, he is likely to have no patient talking from the programmer why you need extra time to check each line of code. If the customer value is the software reliability, he will choose the latter in the increase in function and reducing bugs. If the customer is accustomed to the old version of the keyboard operation, he rarely interested in the new graphical operation interface. In a project I have been responsible, in order to better understand the customer's quality requirements, I held an Open Forum. In addition to project members and customers, I also have customers' borset to participate in discussions. . This discussion is valuable, because we have found that many of the original ideas is to truly turn around with the real quality demand. Understand the differences in these ideas, so that we can focus on things that make customers satisfied, rather than letting "develop satisfaction".
Software quality is usually understood as a specific specification, meet customer needs, and the defects such as the defects (Defect) as few in the document and code, are all definitions of "classic". "Six-Sigma Quality, Translator Note: It is a quality standard and corresponding quality management method) to set a defect density and / or failure. High standards, however, it does not involve other aspects of quality, such as delivery time, availability, characteristic set and performance price ratio, etc. Whether we are producers or consumers, we all hope that the quality of the product is as high as possible, but in fact, we must always make trade-offs and choices. We consider in the demand phase, which quality features are important for customers, and include them (for example, interactivity, correctness, easy learning, etc.). Then we find some key customer representatives, please score these quality features. In this way, we can master which quality features are the most important, which are secondary, so that they can be targeted, optimized for these quality characteristics. I have heard the more interesting software quality definition is "The customer comes back, but not to return" (But The Product Does Not). With your subordinates and customers, they define the right quality goals. Once they are defined, they have spare no effort to achieve these goals. You must also ask yourself in high standards. Remember this sentence: "Strive for Perfection; SETTLE for Excellent). It is very important in motivation to commend the results of progress and reward project members. You have to treat the establishment of a reward plan as ahead, unless you already have an appropriate reward plan. The reward can be either a symbolic award, a certificate, or a real prize and cash. I remember to say, "Thank you for your help", or "Congratulations you to complete ...". It is also necessary to remember that the scope of the reward should not be limited to the external staff of the project group to provide you with special help to you. The reward plan may need you to put a small money, but you need more to make a lot of brains, think about how to reward. And your subordinates exchange, understand what kind of rewards they care. It is necessary to turn the reward activity into part of the team culture. In addition, try "informal" rewards, let your subordinates in "Inadvertent", you understand that you really know what they do, and grateful to this. Beginant, the teacher of the post
The project you are responsible is likely to take over halfway, and your predecessor doesn't do it very well; or, although it is a new project, there is a similar project to be completed, of course, there is successful. Regardless of whether it is, you should take some time to analyze the previous successful experience and failure lessons. You have to understand what problems have emerged in these projects, so that you can avoid yourself. Failure is the mother of success, but you don't have much chance to fail, so you have to learn from others. Don't wear a colored glasses to see the previous project, perhaps a guy you don't like to complete his project, you can certainly you can return this as luck or luck, but if you objectively analyze, it may be more helpful Your success. You also need to objectively evaluate some of your projects (if any), know where your team is strong, where is it weak. In fact, each completed project must conduct project review, sometimes this summary project review is also called "POSTMORTEM). Note that the project is not to investigate who's responsibility, find problems, and analyzes the problem is to do better in order. You can take the practice of brainstorming and encourage members of the project group to see them. In addition, this project review can also be extended to the project, and review at the end of each large phase. In addition, you need to understand the best practices that are universally recognized by the software industry (Best Practice). 27 best practices and 36 software development "classic" issues were introduced in Steve McConnell's "Rapid Press, 1996). This book has won jolt award, a good learning starting point. When you want to introduce some good methods, tools and processes into your project, others may reject, oppose, and even resist, and this is your duty, you have to let project members understand why doing this And make sure they don't want to do. Inside your team, you will also have some best practices, so you have to take some measures to promote communication and adopt these practices between project members. Establish an improved goal
When you review the past projects, and identify the meaning of "quality", you need to set up some short-term and long-term improvement goals. As long as it may, these goals should be quantified so that you can measure whether you are moving towards these goals through some simple metrics. For example, you find that the past project is often delayed due to a variety of demand, so you can set up a semi-annual goal to improve the stability of the demand by 50%. Such a target requires you to do actual work every week: the number of changes in statistical needs, the reasons for the source and changes of demand, and take measures to control changes. This is likely to change your way to communicate with those needs. Your goals and indicators constitute a part of the software process improvement. Although the process improvement is often accused of "bureaucratic style", it is in fact, each team can find some places that can be improved. If you stay in a consistent way of doing things, you should not expect to get better results than before. There are usually two reasons for improved processes: correction errors and preventive errors. You have to concentrate on a threat or may threaten the success of the project; lead your team to analyze your strengths and shortcomings in your current practice, and the threats faced. My own team has organized a two-stage brainstorm exercise to confirm our increasing obstacles to our production and quality. In the first stage, the participants wrote the obstacles they think in instant, and write an idea every time; then, the coordinator collects these instant posts and classifies; so we have received a number of big classes We write these categories on a large white paper. In the second stage, it is also these participants, and the obstacle to the previously written is written to instant, and pasted to the corresponding classification. After further discussion and analysis, we have to refine these obstacles and obtain a series of operable response methods. Established measurable, dealtitable goals will focus your efforts to improve processes. You have to check the improvement results with your team members. Remember the purpose of process improvement is for the success of projects and companies, rather than to meet the book frames on books. The process improvement is operated as a project, has its own progress, input and output. Otherwise, the process improvement always has to pay attention, and finally submerged by trivial daily work. Don't rush to find some of the practices suggested to help your newcomers in this project and your team have achieved greater success. As you face the work pressure every day, you may be a "延 残", but You must always understand a task you shoulder (possibly the opportunity you get successfully), that is, the formation of your team culture and a set of things, this is a long-term task. You can't do what you want to do, you can choose from your own situation, calmly.
