Hacker's Guide to Project Management

Introduction: Should I be reading this book?; So what's this all about?; What do you assume I know?; Will you tell me about short-cuts?; How does this book relate to structured methods?; What's changed in the second edition?; Success and failure: Why do software projects fail?; So how do I know if I have succeeded?; Prevention and cure; What do I have to deliver?; How do I ensure success?; The art of project management: What does a project manager do?; What are the key skills of a project manager?; How do I lead?; What if people make mistakes?; How do I build a team?; How do I make sure the team is complete?; How do I plan, report and communicate?; How do I gain management approval and confidence?; How expert do I have to be?; How do I spot problems?; Is programming important?; What do I do?; The development life-cycle: What is the Waterfall Life-cycle?; What is missing from most Waterfall methods?; How do Iterative and Incremental methods work?; How does Rapid Application Development work?; What can go wrong?; How do I choose a method?; How do I use a method?; How do I control changes?; What is the role of Prototyping?; How should I structure my project?; Structuring the development: How do you divide up a development?; How do I split the project into phases/iterations?; What are my options for team structures?; What jobs must be done?; How do I structure testing?; Planning and estimating: What are the principles of planning?; How do I complete my plan?; How do I plan the staffing of the project?; How can I present my plan?; How do I know I've got the estimates correct?; Isn't there a better way to estimate things?: How do I resist time and budget pressures?; What is the "testing trap"?; What other resources do I need?; What do I do if I'm not meeting my plan?; So how should I create my plan?; The strategy: What is the role of a strategy?; How do I make a business case?; How do I know what quality is required?; What else do we need to decide?; What is a quality plan?; What goes into a strategy report?; How do I control communications with people?; What do I deliver?; Analysis: What do they need?; How do I document requirements using Use Cases?; How does thinking about objects help?; How do I develop a Class Model?; How do I describe the business processes?; What are the "architectural requirements"?; How and why should I create a data model?; How do I document the requirements?; Which techniques should I use?; What are the risks during strategy & analysis?; What do I deliver?; Procurement- buying it in: What's a typical procurement process?; What are the different types of procurement?; How do I choose the right supplier?; How do I control the supplier?; What else do I need to check?; How do I work with an unsigned contract?; What do I deliver?; Architecture and design: Why do I need a design?; What are the properties of a good design?; What does the architect do? What goes into the design report?; How does the design relate to the analysis model?; How do I create a good design?; Why should I use patterns and antipatterns?; What are component, layer and service architectures?; How do I make my system more useable?; How do I make my system more flexible?; How do I integrate my system with others?; What are the risks during design?; What do I deliver?; Build, document and test: How do I ensure the code is good?; How do I do good testing?; What about user documentation?; What is configuration management?; Who is responsible for quality?; What are the best practices in the building stage?; What's in the project file?; What do I deliver?; The transition into use: How do I move my system into production?; How do I prepare the users?; So how do I manage this?; How do I plan for long-term support and maintenance?; What are the risks in transition stage?; How do I know when I've finished?; What do we deliver?; Production and maintenance: How do I manage a maintenance effort?; What are the right attitudes to maintenance?; What happens when someone important leaves?; How do systems die?; Success!; Further reading; Index.

Biography

Andrew K. Johnston