Antipatterns in Project Management

by William J. Brown; Hays W. Skip McCormick; Scott W. Thomas

• ISBN13: 9780471363668
• ISBN10: 0471363669
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2000-01-01
• Publisher: Wiley

Summary

Everything you need to anticipate and avoid the major pitfalls of project management-and ensure success! AntiPatterns in Project Management From the authors of the bestselling series on AntiPatterns come twenty new proven and practical solutions for successfully managing your software development project. in their familiar and entertaining style, the authors explore every phase of software development and identify the complex interaction of people, technology, and process issues that can cause a software development project to fail. With their pull-no-punches approach to project management, you'll learn how to balance these issues and ensure software development success. This book arms you with: * 6 People AntiPatterns that provide proven solutions to the people problems that occur within software development projects * 6 Technology AntiPatterns that help you deal with poor architectures and designs, and unstable technologies * 6 Processes AntiPatterns that help you uncover and correct the bad processes that ultimately cause a project to fail * The Standards AntiPattern that covers how to avoid the pitfalls and gain the benefits of adopting software development standards * The Collision AntiPattern that helps you successfully identify and eliminate multiple AntiPatterns that plague software development projects across different life-cycle phases, involving the disciplines of project management, software configuration management, and software development

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	xv
Preface	xvii
Author Biographies	xix
Executive Summary	xxi
Introduction	xxvii
Part One Introduction to Project Management and AntiPatterns	1	(34)
Project Management and AntiPatterns	3	(32)
Programmed to Fail	4	(2)
People, Technology, and Process	6	(3)
Software Development Standards	9	(4)
The Standards	13	(22)
Background	14	(1)
General Form	14	(1)
Developer Resistance	14	(1)
Selection and Tailoring of Standards	15	(1)
Implementation of Standards	16	(1)
Commitment to Standards	16	(1)
Perception of Standards (Organizational Values)	17	(1)
Symptoms and Consequences	18	(1)
Typical Causes	19	(1)
Misuse of Standards	19	(1)
Improper Selection of Standards	20	(1)
Improper Tailoring of Standards	20	(1)
Improper Implementation of Standards	21	(1)
Known Exceptions	22	(1)
Refactored Solution	22	(9)
Variations	31	(1)
Example	32	(2)
Related Solutions	34	(1)
Applicability to Other Viewpoints and Scales	34	(1)
Part Two Critical Aspects of Project Management	35	(380)
People Management AntiPatterns	37	(110)
Micro-Management	41	(20)
Background	42	(1)
General Form	42	(1)
People Management Failure	42	(3)
Technology Management Failure	45	(1)
Process Management Failure	46	(2)
Balanced Focus Failure	48	(2)
Symptoms and Consequences	50	(1)
Typical Causes	50	(1)
Known Exceptions	51	(1)
Refactored Solution	51	(1)
People Management Success	51	(2)
Technology Management Success	53	(1)
Process Management Success	53	(1)
Balanced Focus Success	54	(2)
Variations	56	(1)
Example	56	(1)
The Project	56	(1)
Process Micro-Management	57	(1)
People Micro-Management	58	(1)
Technology and People Micro-Management	59	(1)
Refactoring a Solution	59	(1)
Related Solution	59	(1)
Applicability to Other Viewpoints and Scales	60	(1)
Corporate Craziness	61	(20)
Background	62	(1)
General Form	62	(1)
Pyramid Hierarchy	62	(2)
Inverse Pyramid Hierarchy	64	(1)
One-Dimensional Hierarchy	65	(1)
Despot Hierarchy	65	(1)
Cabal Hierarchy	65	(1)
Evolutionary Hierarchy	65	(2)
Symptoms and Consequences	67	(1)
Typical Causes	68	(2)
Known Exceptions	70	(1)
Refactored Solution	70	(1)
Management Roles	70	(2)
Establishing Management Teams	72	(1)
Effective Management Hierarchies	73	(1)
Variations	74	(1)
Marketing Hierarchy	74	(1)
Revolutionary Hierarchy	75	(1)
Example	75	(2)
The Pyramid Hierarchy	77	(1)
The Marketing Pyramid and Evolutionary Hierarchies	77	(1)
The Evolutionary Marketing Pyramid and Cabal Hierarchies	77	(1)
The Evolutionary Cabal Hierarchy	78	(1)
The Normalized Hierarchy	78	(1)
Related Solutions	78	(1)
Applicability to Other Viewpoints and Scales	79	(2)
The Brawl	81	(24)
Background	82	(1)
General Form	82	(5)
The Project Manager	87	(1)
The Mismatched Project Manager	87	(1)
The Unempowered Project Manager	88	(1)
Symptoms and Consequences	88	(1)
The Project Manager	89	(1)
The Mismatched Project Manager	90	(2)
The Unempowered Project Manager	92	(1)
Typical Causes	93	(1)
The Project Manager	94	(1)
The Mismatched Project Manager	94	(1)
The Unempowered Project Manager	95	(1)
Knoen Exceptions	95	(1)
Refactored Solution	96	(1)
Leadership 101: An Introduction to Leadership Concepts	96	(4)
The Project Manager and the Mismatched Project Manager	100	(1)
The Unempowered Project Manager	100	(1)
Variations	101	(1)
Example	102	(1)
Related Solutions	103	(1)
Applicability to Other Viewpoints and Scales	103	(2)
Size Isn't Everything	105	(16)
Background	106	(1)
General Form	107	(3)
Too Many Cooks	110	(1)
Too Few Indians	110	(1)
Staffing Needs Vary over Time	111	(1)
Symptoms and Consequences	112	(1)
Typical Causes	113	(1)
Known Exceptions	113	(1)
Refactored Solution	114	(1)
Incrementally Growing the Staffing	114	(1)
Growing Staffing by Replacement	114	(1)
Variations	115	(1)
Trusted Cadre and Software Heroes	115	(1)
Warm Bodies	116	(1)
Example	116	(2)
Related Solutions	118	(1)
Applicability to Other Viewpoints and Scales	119	(2)
Chaos	121	(16)
Background	122	(1)
General Form	122	(2)
Impact of Change on the Organization	124	(1)
Impact of Change on the Individual	125	(1)
Impact of Change on the Project	126	(1)
Compression	126	(2)
Expansion	128	(1)
Symptoms and Consequences	129	(1)
Typical Causes	130	(1)
Known Exceptions	130	(1)
Refactored Solution	130	(2)
Preemptive Change Planning	132	(2)
Reactive Planning	134	(1)
Understanding Change	134	(1)
Variations	135	(1)
Example	135	(1)
Related Solutions	136	(1)
Applicability to Other Viewpoints and Scales	136	(1)
Process Disintegration	137	(10)
Background	138	(1)
General Form	139	(1)
Symptoms and Consequences	140	(1)
Typical Causes	141	(1)
Known Exceptions	142	(1)
Refactored Solution	142	(1)
Connecting People or ``Power to the People''	142	(2)
Variations	144	(1)
Example	144	(2)
Related Solutions	146	(1)
Applicability to Other Viewpoints and Scales	146	(1)
Technology Management AntiPatterns	147	(100)
Batteries Not Included	151	(16)
Background	152	(1)
General Form	152	(1)
Symptoms and Consequences	153	(1)
Typical Causes	153	(1)
Product Differentiation	154	(1)
Time to Market	154	(1)
Marketability	155	(1)
COTS Acquisition	155	(1)
Known Exceptions	155	(1)
Refactored Solution	156	(1)
Assessing COTS	156	(2)
Implementing COTS	158	(1)
Maintaining Embedded COTS	159	(2)
Variations	161	(1)
Example	161	(1)
Programming Language	161	(2)
Database	163	(2)
Related Solutions	165	(1)
Applicability to Other Viewpoints and Scales	165	(2)
Distributed Disaster	167	(16)
Background	168	(1)
General Form	168	(1)
Symptoms and Consequences	169	(1)
Typical Causes	169	(1)
Known Eceptions	170	(1)
Refactored Solution	170	(1)
Planning an Architecture	170	(6)
Controlling an Architecture	176	(1)
Variations	177	(1)
Example	178	(3)
Related Solutions	181	(1)
Applicability to Other Viewpoints and Scales	181	(2)
Gilding the Lily	183	(16)
Background	184	(1)
General Form	184	(2)
Management-Created Gilding the Lily	186	(2)
User-Created Gilding the Lily	188	(1)
Architect-Created Gilding the Lily	188	(1)
Developer-Created Gilding the Lily	189	(1)
Summary	190	(1)
Symptoms and Consequences	190	(1)
Typical Causes	191	(1)
Known Exceptions	192	(1)
Refactored Solution	193	(1)
Pressure Phase	193	(2)
Damage Control Phase	195	(1)
Variations	195	(1)
Example	196	(1)
Related Solutions	197	(1)
Applicability to Other Viewpoints and Scales	198	(1)
Wherefore Art Thou Architecture	199	(16)
Background	200	(1)
General Form	200	(1)
Symptoms and Consequences	201	(1)
Typical Causes	202	(1)
Known Exceptions	202	(1)
Refactored Solution	202	(1)
Architecture Definition	202	(2)
Architecture Management	204	(4)
Variations	208	(1)
Example	208	(5)
Related Solutions	213	(1)
Applicability to Other Viewpoints and Scales	214	(1)
Killer Demo	215	(18)
Background	216	(1)
General Form	216	(2)
Symptoms and Consequences	218	(1)
Typical Causes	218	(2)
Known Exceptions	220	(1)
Refactored Solution	220	(1)
Prevention Strategy: Isolation and ``Binning''	221	(3)
Recovery Strategy: ``Burn the Ships!''	224	(1)
Hands Off	225	(1)
Variations	225	(1)
Example	225	(1)
Demo One	225	(1)
Demo Two	226	(4)
Related Solutions	230	(1)
Applicability to Other Viewpoints and Scales	230	(3)
One-Shot Deal	233	(14)
Background	234	(1)
General Form	235	(1)
The Demo	235	(1)
The Tool	236	(1)
The Retrofit	237	(1)
Symptoms and Consequences	237	(1)
Typical Causes	238	(1)
The Demo	239	(1)
The Tool	239	(1)
The Retrofit	239	(1)
Known Exceptions	240	(1)
Refactored Solution	240	(1)
Aim Before You Shoot (Prevention)	241	(1)
Look What We Found! (Cure)	242	(1)
Variations	242	(1)
Example	243	(1)
Related Solutions	244	(1)
Applicability to Other Viewpoints and Scales	245	(2)
Process Management AntiPatterns	247	(126)
Planning 911	251	(28)
Background	253	(2)
General Form	255	(1)
Glass Case Plan	255	(1)
Detailitis Plan	255	(1)
Management Plan	255	(3)
Symptoms and Consequences	258	(1)
Glass Case Plan	258	(1)
Detailitis Plan	259	(1)
Management Plan	259	(1)
Typical Causes	260	(1)
Glass Case Plan	260	(1)
Detailitis Plan	261	(1)
Management Plan	261	(1)
Known Exceptions	261	(1)
Refactored Solution	261	(1)
Glass Case and Detailitis Plans	262	(11)
Management Plan	273	(1)
Variations	273	(1)
Example	273	(1)
Glass Case Plan	274	(1)
Detailitis Plan	275	(1)
Management Plan	276	(1)
Related Solutions	276	(1)
Applicability to Other Viewpoints and Scales	277	(2)
Lifecycle Malpractice	279	(24)
Background	280	(1)
General Form	280	(1)
Waterfall Lifecycle	281	(1)
Sashimi Lifecycle	282	(1)
Waterfall Subprojects Lifecycle	283	(2)
Staged Delivery Lifecycle	285	(1)
Code and Fix Lifecycle	285	(1)
Spiral Lifecycle	285	(2)
Controlled Iteration Lifecycle	287	(2)
Evolutionary Prototyping Lifecycle	289	(1)
Evolutionary Delivery Lifecycle	290	(1)
Symptoms and Consequences	291	(1)
Typical Causes	291	(1)
Known Exceptions	292	(1)
Refactored Solution	292	(1)
Identify the Best-Suited Individual Lifecycles	293	(1)
Apply Localized Refactoring to Optimize the Lifecycles	294	(1)
Identify Common Phase Processes	295	(1)
Produce a Superset Lifecycle to Understand the Points of Convergence and Divergence	296	(1)
Variations	297	(1)
Example	297	(4)
Related Solutions	301	(1)
Applicability to Other Viewpoints and Scales	301	(2)
The Customer	303	(16)
Background	304	(1)
General Form	305	(2)
Symptoms and Consequences	307	(2)
Typical Causes	309	(1)
Known Exceptions	310	(1)
Refactored Solution	310	(4)
Variations	314	(1)
Example	314	(3)
Related Solutions	317	(1)
Applicability to Other Viewpoints and Scales	317	(2)
One Size Fits All	319	(18)
Background	320	(1)
General Form	320	(2)
Symptoms and Consequences	322	(1)
Typical Causes	323	(1)
Known Exceptions	324	(1)
Refactored Solution	324	(1)
Identify the Nature of the Software Developments	324	(1)
Identify the Candidate Software Development Lifecycles	325	(3)
Identify the Best-Fit Software Development Lifecycles	328	(1)
Variations	329	(2)
Example	331	(3)
Related Solutions	334	(2)
Applicabuility to Other Viewpoints and Scales	336	(1)
The Domino Effect	337	(18)
Background	338	(1)
General Form	339	(1)
Symptoms and Consequences	340	(1)
Typical Causes	341	(1)
Known Exceptions	342	(1)
Refactored Solution	343	(1)
Prevention Strategies	343	(4)
Recovery Strategies	347	(2)
Variations	349	(2)
Example	351	(1)
Related Solutions	352	(1)
Applicability to Other Viewpoints and Scales	352	(3)
Myopic Delivery	355	(18)
Background	356	(1)
General Form	356	(5)
Symptoms and Consequences	361	(1)
Typical Causes	362	(1)
Known Exceptions	363	(1)
Refactored Solution	363	(1)
The Beginning	363	(1)
The Middle (Swamp Effect)	364	(1)
The End	364	(1)
Variations	365	(1)
Example	366	(1)
Delivery Minus Nine Months	366	(1)
Delivery Minus Eight Months	367	(1)
Delivery Minus Seven and a Half Months	367	(1)
Delivery Minus Six Months	367	(1)
Delivery Minus Five Months	368	(1)
Delivery Minus Four Months	368	(1)
Delivery Minus Twelve Weeks	369	(1)
Delivery Minus Eleven Weeks	369	(1)
Delivery Minus Ten Weeks	369	(1)
Delivery Minus Nine Weeks	369	(1)
Delivery Minus Eight Weeks	370	(1)
Delivery Minus Four Weeks	370	(1)
Delivery Minus Three Weeks	370	(1)
Delivery Plus Five Weeks	370	(1)
Related Solutions	370	(1)
Applicability to Other Viewpoints and Scales	371	(2)
AntiPattern Collisions	373	(42)
AntiPattern Collision	375	(40)
Background	376	(1)
General Form	377	(1)
Software Development AntiPatterns	378	(4)
Software Configuration Management AntiPatterns	382	(5)
Project Management AntiPatterns	387	(4)
AntiPattern Perspectives	391	(2)
Symptoms and Consequences	393	(1)
Corporate Symptoms and Consequences	393	(1)
Horizontal Symptoms and Consequences	393	(2)
Typical Causes	395	(4)
Corporate Causes	399	(1)
Known Exceptions	399	(1)
Refactored Solution	399	(1)
Single Project	400	(4)
Related Projects	404	(3)
Example	407	(2)
Software Concept	409	(1)
Requirements Analysis	409	(1)
Architectural Design	410	(1)
Detailed Design	410	(1)
Coding and Debugging	411	(1)
Software Testing	412	(1)
Project Review	413	(1)
Related Solutions	413	(1)
Applicability to Other Viewpoints and Scales	414	(1)
Part Three Conclusions and Resources	415	(2)
Appendix A Project Management Best Practices	417	(16)
Appendix B AntiPattern Synopsis	433	(8)
Appendix C AntiPatterns Cross-Reference	441	(6)
Bibliography	447	(4)
Index	451