Why doesn't Moore's Law apply to software development? If it did, every 18 months or so applications would be twice as fast and/or be built in half the time. The reason Moore's Law or any ordered progression of improvement doesn't apply to software development is very few people are working on intellectually improving it and almost no one is applying the results of intellectual studies to it.

For instance, Steve McConnell's Code Complete, Second Edition presents some very reasonable principles. But as I go through it now, I wonder if any manager has read it, and if so, why none of its ideas are being applied.

Discover more at: http://www.developer.com/mgmt/article.php/3552736

As an executive level manager accountable for a portfolio of projects, you may be at an arms length from the tactical management of your key initiatives. You are trusting the Project Manager to ensure the project is delivered on time, on budget, and with all the requirements fully met. Your PM may be a certified PMP, but passing the test doesn’t automatically translate into successful leadership. In watching the PM work with the team, you should get a comfort level if you hear the following statements.

10. “Bad news does not get better with time”
Early warning on projects drives successful projects. By raising the awareness of a problem early, the team has an opportunity to methodically address the issue, before it forces them into crisis mode. Not raising the issue early causes a double whammy: 1) The problem usually gets worse with time, and 2) the team has less time in the project schedule to recover.

9. “Let me check the project plan to understand the ripple effect of this issue”
A good PM does not just create a detailed project plan, but uses it as his guide. I am continually amazed at the number of PM’s who use the project plan more as a checklist, rather than a planning tool. As changes or issues arise, a good PM will use the plan to identify areas of concern down the line, and then consult appropriate team members for mitigation steps.

Learn the other eight at: http://www.chiefprojectofficer.com/article/129

If you've been a regular reader of the Journyx Journal for any length of time you might have noticed the information down at the bottom of previous editions that talked about the Journyx RSS feed. Well, the feed itself and the "blog" that it comes from have been so successful that we're breaking them out on their own, kind of like a tv spinoff.

That means that from this moment on you can see the contents of this newsletter, as well as more frequent updates and information, at the new and improved Journyx Project Management Blog. At least three times a week we update you with news about Journyx, interesting developments in the world of project management and links to articles and opinion pieces on business in the 21st Century. So if you'd like to keep tabs on what we're up to and what's going on in the world, check out the new site and see what's happening.

Tune in to the "new" blog and RSS feed at: http://project-management-blog.com

And if you're unsure on what this RSS stuff is all about, take a look at: http://www.journyx.com/rss/redir/nytrss.html

This article is about the under-discussed use and misuse of security technology, use and misuse of statistics software, and use and misuse of people in projects that use project management applications. These matters can be at the heart of why some projects fail, just as easily as those other matters more commonly examined in palimpsests on the art of project management.

Today, relatively low-cost, trusted, security technology is readily available and easy to use. At the same time, powerful statistical tools that can be used to analyze situations under risk - often very effectively - by individuals with little or no understanding of the advanced statistics or decision theory upon which these tools are based are available. And, with business globalization, people (distributed project-team members) have become, to a much greater extent, a fungible resource.

More for your consideration at: http://www.journyx.com/rss/redir/developer-pmissues.html

The BusinessEdge has published the third in Journyx CEO Curt Finch's three-part series, "How Corporate IT Departments are Doing More with Less." See what Curt has to say on how you can fix problems with profitability leaks and cost overruns before it's too late.

Get ahead of the game at: http://www.journyx.com/rss/redir/bedge-finch3.html

Work today is more demanding than ever before. The world of work is forever changed, with no signs that it will ever go back to the way it was.

The bottom-line orientation required for budget-constrained organizations is the new way of life. The forever increasing need for output without a proportionate increase in manpower is driving shareholders, executives, and managers to demand more, both from those who work for them as well as from themselves.

Everyone is affected, as the burden falls on you, the people you manage, the people who manage you, your customers, their customers, and the employees and managers at all those places. Everyone is in the same situation with the work mantra of today: Do More With Less. People throughout the ranks are getting worn down and it involves everyone.

Add 'em up at: http://www.journyx.com/rss/redir/darwinmag-sevenrules.html

• How can I automate leave requests and scheduled time off?
• How can I view my dropdown selection menus when entering time for a long period (i.e., Monthly Timesheet)?

These tips and more at: http://www.journyx.com/rss/support/tips/tiparchive.html

Convene the elite of your company for a world-changing project, and you have a virtuoso team. Talent, energy, ambition, intensity, ego, risk—these teams have it all in spades. And they play by a different set of rules. In this month's Harvard Business Review, co-authors Bill Fischer and Andy Boynton discuss their study of virtuoso teams in 20 top companies. Boynton, the dean of Boston College's Carroll School of Management, told Computerworld's Kathleen Melymuka that at this level, there's no room for nice.

Check out the Q&A with study co-author Boynton at:
http://www.computerworld.com/managementtopics/management/project/story/0,10801,103697,00.html

The BusinessEdge has published the third in Journyx CEO Curt Finch's three-part series, How Corporate IT Departments are Doing More with Less. Check out How to spot profitability leaks and cost overruns in IT projects before your peers – and then fix them.

You have probably heard the statistic that 70 percent of IT projects are out of control, over budget or broken. Our surveys disagree. Now, I know I’ve seen this statistic show up in several articles. Intuitively, that number doesn’t sound unrealistic to me, even though it is a frustratingly bad number.

If you have 1,000 people doing hundreds of projects with a $100 million budget, and 12 percent of their work is a waste of time, that’s $12 million a year wasted, right? That’s bad. It’s not nearly as bad, however, as the 70 percent failure rate other companies are experiencing based on the above statistic. Somewhere between 12 and 70 percent of IT workers are wasting money, time – even their life’s work. Life is short enough. Let’s not waste it, right?

Read more at: http://businessedge.michcpa.org/issue/article.aspx?i=v2n21&a=142&s=MI

Many organizations are starting to look at their entire suite of projects as one or more large portfolios of work. Managing work as a portfolio allows managers to see how all projects past and present are related. In other words, managers can see how changes in schedule and budget in one project have a corresponding impact on other projects being executed today, as well as projects that are scheduled to be executed in the future.

When your organization decides to take a look at portfolio management, a fundamental question arises as to whether you have enough expertise in-house or whether you will need to find some outside help to assist. Many companies chose to go it alone, with varying degrees of success. Many companies chose to bring in one or more consultants to help – again with varying degrees of success. There is no absolute right or wrong way to go. However, if your own organization does not have the know-how to establish portfolios on your own, it makes sense that a more knowledgeable party can put you on the right track.

Read more at: http://www.chiefprojectofficer.com/article/116

U.S. businesses next year are expected to increase spending by 5.5 percent, with some of the additional money going to a renewed focus on application development and integration, a research firm said Wednesday.

...

“Despite the spending increase, the message to IT managers is clear: you must continue to improve the efficiency of established IT investment areas if you want to fund substantial growth in IT or add IT professionals to the workforce,” Gartner analyst Barbara Gomolski said in a statement.

Read more at: http://www.messagingpipeline.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleId=172300790

Journyx CEO Curt Finch talks about using the data you can gather from time tracking software like Journyx Timesheet (and others, of course) to reduce risks and increase profitability in this article at AccountingSoftware411.com

Project management data - which is obtained from time tracking information - is often an area that could be improved in many companies. Recent studies have shown that cost reductions of 6.5 percent are common from improvements in tracking time from the project management area alone. This compares with improvements of about 5 percent for billing automation or 1 percent for payroll automation.

Time tracking data (payroll, billing, project management, and strategy) can be used to improve project management in the areas of...

Read more at: http://www.accountingsoftware411.com/AcctSoftware.nsf/00/pr22D482665570BB9A862570840019C5E6

Our AdPM approach is a little different. We don't just start work the moment the project sponsor or client mentions some vague mission statement mush. That would be foolish, yet project managers do it all the time. A little story may help.

Imagine that you work at the drive-thru window of a fast food joint. A customer drives up and says, "I'm hungry."

Would you launch into a frenzy of hamburger flipping and taco rolling? Most assuredly not, you'd ask some questions because the answers to them would substantially improve your chances of satisfying the customer. Our AdPMT approach has the same focus. We spend a lot of time asking questions, structuring the project, detailing accountabilities and making clear the achievements (measured achievements) that we expect from everyone.

Read more at: http://www.4pm.com/articles/broadbrush.html

Around the Project Manager's Control Tower, the distinction between activities and achievements is an important one. Activities are the means to an end, achievements are the desired end result. PMs who can drive projects from an achievement perspective versus an activity perspective have some notable advantages. Before listing these advantages, let's make sure the differences between assigning activities and achievements are clear.

Example #1: Assignment to a Teenager
Activity: "Clean up your room!"
Achievement: "Put all of the empty soda cans in the trash can."

With the first assignment, all we've done is tell the child to perform an activity: cleaning up the room. Odds are that the work will not live up to our standards when the child reports the task as finished. It's even possible, though highly unlikely, that the child will do too much work, exceeding our standards. The key flaw in an activity assignment is that we do not create a clear performance expectation. As a result, we cannot gain commitment to the assignment, nor can we reasonably dole out consequences for good or bad performance. Aside from some vague and arguable expectations about what a "clean room" is, there is no performance standard to measure against.

Read more at: http://www.4pm.com/articles/achvsact.html

The IT project was a success. It was on time and on budget, and it did what it was supposed to. The only problem: The customer wasn't happy. The project manager had provided written weekly status reports, just as the customer had requested, but he had missed the crucial second step: asking for feedback. The project manager learned too late that you can never assume you know what a customer is thinking -- you have to ask. Because he failed to do that, the customer was resentful, says Naomi Karten, a principal at Randolph, Mass.-based training and consulting firm Karten Associates. "The information [the customer] was given didn't mesh with what he was looking for, [but] he didn't take any steps to ask for what he really wanted," she observes.

Welcome to a world where even successful IT projects can be deemed failures if the customer expected something other than what IT delivered. To survive and prosper, you have to learn how to manage what customers expect.

Read more at:
http://www.computerworld.com/managementtopics/management/project/story/0,10801,104038,00.html

The unstoppable Curt Finch, CEO of Journyx, weighs in on the once and future king, software as a service (aka ASP) in this article at ChiefProjectOfficer.com.

When the Internet burst upon the scene in the early 1990's, the concept of software as a service (SAAS) seemed an idea whose time had come. It got hyped along with everything else about the internet and reached a massive peak of inflated expectations in early 2000 as venture capitalists funded dozens of nearly identical companies that provided various SAAS solutions. As venture funding dried up in mid 2000, the cracks in the SAAS model began to appear. The business plans assumed zero customer attrition, an uncompetitive landscape and IPO's in the absence of revenue. Disillusionment set in and 99 percent of those companies are no longer around. However, the strong did survive, and now, due to the success of companies like Salesforce.com and Rightnow.com, SAAS is back.

Read more at: http://www.chiefprojectofficer.com/article/142

By paying attention to the time spent in the requirements and specifications phases, and correlating estimates to timesheet data, you can more accurately predict and track overall project length. If more companies did, fewer undoable projects would ever start.

Have you ever worked in a place where 10 percent of 10 projects got done instead of 100 percent of one project? Ultimately, nothing is accomplished and everyone is totally stressed out. Inaccurate estimates cause over-commitment of time, yet not much gets done. Inaccurate estimates also cause bad decisions. "Inaccurate" usually means "too low." When this happens, the return on investment (ROI) calculation shows the project as 'worth it' when it is not.

Read more at: http://www.projectsatwork.com/content/articles/226867.cfm

Journyx Inc. introduced Version 7 of its Timesheet system. New features for the Web-based timesheet and expense management system include a workflow mechanism for adding users and projects, according to Austin-based Journyx. Timesheet 7.0, which runs on Linux, Windows, IBM's AIX and Sun Solaris, is priced from $100 to $200 per user for a permanent license, or $8 to $10 per month per user under an application service provider model.

Read more at:
http://www.computerworld.com/softwaretopics/software/story/0,10801,104316,00.html

Outsourcing decisions are never easy. You must decide if the requisite talent exists within the organization, and then, if you reallocate this talent to a new project, decide if you can live without the resource's previous function that is no longer being executed elsewhere in the organization. Outsourcing is also an emotional decision because of the perception that project management (PM) support should come from within your organization. So consider these thoughts and then make your own informed decision.

Read more at: http://www.chiefprojectofficer.com/article/112

Project managers are typically task-oriented people with a strong sense of urgency and a keen focus on getting started and finishing. Not too surprisingly, the inclination of most PMs is to skip strategic project planning and start work.

The Activity Trap
Instead of thinking strategically to define the measurable results the project should achieve, the PM and her sponsor usually focus on the bells and whistles of the project's tasks. This is the activity trap, and it is an evil thing. When a PM dives head first into the gunk of the activity trap, the project planning takes the form of horse-trading. "Okay, if you can add your favorite task, then I get to add mine!" Most importantly, no one has agreed on what the project will achieve. After the project starts, tasks can change at the drop of a hat because there is no clear vision of the end result; everyone has their own idea. The project's scope and budget expand wildly as tasks are added because they sound like they should be part of the effort. The inevitable budget cutting is equally senseless. The thousands of decisions that people make during a project are not channeled toward a clear, measured result. The project manager doesn't find out about this desired strategic result until the project is almost finished and the stakeholders are unhappy.

Read more at: http://www.4pm.com/articles/projplan.html

Just in case you haven't been watching the Journyx website's front page like a hawk ever since the last newsletter, waiting for word that Timesheet 7.0 has been officially released to our adoring public, let me be the first to tell you... Timesheet 7.0 is now available!

That's right, the long-awaited day has come. Timesheet 7.0, with all its new geegaws and hoozits and whatnots is now ready for you, our loyal customers. So stop wondering how you'll fill that "I need a new version of Timesheet" void that's been gnawing at your soul and swing on by the Journyx website to see what we've got waiting for you.

Get the good stuff at: http://www.journyx.com/rss/products/timesheet/70features.html

So you're managing people and projects around the world. It's not easy, and it seems to be the norm these days. I've worked with global projects for the past 15 years, and here are three of my tips to making them successful.

#1 Define Clear, System-Based Milestones One of the biggest problems with global projects is knowing who depends on what piece. Sometimes pieces of the system are interrelated, without the project manager understanding how. If you and your project team define clear handoffs that are based on pieces of the system under development, you have a much better chance of knowing if you're all on schedule or not."

Learn more, o ye globetrotter, at: http://www.journyx.com/rss/redir/cworld-globetips.html

In honor of the release of the stunningly easy-to-use new Timesheet 7.0, we're forgoing tips this month. But don't worry - they'll be back next month to give new insights into the power and majesty of Timesheet.

Meanwhile, if the idea of life without tips is just too much to bear, we're happy to point you towards the Tip Archive at the Journyx website, where all your favorite hits from yesterday live on. So feel free to take a few minutes to browse and relive the good ol' days with these golden oldies.

Browse our back catalog of tips at: http://www.journyx.com/rss/support/tips/tiparchive.html

No one at Journyx ever likes to think about customers having problems with Timesheet - we pride ourselves on making sure it is the easiest to use and most reliable time and expense application on planet earth. But just in case something goes wrong, just in case a customer comes across a place where they need help, Journyx keeps a well-trained cadre of support ninjas locked away in a dark room, ready to be unleashed at a moment's notice to get things working right again.

The services of the support ninjas are available to everyone, even to our beloved "10 free" customers. But, since the care and feeding of support ninjas does impact our bottom line, we do have to prioritize their services. And one of the best ways to make sure you're at the top of the line for the ninjas' attention is to have a current maintenance contract with Journyx. With one of those on file you'll be certain to be among the first to feel the power of the support ninjas should you ever need it.

Oh, and lest you think that the attention of the support ninjas is the only benefit you receive with a Journyx maintenance contract, allow me to note that paid maintenance customers also get free access to the latest patch level as well as any new minor releases. But wait, there's more... you also receive a 50% discount on any new major releases you purchase. New major releases like the aforementioned Timesheet 7.0.

You read that right... 50% off of Timesheet 7.0 is yours if your have a maintenance contract with Journyx. And if you act fast and order or renew your maintenance contract now, I'd bet you a dollar that you'll get that 50% discount, too.

Get covered at: http://www.journyx.com/rss/support/maintenancecontracts.html

"Some of the most practical management and leadership lessons come to us everyday. We may not regard them as such but they are presenting fundamentals in both personal and organizational development.

Where can you find these lessons? In the sports pages of your daily newspaper or on the screens of your favorite sports shows. Everyday you will find stories about athletes who push themselves to the limits to achieve stardom or just the opposite, athletes with plenty of raw talent but no brains, nor sense of restraint so they end up frittering their gifts away through drink, drugs or sheer laziness.

You will also find stories of coaches who set the right example for their teams by setting standards for athletics and teaching to those standards. And on the professional side you will see stories of owners who build organizations designed to put coaches and players first so that the team wins. And of course you will find stories of owners who care only about polishing their egos at the expense of everyone else. Taken together these stories provide valuable insights into character, motive, energy and commitment."

Check the box score at: http://www.journyx.com/rss/redir/darwinmag-sports.html

Wikipedia says:

"The Zeigarnik effect states that people remember uncompleted or interrupted tasks better than completed ones. Russian psychologist Bluma Zeigarnik first studied the phenomenon after noticing that waiters seemed to remember orders only so long as the order was in the process of being served."

Apparently you can game the Zeigarnik Effect for more effective studying, employ it to goose your direct marketing plan, or just consider it as one excellent explanation for the allure of multi-tasking.

In any case, it's a fascinating idea and sure would account for why it feels so worthwhile to "close the loop" whenever you can.

Read more at: http://www.43folders.com/2005/09/incomplete_task.html

If you ask the leaders of any organization, they will probably agree that they strive to perform effectively and efficiently. Agreeing on the goal isn't difficult. How to get to the goal, however, can be tricky. Executives face myriad dilemmas: How can we grow revenues while reduce spending? What steps must we take to optimize efficiency and productivity to better serve our customers? Do we have the right people in place to achieve our organizational goals? Have we implemented a program to help build accountable and competent leaders within the organization? Do our customers feel as though we are helping them to solve their most critical issues?

Learn more at: http://www.chiefprojectofficer.com/article/125

The security job market is experiencing a classic case of supply versus demand. As an increasing number of certified security professionals browse the want ads, the pay for such positions is decreasing. As a result, competition is tougher. One way to get your resume noticed - and move up the security career ladder - is to hone your project management skills, experts say.

Project management skills, such as value and risk analysis, relationship management and communications, can make all the difference. 'They help me to align business needs with security needs,' said Tom Bowers, a manager of security operations at a pharmaceutical company. 'They bridge a lot of the gaps from a security standpoint. I can literally go to our drug research folks and we can talk the same language.' Bowers holds several certifications including the Certified Information Systems Security Professional and the Project Management Professional.

Learn more at: http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/originalContent/0,289142,sid14_gci1117462,00.html

Lunch at Don Giovanni's with Phillip. He's amped. We haven't even seen our waiter and he's already cleared the table and is scribbling furiously on the white paper table cloth.

"See, we needed to speed up our release cycle which is, of course, insane, but we figured out a way! We call it Train releases. We've got four releases going at the same time and a train leaves the station every month. If a feature is ready to go, it gets on the train and if it's not, it waits for the next train. We've already released two trains in six weeks!"

I nod watching the scribbles become increasingly incoherent. I'd buy Phillip a nice glass of Chianti to take the edge off, but he's a Mormon, so I try the truth.

"Phil, you're screwed twice. First, you're screwed because you're going to need, at least, twice the staff to qualify these ever increasing releases and you're a start-up. You've got one QA guy and if he hasn't blown a fuse yet, just wait a month. Second, and most important, you've got no downtime. You've got no time to design because everyone is going to be panicked about which train they're supposed to be riding."

"Phil, in order to create, you've got to think."

Read more at: http://www.randsinrepose.com/archives/2005/08/30/taking_time_to_think.html

As project clients and management become more sophisticated in the practice of project management, the focus is shifting to the front-end of the project management cycle, namely choosing the 'right' projects and giving them the 'right' priority. We see a need for both a decision making model and a prioritization model. First, we choose the correct projects, and then we prioritize them objectively relative to other projects. Next, we register the approved and prioritized projects as part of the portfolio mix, and finally properly activate and manage them. This is Project Portfolio Management - a method of organizing requests and managing work within a strategic context, with specific and measurable parameters, applying the project management discipline to meet corporate objectives.

Read more at: http://www.chiefprojectofficer.com/article/122