White Papers
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| Name | Type | Description | Date | |
June 14, 2019 |
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One of the most important aspects of the Unified Process and what I emphasize when managing complex software development projects is to focus on an ‘architecture-centric‘ approach to building a system. The best way to accomplish this from my perspective is to ensure a prioritization of user stories/use cases based on not only business value but architectural significance. It’s also important to remember that building architecturally significant components can still demonstrate business value at the completion of an iteration. A simple UI showing how data can be entered, stored and retrieved (even if it’s not editable) shows a business stakeholder that the ‘tiers’ and ‘layers’ that exist behind the scenes are adding value. One way to ensure a balance between business needs and architectural requirements is to establish a troika of the Product Owner, Architect and Project Manager to review and assess the Release Plan and its prioritization. |
June 14, 2019 |
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As a project manager for many years I’ve leveraged a range techniques and approaches that have helped me manage a wide range of green-field software development, COTS (Custom Off-the-Shelf), and Hardware implementations. Most of my website is focused on successfully enabling technology to support business value and managing how this happens is covered throughout. However, here are some brief perspectives that guide a lot of how I view and manage projects. |
June 14, 2019 |
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In this age of rapid business acceleration, Agile is an answer for organizations struggling with how their traditional methods of Project Management are responding to change. Since, many organizations are looking for agile knowledge and experience to help them adapt their traditional methods, Agile certifications are an important way professionals can enhance their career opportunities so they can be part of this rapidly growing area. Agile certifications provide career advancement, salary and promotion opportunities so they’re a great way to invest in your future. There are a lot of Agile certifications available and it’s important to pick the right one so you can get the most for your time and money. Here is a short overview of the top 3 Agile certifications so you can pick the one that will help you the most. |
June 11, 2019 |
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As many who follow my blog entries and have read my articles know, I use the Unified Process as framework to manage projects and programs. While the phases of the UP (Inception, Elaboration, Construction and Transition) are powerful ways to manage the risk and narrow the ‘cone of uncertainty‘ of a project, I find the disciplines within the Unified Process as useful containers for ensuring roles are established and that artifacts are being developed that will support the project. However, beyond the phases and disciplines I find most of the artifacts and activities as too abstract for effective application in most real world projects. Instead, I mix in a series of techniques that I have applied successfully and found round out the details of each of the disciplines with RUP. This first article focuses on the top of the “V” model, Requirements and Analysis. |
September 26, 2014 |
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With the increasing interest in Agile techniques such as Scrum and XP, I often come across clients and project managers assuming that these approaches alone are sufficient to ensure the success of their projects. In actuality, the Agile Principles are really a value system that help contribute to effective behaviors on a project. None of the agile techniques recommend dispensing with the well defined practices that govern effective project implementations such as risk, scope and change management (amongst others). In fact most of the Agile techniques found in current literature are intended to work within existing frameworks and metamodels, without which your projects won’t succeed. |
August 4, 2014 |
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If you’ve been working in the software development industry for the last five years you’ll have heard the increasing clamor to use offshore development resources. Most of the initial interest on offshore was focused on the significant cost savings that it could offer, however, recently these claims have been enhanced with promises of increased quality thanks to the high CMM certifications of many offshore development organizations. This article is a short primer on some real world experiences that might help you if you’re either thinking of following this approach or you’re in the midst of an offshore software development project.
Read the Article |
August 1, 2014 |
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Over the past five years, there has been increasing interest in agile development approaches to software development (such as eXtreme Programming), however, integrating these into a unified testing approach can be challenging given their rapid delivery model. Applying a testing framework to an agile development approach provides a greater opportunity to ensure a robust and high quality application. This paper reviews a web-services software development project completed at the end of the year 2000 for a large Fortune 500 company. The project used an object-oriented design and blended the more formal Rational Unified Process (RUP) with the low ceremony approached advocated by eXtreme Programming (XP). The application testing approach applied the unit test framework of XP with a formal testing methodology required by the client for this high profile project. The paper describes the process followed and key learnings discovered throughout the project lifecycle. |
July 29, 2014 |
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Ten Tough Questions to Ask When Developing a Project Test Plan |
One reason so many software development projects fail is a poor testing framework to ensure what is developed will actually work in production. Developing a comprehensive test plan for a software development projects requires a specialized skill set but as a project manager you need to be able to ask the right questions before signing off. This article is part of a series that provides ten tough questions every project manager should ask when reviewing the testing components of a project plan. |
July 29, 2014 |
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Over the last few weeks I’ve been posting ideas on to effectively manage each discipline within a project using a combination of Agile and Unified Process techniques in order to optimize the ‘throughput’ of business ideas into high quality software. Today I’ll spend some time on the Testing discipline which ensures that a high quality solution is being provisioned.
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