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Thread: what are the essential stages in project management ?

  1. #41
    ex-Administrator brad jones's Avatar
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    Re: what are the essential stages in project management ?

    Quote Originally Posted by 2kaud View Post
    They exist to protect the guilty when the project fails so that everyone involved can state that they followed the methodology so it's not their fault.
    If done right, a methodology helps to identify the person that caused the failure and pin the fault on them..... Those that don't like methodologies are more likely the ones trying to dodge the accountability and the blame......


  2. #42
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    Re: what are the essential stages in project management ?

    Quote Originally Posted by brad jones View Post
    If done right, a methodology helps to identify the person that caused the failure and pin the fault on them..... Those that don't like methodologies are more likely the ones trying to dodge the accountability and the blame......
    Come on now, that can't be a serious thought.

    In any case this stuff was debunked as hokum years ago, by one of its archetypal pitchmen:

    Software Engineering: Dead?

    If you are still promoting this people must be laughing behind your back, hard.

  3. #43
    Super Moderator Shaggy Hiker's Avatar
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    Re: what are the essential stages in project management ?

    I'm not sure there is a totally serious answer in this entire thread, right from the start.
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  4. #44
    Fanatic Member 2kaud's Avatar
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    Re: what are the essential stages in project management ?

    Quote Originally Posted by Shaggy Hiker View Post
    I'm not sure there is a totally serious answer in this entire thread, right from the start.
    You seem surprised - were you expecting one?
    All advice is offered in good faith only. You are ultimately responsible for the effects of your programs and the integrity of the machines they run on. Anything I post, code snippets, advice, etc is licensed as Public Domain https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/

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  5. #45
    Super Moderator Shaggy Hiker's Avatar
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    Re: what are the essential stages in project management ?

    Yeah, I guess I really was. I think that this group has a certain core cynicism about project management as a buzzword. The links Dil has posted pretty well sum up my feelings about it. I'm currently more than a little annoyed at a project that with three times the developers and eight times the budget, has managed to be less productive than I have over the last seven years, now. It's a study in well-intentioned mismanagement, and as such, I've watched it with a mixture of amazement and interest...and annoyance, but that's a different matter. Skilled, motivated people who have managed their way into a swamp and are still plowing forwards against all reason.

    So, I'm watching project management gone bad. Still, I work mostly solo, and virtually without supervision, which means that management largely consists of me talking to myself. I figured that there would be people on here who came from a more structured background, and would be speaking from a more orthodox perspective. If you look at the comments posted in reply to the blog that Dil linked to a few posts back, there are plenty of people who seem to be speaking from orthodoxy. There just don't seem to be many around here.
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  6. #46
    ex-Administrator brad jones's Avatar
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    Re: what are the essential stages in project management ?

    I actually stand by the answers I gave in this thread regarding Project Management.

  7. #47
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    Re: what are the essential stages in project management ?

    I don't disregard project management at all. I just think there is an awful lot of malpractice going on, trying to do it by reading from recipe books and bibles.

  8. #48
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    Re: what are the essential stages in project management ?

    I pointed out where I was being snarky, and agree (with footnotes) with dilettante: too many people believe if they read a book, they'll be able to write a process for their team that will never change and will always work for every project.

    A good sourdough can't be made from scratch. You have to have made some bread already and left some dough aside to sit out. It absorbs microorganisms from the air and takes on a sort of funky taste based on which ones started growing. When you make sourdough, you incorporate this "starter" into your dough, then before baking leave a little bit of THAT dough aside to be the next "starter". That's what gives sourdough its flavor, and incidentally there are drastic regional differences in flavor due to differences in the native microorganisms!

    That's how a software process works. You find something that worked for someone else and implement it. That's the "starter". After some time passes, you'll figure out that some aspects of it just don't fit your team. So you look around and see if other people had those problems, and how they addressed it. You change your process and try again. That's where the little microorganisms give your process its flavor. Invariably, there will be some pain again. You identify it and try to fix it. In theory, you should get the "perfect" process after that.

    But that's only true if you're assembly-line stamping out the same software over and over again. Some shops do this. It's more likely you work on many different kinds of projects, or you work on a big one that evolves over time. That means you never stop asking, "Does my process suck?" If it does, you have to change, no matter what the books or seminars say.

    I think that last bit is what trips most people up. Most people are afraid to change their process because they worry it will get worse. If it gets worse, you can always go back to what you did before, then try a new change with your increased knowledge of what didn't work. Sometimes upper management doesn't like this kind of process churn. Sometimes people try the process for too short a time, like 3 days, and give up.

    So the right process is more like Calvinball than a sacred immutable text. That's why people disagree so much. "That guy's process didn't work for me so it's WRONG! My process worked for me so it's PERFECT! I mean, he's writing aircraft guidance software and I'm writing video games, but that's irrelevant, right?"
    This answer is wrong. You should be using TableAdapter and Dictionaries instead.

  9. #49
    Fanatic Member 2kaud's Avatar
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    Re: what are the essential stages in project management ?

    I was being snarky,
    Mea Culpa. Sorry, but I've had bad experiences with project managers using project methodologies. I now rank them (probably unfairly as a whole) below snake-oil salesmen.

    Bad joke: Why do project managers like being AGILE? So that they're the fastest at passing the buck when it all goes wrong.
    All advice is offered in good faith only. You are ultimately responsible for the effects of your programs and the integrity of the machines they run on. Anything I post, code snippets, advice, etc is licensed as Public Domain https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/

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    Re: what are the essential stages in project management ?

    Essential Stages in Project Management are as follows:-
    Project Conception & Initiation
    Project Definition & Planning
    Project Launch or Execution
    Project Performance & Control
    Project Close, etc.

  11. #51
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    Re: what are the essential stages in project management ?

    Phase 1: Collect underpants
    Phase 2: ?
    Phase 3: Profit

  12. #52
    ex-Administrator brad jones's Avatar
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    Re: what are the essential stages in project management ?

    A good project manager notes time timelines and determines their relevance in how they approach a project. For example, a project manager who inherits a 3 year old project (June 2017) would first determine if the project is still relevant to the owner of the project.....
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  13. #53
    Fanatic Member 2kaud's Avatar
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    Re: what are the essential stages in project management ?

    ...first determine who is the owner - or have you got an orphan?
    All advice is offered in good faith only. You are ultimately responsible for the effects of your programs and the integrity of the machines they run on. Anything I post, code snippets, advice, etc is licensed as Public Domain https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/

    C++23 Compiler: Microsoft VS2022 (17.6.5)

  14. #54
    Smooth Moperator techgnome's Avatar
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    Re: what are the essential stages in project management ?

    Successful project management:
    1) Determine what the goals are
    2) Determine who can get the goals done
    3) Get those people on the project
    4) Get out of the way

    -tg
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  15. #55
    ex-Administrator brad jones's Avatar
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    Re: what are the essential stages in project management ?

    Quote Originally Posted by brad jones View Post
    A good project manager notes time timelines and determines their relevance in how they approach a project. For example, a project manager who inherits a 3 year old project (June 2017) would first determine if the project is still relevant to the owner of the project.....
    I think I was too subtle in my previous comment that this thread is 3 years old and had been pretty much answered.....

    Being that the OP is banned, I'm guessing answers aren't so relevant anymore.

  16. #56
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    Re: what are the essential stages in project management ?

    1. Denial
    2. Anger
    3. Bargaining
    4. Depression
    5. Acceptance

  17. #57
    Smooth Moperator techgnome's Avatar
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    Re: what are the essential stages in project management ?

    forgot one: blame.

    -tg
    * I don't respond to private (PM) requests for help. It's not conducive to the general learning of others.*
    * I also don't respond to friend requests. Save a few bits and don't bother. I'll just end up rejecting anyways.*
    * How to get EFFECTIVE help: The Hitchhiker's Guide to Getting Help at VBF - Removing eels from your hovercraft *
    * How to Use Parameters * Create Disconnected ADO Recordset Clones * Set your VB6 ActiveX Compatibility * Get rid of those pesky VB Line Numbers * I swear I saved my data, where'd it run off to??? *

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