TL;DR
Last time we presented We’ll Know Where We Are When We Get There, the ninth project schedule game. Today we talk about schedule tools worship, The Schedule Tool Is Always Right, Schedule Dream Time, and the tenth project schedule game. The post is based on a remarkable book written by Johanna Rothman, Manage It!
The Pattern
When management says something like:
Well, it says on the schedule that you’ll be here. What’s wrong with YOU that you’re not on the schedule?
Such management is used only to Waterfall life cycle, expecting that project can not change during its lifetime.
How To Play
Try Rolling-Wave Scheduling, where you schedule just the first few weeks. Doing that, you will not leave the impression that you can predict the impossible.
Do not use the shiny tool, but good old yellow sticky notes on the wall.
Provide estimates with confidence levels.
Use timebox iterations because the reality is that most software projects change over a lifetime.
Remember
Many schedules are accurate but not precise. Do not fall into that trap.
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