Re: Project management

Wed, 23 Jan 2013 04:00:48 -0800
Oh i'd also recommend DeMarco's book 'The Deadline', it's a sort of novel about project management, a bit like Knuth's 'Surreal Numbers', but not as bad[1]. 

G.


[1] Yeah i'm not qualified to criticise Knuth but a romance novel  
about the formation of set theory is pretty damn bad.



On 23 Jan 2013, at 11:51, Greg McCarroll wrote:





I'd also suggest finding yourself a mentor in your organization - it  
might not even be inside the IT function, my mentor was head of  
findance, and maybe have a first chat about what the various  
stakeholders (and i dont mean just the business) want to get out of  
a successful project. In my experience the best thing that scrum  
meetings/etc. bring is honesty - somethings are easy, but still take  
4 or 8 hours, somethings don't take the 2 weeks, but getting a good  
relationship between business and engineering is the key. And  
getting engineers to appreciate the project manager's role is key  
and often this comes out of being ready to be wrong with estimates,  
with a no blame culture.



It's amazing how cheap some of the best motivators are, when i was  
at a well known ISP the project manager used to make a point of  
getting me to talk to the head of customer care, because once i put  
a human face on the problem i wanted to solve it more. It was a  
cheap trick, but it worked and it's ok later her, I and another  
london.pm'er had a little date with a roll of duct tape ;-).


G.

On 23 Jan 2013, at 11:17, Dermot wrote:


Thanks Adrian. There's some really useful stuff there. Am immersing  
myself

now.
Dermot.




On 23 January 2013 10:34, Adrian Howard <adri...@quietstars.com>  
wrote:



Hey Dermot,


On 23/01/13 09:27, Dermot wrote:


Hi,


I'm pretty sure I've seen this discussed on the list before but I  
can't
(easily) find it in the archive. I was looking for a Project  
management
course or company. There are a lot of companies in London doing  
training
but I am a little sceptical about their quality. I'm not  
interested in a
certificate. I'd like to grasp a decent methodology. From what  
I've seen

that would be Agile.



Agile != methodology. Agile = broad set of principles/philosophy on

software development. Particular methods like Scrum, XP, Crystal  
are Agile.



Sorry - pet niggle. Caused by folk causing me problems by using  
Agile &

Scrum as synonyms ;-)


Does anyone want to tout a course or company. I

promise not to sue if I think they're crap :-)



1) Consider Certified Scrum Master course.


The certification itself is pretty useless as a signifier of skill  
- it

basically just means you attended a two day course - but the courses
themselves tend to be quite useful.


The trainers are certified and generally pretty good. It does cost  
more
than pocket change. However employers do take notice of CSM  
certifications

- however foolish that may be.


The two day course will get you up to speed on the basics of  
Scrum, and
usually some pointers to some technical practices that go some way  
to

helping a Scrum implementation work.

More here http://is.gd/xJea3J


What this won't give you are insights into non-Scrum methods, and  
they
tend to fuzz the Agile/Scrum/everything-else divide a bit from  
what I've

heard from some folk.


(I am not a CSM. I am not a Certified Scrum Trainer. I think Scrum  
is a

good method - but I have a long rant about the way Scrum gets

abused/misused. I also think that certification in general has  
probably

done more harm than good... but I digress...)


2) General Assembly and Skills Matters

http://skillsmatter.com/ & http://generalassemb.ly/


They both do free/cheapish courses with good presenters. Might be  
worth

dipping a toe in here.


3) Try a local agile event


I assume that you're London based. There are some great local  
Agile events

that it might be worth toddling along too and quizzing folk.

The Extreme Tuesday Club is one http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?**
ExtremeTuesdayClub <http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?ExtremeTuesdayClub>


4) Try some background reading

I still stand by this list 'o' books as good introductions
http://qr.ae/8DyB3


Also <bias="hubris">Agile training/workshops is something I do a bit
myself</bias> - drop me a line if y'like ;-)

Cheers,

Adrian



























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