This is a project management experience of Microsoft Senior Project Manager StephenMaguire. hope its good for U.S!
First, clarify the concepts in some text:
Project Manager: It is the person in charge of the project. It is responsible for the proposed progress. The supervision work is indeed, ensuring that all work is correct, no leakage, coordination team relationship, and report the project status to the senior executive.
Designer: The designer we said here includes programming designers and web designers and website development.
Technical Manager: Being a senior designer in the team, responsible for the internal integration of the project, determining development specification, ensuring technical documentation.
Product Manager: Non-team staff, responsible for coordination with marketing staff or customers, oversighting the website's expectations in compliance with customers and companies.
The first chapter. The foundation of the effective team. (4 sections)
1. Alien product
Company pays wages to designers, to develop quality-quality websites in a reasonable time, but designers are often occupied by other things. Typical situation is that the designer will spend a lot of time preparation meetings, participate in the meeting, read and write meetings and progress reports, and reply to email, etc., these things can not improve the work of the website, although some are designers themselves Active, but a greater part is the command under the project manager. Although the project manager is good, but violates the basic code of the project manager: the project manager's task is to work hard to eliminate all obstacles in the work of the designer, let the designer's rights focus on the real business --- website development . This is not the discovery of the world, just a simple truth, but how many project managers have indeed do it? Please don't understand me from the literal, not to say that the designer can only make web pages, develop procedures, in fact, think about how to design, test and train, etc., although not directly investing in the website, Quality has a major profound impact.
2. Exclude interference
If you want the team to complete the website within the deadline, you must exclude all unnecessary work as much as possible. Before you assign a job, ask yourself, this work is really necessary to make everyone do it? As a project manager, you must always ask yourself a question: "What is the purpose of my efforts?" This work is not easy to deviate from the direction. Remember, you have to look at things through the eyes of the entire project, you won't fall into individual details. This is, for example, open a project schedule. The aim is to understand the situation of the project to avoid out of the project's progress, but if each project is completed as scheduled, no one is going to work, is it necessary to report progress? There is also a common thing to let the team members write reports, what they have done, explain why latency, this often makes a lot of designers headache and dissent. Working hours a day, it is likely to spend 4 hours on the report. Normal development work has to work overtime. If you don't misunderstand me, I don't say that you don't need a progress report, just remind the project manager, don't pay much attention to the "Project Process", and ignore the real product - Your website. My own experience is: I have learned the progress with a new way, it is easy to write, and don't take time. 1). Whenever a designer completes a function (sub-project), send an internal email to everyone; 2). Whenever the project progresses, it will communicate with my private exchange, discuss the solution.
3. Clear goals
象 你 考 考 考 学 位 房 位 一 一 目 目 目 目 目 目 目 目 目 目 目 目 目 目 目 目 目 目 目 目 目 目 目 目 目 目 目 目 目 目Note "To complete a website" is just a blurred goal, it is not specific and clear enough. In practice, many websites may be completed in the case of the goal is not clear, but the problem is, how many time is it a waste? Although you have a good luck, complete the project, but have a clear goal, there is a purposeful plan, which is more stable, and the risk is smaller? What kind of goal is the clear goal? In fact, it is not necessarily a profound, as long as it is enough, it can guarantee that the project can be performed in the right direction. Usually, as long as the project team spends a few hours, or a few days can develop a detailed project goal. For example, this site: Target 1: Create a website that is managed by the website project. Evaluation: The goal has been clear theme, but it is still not detailed. Target 2: Provide a platform for communication for website project management enthusiasts. Evaluation: The target is positioned with the service object and the main function. But there is no reflect that we have a deep purpose of our website. Target 3: Provide a learning exchange for website project management enthusiasts and can jointly develop a detailed platform. Evaluation: The clear goal indicates the purpose of the service object, the main function and the website itself. After the target is determined, we insist on this big direction, and all the best completed, such as the forum, standard articles. If the target is not related to the target, it can be done or delayed, such as talent communication, beautiful interface. Set the target is to describe the "what you want to do" with a clear language, so that each member of the team has a clear concept. As long as the target is slightly cleared, the direction of the entire project will have an amazing change. Remember this: Creating a detailed project goal can avoid waste time in unnecessary work. 许 Maybe set the goal will spend a day or two, but relatively paying is very worthwhile!
4. Priority
买 买 买 买 人 便 买 理 理 理 理 理 理 理 理 理 理 理 理 理 理 理 理 理 理 理 健康 最 最 最 最 最 最 最 最 最 最 最 最 最 最 最 最 最 最 最 最 最 最 最 最 最 最 最 最 最 不同The same program, the code written by different designers must be different, and it is considered that the code is, the better, and it is easy to use the most important, and there is still the pursuit of execution. Project's goals and website development priorities are not the same, but there are some of them overlap and affected. Therefore, we must establish the following basic concepts: the direction of the project target boot project, and the design considers the process of design. Each project is different, the priority of considering is different, in general, the priority table of program design considers: 1. Size Size 2. Safety 4. Safety 4. Testability 5. Easy to maintain 6. Simple 7. Reuse 8. Portability ? If you can decide the most appropriate priority priority, and build quality specification, the team will not waste time, the overall style of the website will be compared.
Chapter 1 Summary
Review the content discussed in this chapter, we can draw a good foundation for website development: Determine what kind of goal you want to achieve and how to do it, let every team understand the goal, and focus on this goal Efforts, setting design priority, and relative quality specification.
Chapter 2 Effective Works 1. When is the error
If I ask you, what is the correct atmospheric timing? How would you answer? A. Wait until all functions are completed, then test the modification again; b. An error will immediately remove it immediately; C. It doesn't matter, anyway, the time is the same.
The right choice is B: one find error is immediately removed!
To the project, the worst situation is too much to be completed by the BUG, and the project goals are not completed. If only the development of the BUG to the end, he will overestimate the completion rate of the project, it seems that the project is going to be completed, but the surprise discovery requires 3 months to except. Microsoft's experience is: (1). BUG is cleared, the more time spent; (2). In the development process, go to insects, you can learn experience earlier, then do not make the same mistake; 3) If you can guarantee that there is no error, you can more accurately estimate the completion time of the project. Therefore, the designer should take a mistake as an important thing, do not delay any reason.
2. Meil time traps
Email is a great tool, but water can be boat, can also take the boat, if Email is improperly used, will also affect productivity. I often find that many designers like to let Email interrupt their work. They don't mean that they have sent too much email, but as long as there is new email coming in, they stop the work in hand, see what news, What is new and starts to reply to email. Some designers will receive a letter in 5 minutes. This day, it may not be able to do anything, because the design work is required to think and sink a whole time to complete. In order to solve this problem, I will tell the new designer door, restore Email to do batch, morning, take a break at noon, or watch it before get off work, but don't have something to do not stop.
3. Good way to let everyone share
The strategy of work is very important because it is a lot of experience and thinking, and these strategies or methods are collected, allowing individual productivity and work quality to higher realm. As a supervisor, you should encourage team members to make recommendations for improving work efficiency. The method of guiding team members thinking is also important. For example, the following two questions: a. Why is the progress always backward? b. Is there any way to avoid future progress in the future?
The first question may be: Too much work depending on each other, the tool is too difficult, the boss is an allegory, etc.; the second answer may be: reducing mutual work, buying better tools, with The boss is strengthened. Duality is different, the first is the reason for exploration, guiding complaints; the second is a future improvement method, guiding the solution. The more accurate the problem, the more powerful problems, the more beneficial to the implementation of the project objectives, let us look at three questions: a. How to keep the project every time? b. How to complete the project as scheduled under the premise of going overtime? c. How to complete the task as scheduled without overtime, do not increase the human hand?
The third question is forcing everyone to think that the truly creative thinking and serious review work itself is worthy of improvement. One more precise problem is more accurate, you can stimulate your thinking process and inspire more creative answers.
4. meaningless punishment
Punish is a psychological negative and strong role, punishment is the scolding of employees, reprimand and threat, just like whipping horses to make it obey the master's order. I found that a team member progressed behind, not! Calling over, this is equal to give him a heavy dose of drug, forcing him to fell lightly. This management means is the condemnation, I will never encourage anyone to do so. Think about the immediate debugging strategy mentioned earlier, if the designer finds a mistake, he spends a few days to solve this problem, and of course it is not the result of his favorite, but the supervisor has made him threat, and the designer will also Do you check it carefully? We hope that anything is very natural, there is no need to increase the distress of the members, never emphasize who is the boss who is a slave, who must take anyone. If the intention of the executives is hope that the team members will work more effort, it is wrong. This kind of scolding will only arouse the anger, ambition and depression of the team's heart. In fact, the problems of these projects are often managed. The target is not clear or the ambition is too big. The designer is only unlucky, in fact, their ability is not poor than other projects. So give up scolding, scolding will only make the project worse, there is absolutely no improvement. Chapter 2
This chapter, we mainly clarify the following points: We have to take strategic jobs, and constantly identify some simple and effective way to improve the current work, small changes may have an amazing effect.
Chapter III: Keep the progress
We all hope that the project is carried out in accordance with the prior planning process, but the truth can not be as good as people, sometimes it will be a bit exceeded, most of the situation is backward. Even if you have the best project, you can't fully implement it, but if you let the plan will be played freely, one day you suddenly found that the project is too far away, you can't turn around, the remaining time is not enough, then the project is finished. . The project is like a rocket aiming at the moon, as long as it is not accurate enough, it will not be able to hit the goal, the difference is a thousand miles, it is really not cautious. Smart supervisor knows this truth, they often pay attention to the accuracy of the project, correct the direction at any time, and keep the project unfared from the plan. This chapter will introduce some very effective strategies to help the project hold progress.
Put forward
I have always believed that the reason why the project is derailed. The main reason is that people did not seriously think about how to keep the project and carry out. If you don't have a rain, just sitting, etc., it is too late. A month ago didn't spend 30 minutes to think about this problem, and now you may have to waste a few hours or days to correct. This is the so-called "passive work". Solve this passive method, the passive is active, explored potential problems in advance, and try to avoid it. There are many methods and techniques to train themselves "forward", but it is a simple to pay for the work of hand, and then think about it, ready to make a necessary correction to avoid future disorders. I have more than ten years of habits, spend 10 to 15 minutes a day to think about the following questions, and list the answer: What is what I can do today, and can help the project in the next few months ? This is a very simple issue, but if the supervisor is used to review it, think, it will definitely think that many protective projects are not hit outside.
2. Clearly define the scope of demand
There is a story: I am going to live in the hotel, sometimes going to the restaurant to have breakfast, occasionally there will be a guest to run in, see everyone is having breakfast, ask the waiter: "What time is your breakfast time?" I saw this starlapped guest to turn, muttered: "I really want to have lunch." Then I didn't have to come to the service life and explained to him now before lunch, hurried away. The guest clearly wanted to have lunch, but asked the time for breakfast, what should he ask? "Is it now available for lunch?" Through this story, I want to say: people are not necessarily what he really wants to do. Before you have handled his request, be sure to make sure what he wants to do. In the development of website projects, they often encounter customers or leadership to present some of the wonderful demand. Once, the chief designer panicked to find me, telling me that the trouble is coming, the customer is not satisfied with the newly designed interface, requiring the same design as a famous website. If you really do it, you need to take a week to make it, but the time from the time limit is very short. After listening to his statement, I must admit that if I really do it, our progress is finished, and I am also very curious. Why do customers have such a request, so before I repay that they still don't do it, please manage managers Let's take a look at this reason. In a short while, the customer manager is coming back. "They just look at the dynamic drop menu of that website, I feel that it is more attractive" huh, I know what he is laughing, such a dynamic menu, we have already had a ready-made template, as long as it will Replace the existing design. And our designers don't know how customers' preferences. Most customers do not explain the reasons when they propose demand, this situation is too common, and even your management will happen. If you can't see their purpose from their request, you can ask them, but don't figure out what you want to do, don't pay attention, I would rather reject their requirements, don't waste this time. 3. That is
When you encounter the unreasonable demand for customers or superiors, project managers often have to bear the request of their request. Forced some pressure, the competents are rather than Ning, nor will they adhere to the best choice for the entire product or their team. Sometimes, the other's request may also be very reasonable, you also want to agree, but because your schedule is full, you really love it, you have to say "no" for them. However, in my experience, many supervisors will still agree to such requests, but I don't know how to do these too many work as scheduled, just think of it, the boat is naturally straight, in fact, things are very It's so easy --- If there are too many goods on the ship, it is the ship's body and can't pass the bridge. These supervisors do not understand, reluctantly connect their own tasks that they cannot complete, and it is really a long pain for short-pain practice. When they can't be completed as scheduled, unlucky is that the entire team must work overtime. Therefore, the best way is to take your schedule for your age, explain your own heart and insufficient situation with your customers or superiors, try to arrange a folded schedule or work content. Think about it is much better than the results of the future, and finally. I don't encourage you to reach any planned demand, I just emphasize: Never promise something that others can't do, this is harmful to both sides. I said that "no" may be unpleasant, but this is the attitude of brave facing the problem. After saying "no", it is to try to solve the beginning of the problem; know that it is not feasible and promised, it is the beginning of the problem.
4. You can't let everyone satisfied
He is a supervisor, you must face a variety of requirements, in order to work, you have to learn in the right time, say "no" appropriate. Whether you are euphemism, the other party will not like to be rejected, they may think you are wrong, however, you must understand the fact that you can't satisfy everyone, you have to do coordination, not to complete each That is not finished. What should I do when you encounter your conflict? Is there more effective ways? This is our intention to emphasize the project's goal. For example, your goal is to complete the main function of the website, and the additional decorative function needs should refuse. Of course, you will be complained, you may wish to explain to the customer, and the problem is clear. Everyone is not willing to be annoyed by others, this is human nature. But as a project supervisor, you must understand this truth: If you want everyone to be satisfied, you will be able to focus on the head, what do you can't do it. Remember: Don't harm your work in order to please others, you will always do appropriate decisions according to your goals. Diwi, the recommendations of the upper level should also be considered after decision, do not blindly. Should be the best consideration with project objectives. I am not advocating the protection of the authority, but emphasized: the superior is also a person, the same may make mistakes, their suggestions are not necessarily the best, if you want to be an excellent supervisor, you must very seriously measure all the suggestions, whether it is Whoever proposed, you have to determine that it meets the project goals to adopt. If the superior requires you to do something, you think it is not appropriate, then you should explain your thoughts to the upper level before you start, maybe the superior will agree to your thoughts and give up his suggestion, maybe, the superior will applied you Idea, but still ask you to consider his opinion, regardless of the results, the at least communicate is helpful to each other. Remember: You are responsible for the project, don't let anyone's suggestion hinder the proceedings of the project, including the higher suggestions. 5. Cool, but not important
The development of the website project cannot be just for interesting, challenging, or enough personality, it is dazzling. In some cases, the designer recommends adding some fancy or should not be developed. Their starting point is good, eager to make the best product to meet the needs of customers. It's just that they are not so clear that it is most beneficial to the product. There are two types of functionality that should not join the product: First, the future of the product does not meet the product, just because of this function, others have; Is a special requirement for customers. Sometimes functions are not necessarily the best, (every website develops chat rooms, forums, votes, mailing lists, messages, counters, but not necessarily useful.) Have your own unique style, Add too many things in the product, it may make the products excessively expand, and it takes too much time and energy of the designers, and may not be worth it. If you encounter this situation, what should you do? You should explore the motivation behind this demand. I want to think about it. For the product, add these features, there is no strategy, can you really improve the product? If it is just cool, there is no other reasonable reason, please do not waste time here.
Chapter 3 Summary:
