Red Rock Research - Software Development Best Practices

Red Rock Research - Software Development Best Practiceshttp://www.RedRockResearch.comRed Rock Research offers software development best practices training and services.en-us5<br>Tue, 07 Sep 2010 12:34:30 GMTRed Rock Researchhttp://redrockresearch.org/?p=1This is my first post for RRR. I’ve started this site because I feel like it’s time to start giving back to the IT community. Lots of the information found on these pages I wish were made available to me years ago. Probably there are software development managers out there just starting out that are [...]http://redrockresearch.org/?p=1Optimizing Corporate Portfolio Managementhttp://redrockresearch.org/?p=3I just bought a new book on Portfolio Management called Optimizing Corporate Portfolio Management: Aligning Investment Proposals with Organizational Strategy, by Anand Sanwal (Wiley Press). To my amazement, the forward commentary is by Gary Crittenden, a long-time friend of mine. Gary and I lived near eachother in Munich, Germany years ago. I believe my girlfriend at [...]http://redrockresearch.org/?p=3What is Software Portfolio Management?http://redrockresearch.org/?p=4What is Software Portfolio Management, or SPM? They never taught us about this in college. This is when you are reading your email in the morning from an unhappy customer who wants new feature X when suddenly your phone rings and the VP of Sales wants to know when you will have an install ready [...]http://redrockresearch.org/?p=4Why should Corporate Strategy be important to us in Development?http://redrockresearch.org/?p=5We code, right!? We code, and play Warcraft. Why should we know or care about corporate strategy? Well, the answer is that most programmers probably don’t really know what their organization’s corporate strategy is. If you do, you likely have an outstanding manager who has learned that part of their responsibility as a manager is to communicate [...]http://redrockresearch.org/?p=5Corporate Strategy Planning Simplifiedhttp://redrockresearch.org/?p=6What is Corporate Strategy and how do we deconstruct it? Corporate Strategy can be simplified into two drivers: Top-line and Bottom-line. Top line is your gross revenue, and bottom line is what it costs you to obtain that gross revenue. Think about these as numerator and denominator drivers. Together they make a formula that looks something like: Yield(Investment) x Market [...]http://redrockresearch.org/?p=6The Role of the Development Managerhttp://redrockresearch.org/?p=7I remember my grandmother explaining what it was like to teach grade-school. She said to be a good teacher, you had to be part teacher, part nurse, part referee, part coach, part police officer, part mother, and part collections agent. Fortunately, software development management requires a smaller skill-set. Software Development Managers really have four areas of responsibility. These [...]http://redrockresearch.org/?p=7Improving Accountability Within your Development Departmenthttp://redrockresearch.org/?p=8Many Software Development Managers find their way into the “coveted” position from atrition after being a development team lead, or senior architect. Having a technical background is an obvious advantage in terms of understanding the complexity dynamics the team deals with. One big reality, however, is that these vast technical skills are only a subset of what is required to become a great manager, [...]http://redrockresearch.org/?p=8To Gantt or not to Gantt? That is the question!http://redrockresearch.org/?p=11A curious experience is looking on Microsoft’s Project Template website for ‘Software Development Project Plan Templates.’ With Microsoft being a software development company and Project being what it is, you would think there would be many software development templates–some for Waterfall, some for SCRUM, some for XP, some for Crystal, etc. I found only two. Both [...]http://redrockresearch.org/?p=11Agile Development and Government Contractshttp://redrockresearch.org/?p=12So I attended our SLC-based agile development forum yesterday. Alistair Cockburn was there, along with some other associates from around the valley. We discussed various successes and challenges with using the Agile Development Model for software development. One particular topic that became a main discussion point was how to get government agencies to accept Agile Development [...]http://redrockresearch.org/?p=12Book Review: Blinkhttp://redrockresearch.org/?p=14Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, by Malcolm Gladwell, is an inspiring book that encourages us to “trust” ourselves and our intuition. Gladwell talks about several interesting documented situations where seemingly factual information purported to suggest one reality, but an intervening expert just “knew” something wasn’t right and–with further research–was able to bring the real [...]http://redrockresearch.org/?p=14Book Review: The Tipping Pointhttp://redrockresearch.org/?p=15The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference, by Malcolm Gladwell, is an insightful book that discusses factors that cause market surge. Gladwell points out the two phenomenons that seem to primarily be market catalyst factors: One high-profile, highly-connected individual’s public endorsement A critical-mass buildup of interest Gladwell suggests people like Oprah Winfrey can have great [...]http://redrockresearch.org/?p=15Book Review: The Five Dysfunctions of a TEAMhttp://redrockresearch.org/?p=16In The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable, written by Patrick Lencioni, he discusses–well, five dysfunctions of a team. Lencioni’s style with his books seem to be a sort of fable-story-type narrative in the first part, and then real meat in the latter part. I have to confess I skipped about half of the fable stuff, [...]http://redrockresearch.org/?p=16Book Review: Optimizing Corporate Portfolio Managementhttp://redrockresearch.org/?p=17I finished reading Optimizing Corporate Portfolio Management: Aligning Investment Proposals with Organizational Strategy, by Anad Sanwal. I mentioned in a previous post that this book’s forward was written by Gary L. Crittenden, CFO of CitiCorp, and a friend of mine. In his detailing of the evolution of Corporate Portfolio Management at American Express, Sanwal makes a [...]http://redrockresearch.org/?p=17Book Review: Integrating Agile Development in the Real Worldhttp://redrockresearch.org/?p=18Hooray, another book on Agile Development! In Integrating Agile Development in the Real World, Peter Schuh explains in depth how to get your team to adopt the Agile Development Model. Schuh covers several Agile Metholodogies including the problems to watch out for during the process. I do have to say, this book seemed like a “whole bunch of everything” and so [...]http://redrockresearch.org/?p=18Book Review: How to Talk to Anyone, Anytime, Anywherehttp://redrockresearch.org/?p=19How to Talk to Anyone, Anytime, Anywhere: The Secrets of Good Communication, by Larry King, is a fun, short book to read. Larry did a service to the public by writing this book and elaborating on some guiding principles that have helped him succeed in his career of–well, talking. Novel among his concepts is the premise that [...]http://redrockresearch.org/?p=19Book Review: Secrets of Great Rainmakershttp://redrockresearch.org/?p=20Secrets of Great Rainmakers: The Keys to Success and Wealth is short sales book by Jeffrey J. Fox. They say in life that we are all sales-persons, so books like this are good to read every so often. Fox’s book is rare in that he has interviewed many “rainmakers” and taken their personal philosophies and stories and [...]http://redrockresearch.org/?p=20Book Review: Value Innovation Portfolio Managementhttp://redrockresearch.org/?p=13I Just finished reading Value Innovation Portfolio Management: Achieving Double-digit Growth Through Customer Value, by Sheila Mello, Wayne Mackey, Ronald Lasser, and Richard Tait. This book discusses implementing corporate project portfolio management by focusing on insight gained from your customers as to what they value. I like this because I agree with their premise. They call [...]http://redrockresearch.org/?p=13Book Review: Execution - The Discipline of Getting Things Donehttp://redrockresearch.org/?p=21I just finished reading Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done, by Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan. This is an excellent book that examins the dynamics of making things happen inside of a corporation. Bossidy and Charan make a case for needing the right people, the right strategy, and the right operations in place to successfully grow [...]http://redrockresearch.org/?p=21Book Review: Freakonomicshttp://redrockresearch.org/?p=22I just read Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything, by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner. This New York Times bestseller is an analytical exploration into social cause and affect. Using analytics, Levitt shows how he was able to detect administrative cheating in the Chicago school districts, prove that sumo-wrestling is fixed, [...]http://redrockresearch.org/?p=22Book Review: Confessions of an UnManagerhttp://redrockresearch.org/?p=23Recently I read Debra Boggan & Anna VerSteeg’s book titled Confessions Of An Unmanager: Ten Steps To Jump Start Company Performance By Getting Others To Accept Accountability. This is an interesting book that speaks to the great “divide” in corporate America. The divide, they say, is the distinction between how management conducts themselves in relation to their teams [...]http://redrockresearch.org/?p=23Book Review: Winninghttp://redrockresearch.org/?p=24Jack Welch, together with is wife Suzy, have a Wall Street Journal and New York Times bestseller with their book titled Winning. Following Jack Welch’s direct, no-holds-barred style, he presents quite plainly the road-map to successful management. He talks about constructing corporate values and effective mission statements. He talks about the importance of candor, respect, and effective reward-systems. He continues [...]http://redrockresearch.org/?p=24Book Review: The First-Time Manager - 5th Editionhttp://redrockresearch.org/?p=25The First-time Manager, 5th Edition, by Loren B. Belker and Gary S. Topchick is an excellent book on management. Although it has been titled for “The First Time Manager,” there are enough gold nuggets in this book for seasoned managers as well. Now, in it’s 5th edition, you can be assured it has been refined and reality-tested. Belker and Topchick [...]http://redrockresearch.org/?p=25Book Review: Product Development for the Lean Enterprisehttp://redrockresearch.org/?p=26I finished reading Product Development for the Lean Enterprise: Why Toyota’s System Is Four Times More Productive and How You Can Implement It, by Michael N. Kennedy. This book explains why Toyota’s internal product development process has enabled them to surpass the Detroit auto manufacturers production in both volume and quality. If you haven’t heard already, Toyota now [...]http://redrockresearch.org/?p=26Book Review: Resultshttp://redrockresearch.org/?p=27I finished reading Results: Keep What’s Good, Fix What’s Wrong, and Unlock Great Performance, by Gary L. Neilson and Bruce A. Pasternack. I have to admit this book seemed much like many of the other “improving business performance” books that I have read, except that this book kept me confused through most of it. The authors discuss [...]http://redrockresearch.org/?p=27Book Review: The No AssHole Rulehttp://redrockresearch.org/?p=28Despite it’s brash title, Dr. Robert I. Sutton’s book, The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn’t, is a valuable text that effectively treads where few business authors have treaded before. Sutton makes a case for the need for insight and direction in handling Bullies, Creeps, Jerks, Tyrants, Tormentors, Despots, Backstabbers, Egomaniacs, [...]http://redrockresearch.org/?p=28Book Review: The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadershiphttp://redrockresearch.org/?p=29With a forward by Zig Ziglar, John C. Maxwell’s book titled The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership is an assured home run. Maxwell breaks down leadership into 21 categories. He then goes to great lengths to explain each category and give real world examples. He describes the progression of leadership by highlighting great leaders who have created momentum in others around them. For example, he explains [...]http://redrockresearch.org/?p=29Book Review: Good To Greathttp://redrockresearch.org/?p=30I just finished reading Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap… and Others Don’t, by Jim Collins. This #1 bestseller is the best business development book I have ever read. In fact–I would even say–I can recommend it with every fiber of my being. Collins takes a team of 20 graduate students from the [...]http://redrockresearch.org/?p=30Book Review: Reinventing Strategyhttp://redrockresearch.org/?p=31I just finished reading Willie Pietersen’s book, Reinventing Strategy: Using Strategic Learning to Create and Sustain Breakthrough Performance. Pietersen first sets the stage for the rest of the book by underscoring the need for organizations to be adaptable. He paraphrases Charles Darwin, concluding that is it not the largest, the strongest, or even the most intelligent of species [...]http://redrockresearch.org/?p=31Book Review: Software Project Survival Guidehttp://redrockresearch.org/?p=32In Steve McConnell’s book, Software Project Survival Guide, he describes the foundation and procedures for managing a successful software development project. Researching from NASA, IEEE, and some other industry giants like Grady Booch and Tom Demarco, McConnell summarizes software development into six stages: Planning Design Construction Testing Release Wrap-up McConnell also offers some great ideas like keeping a project history to record lessons learned [...]http://redrockresearch.org/?p=32Book Review: Under Pressure and On Timehttp://redrockresearch.org/?p=36Ed Sullivan’s book, Under Pressure And On Time, is a no-nonsense guide for delivering software products to market in a timely manner. In this industry where the average software project is late, over budget, or a complete failure, there are so many books written about what not to do. It’s refreshing to read a software development book that [...]http://redrockresearch.org/?p=36From The Trenches: Halo 3http://redrockresearch.org/?p=35I finally finished Halo 3—in Heroic mode! Heroic mode is one notch above Normal, and one below Legendary. For those of you that have not completed the game, relax–there are no spoilers here. I will offer some strategy advice, though. Halo 3 is the third installment in Bungie’s highly-popular XBox video-game series. The storyline takes place in [...]http://redrockresearch.org/?p=35Book Review: The 4-Hour Workweekhttp://redrockresearch.org/?p=37I just finished reading The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich, by Timothy Ferriss. Timothy Ferriss is a 29-year old self-made millionaire, TV actor in China, athletic advisor to more than 30 world record holders, Chinese Kickboxing Champion, first American to hold Guinness world record in Tango, speaker of four [...]http://redrockresearch.org/?p=37Improving Employee Moralehttp://redrockresearch.org/?p=38As a software development management consultant, I’m always looking for innovative ways to improve employee morale. My friend and associate, Greg Wright, told me about an interesting process for improving morale that his company practices. They have an appeasement committee and budget. The appeasement committee is a group with one representative from each department. Each month, a [...]http://redrockresearch.org/?p=38Great Mission Statementshttp://redrockresearch.org/?p=40Jack Welch, in his book, Winning, talks about how to create great mission statements. He says most mission statements are dull, uninspired, and even unhelpful. Most groups write their mission statement to describe only what they are in business to do. While this is not wrong, it creates a whole bunch of mission statements that all look the same among [...]http://redrockresearch.org/?p=40Three-dimensional value systemshttp://redrockresearch.org/?p=39What is a value system? As of late, corporations have discovered that mission-statements are only somewhat helpful in providing direction to a company. Being strategic in nature, they don’t provide enough detail to govern tactical decisions made by the corporate employees on a daily basis. To answer this need, value-statements, and value-systems have come into vogue. Many companies have [...]http://redrockresearch.org/?p=39Book Review: The 360 Degree Leaderhttp://redrockresearch.org/?p=41John C. Maxwell’s book, The 360 Degree Leader, is an excellent field-guide for navigating the challenges of leadership at all levels of an organization. Maxwell starts his book by dispelling many common dysfunctional myths that are found at line-level, or middle-level management. Ideas such as “When I get to the top, I’ll be in control,” and “If I were on top, [...]http://redrockresearch.org/?p=41What to look for when interviewing a candidatehttp://redrockresearch.org/?p=43My sister was recently promoted to manage a team of software project managers for a large bank on the East coast. She told me she gets to hire someone for the first time in her career. I told her that hiring is always a bit of a dice roll, but I offered her some advice after [...]http://redrockresearch.org/?p=43Your First Week as a Software Development Managerhttp://redrockresearch.org/?p=44Wether you are starting a new job, or you just got promoted, the first week as a Software Development Manger, VP, Director, etc, can be a dizzying experience. Depending on your particular situation, you’ll likely have to meet many new people, learn about new systems, and remember to smile often. A good starting point is the be sure the following items [...]http://redrockresearch.org/?p=44Anti-Valueshttp://redrockresearch.org/?p=45I was sitting in a KFC eating lunch, reading the slogans muraled on the wall. This particular KFC is supposedly the first KFC in America. Yes, it’s in Utah. Along with some chicken legs and a drink, you can enjoy a small exhibit showing Colonel Sander’s original briefcase, white suite, shoes, etc. One mural read, “Somehow [...]http://redrockresearch.org/?p=45The Bat-Phonehttp://redrockresearch.org/?p=47Do you have one of those executives that harasses you with status updates to projects, yet never attends the status update meetings? Perhaps they call you, email you, stop in to your office, and want to know what the latest on project X is? Is the behavior effecient? What suggestions do you have about how to convey [...]http://redrockresearch.org/?p=47What does it mean to be a Professional?http://redrockresearch.org/?p=50Decades ago I had a friend tell me this question was posed to their High School class. I never found out what the class concluded. Over the years I have thought often about the answer to this question. My earlier conclusion was that professionalism meant a separation of work and personal life. This is something that I [...]http://redrockresearch.org/?p=50Software Production Supporthttp://redrockresearch.org/?p=51In a conversation with a friend once, they jokingly described their inability to play racquetball against other seasoned players as ”They are playing racquetball, while I am just hitting a ball around the room.” I’ll borrow that reference and apply it to Software Production Support. Is your Software Production Support group ”playing racquetball,” or are they “just hitting a ball [...]http://redrockresearch.org/?p=51www.NewsChime.comhttp://redrockresearch.org/?p=52The value of information… Here’s a fun site if you are a news junkie. www.NewsChime.com is a simple site that grabs news headlines from major news sites and lists them in an easy-to-peruse text-only format. I’ve got the site on my PDA which makes reading news articles perfect for that boring meeting or that inconvenient 10-minute wait [...]http://redrockresearch.org/?p=52Book Review: Motivating Employeeshttp://redrockresearch.org/?p=53Employee motivation is an ever-present concern for most proactive managers. Interestingly enough, motivation can come from both functional and dysfunctional sources. I’ve seen employees motivated for many different reasons: recognition, financial incentive, empowerment, personal growth, tension release, fear, and finally there’s that weird Lord of the Flies thing where employees get motivated together against another employee. In their [...]http://redrockresearch.org/?p=53NewsCHIME.com passes the 100+ repeat visitor mark!http://redrockresearch.org/?p=54NewsCHIME.com, the ‘News from everywhere, every 10 minutes’ website has officially passed the 100+ repeat visitor mark! This site was launched in May of ‘08 with no advertising at all, and now enjoys more than 100 repeat visitors, and over 1000 unique visits per month. I classify a ‘repeat visitor’ as somebody who has come back four or more [...]http://redrockresearch.org/?p=54Excellence over Heroicshttp://redrockresearch.org/?p=48I value Excellence over Heroics. ‘Excellence’ can be defined as “the crisp execution of established procedures.” Think about that for a minute. Do you know of a software development shop where several prominent developers often stay up late into the night, or come in regularly over the weekend to solve high-profile problems, or put out urgent mission-critical fires? The thrill of delivering when [...]http://redrockresearch.org/?p=48Anatomy of an Execution Planhttp://redrockresearch.org/?p=55Have you been challenged with performing a high-risk task like upgrading a prominent server, for example? Here’s an execution plan template that you can use to guide you. I. Executive Summary Brief overview of intended event. II. Review of Discovery Details of what efforts were made to research what is listed in the following sections. Meetings, Vendor consultations, OnLine Resources, and Conventional Wisdom can [...]http://redrockresearch.org/?p=5525 Most Dangerous Information Security Programming Errorshttp://redrockresearch.org/?p=56Want to visit ground-zero for data security? Experts from SANS, MITRE, SAFECode, EMC, Juniper, Microsoft, Nokia, SAP, Symantec, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s National Cyber Security Division last week presented a listing of The Top 25 Most Dangerous (Information Security) Programming Errors. Expect to see future government and big-money RFP’s mandate these items [...]http://redrockresearch.org/?p=56A Free Software Requirements Specification Template (SRS)!http://redrockresearch.org/?p=57Need a good software requirements specification (SRS) template? Use an industry-standard SRS. Can’t find one? Well now you have-get it here for free. Enjoy! Mike J. Berry www.RedRockResearch.com Software Developement Process Guidance http://redrockresearch.org/?p=57How to compute % defects removed from release candidate codehttp://redrockresearch.org/?p=58Recently someone on StackOverflow.com asked me to explain how to compute the defect removal rate for release candidate software. There are two methods for producing this number and I teach both in several of my seminars, but I’ll explain the simpler method in this post… Lawrence Putnam presented this model in his 1992 Book titled Measures for [...]http://redrockresearch.org/?p=58Software Development Best Practices - Software Estimationhttp://redrockresearch.org/?p=60Red Rock Research held our first of a weekly series of seminars on software development best practices yesterday at the Miller Campus - Professional Development Center. Our topic was Software Estimation. We covered the typical informal methods: Fuzzy Logic, Wide-band Delphi, Planning Poker, and the primary formal methods: Function Point counting, the Putnam Model, COCOMO II, [...]http://redrockresearch.org/?p=60Two Days with Alistair Cockburnhttp://redrockresearch.org/?p=61I recently attended an Agile Development Product Owner class taught by Alistair Cockburn. The content was excellent. He taught us about the proper perspectives an Agile Product Owner needs to successfully interact with the project sponsors, users, and the development team.Alistair Cockburn has authored several books on Agile Development, and is one of the original signers of [...]http://redrockresearch.org/?p=61Book Review: The Book of Five Ringshttp://redrockresearch.org/?p=62Recently, while attending the ‘09 Agile Roots conference in Salt Lake City, UT, Alistair Cockburn–the keynote speaker–referenced Miyamoto Musashi’s 16th-century book called The Book of Five Rings. I like Asian philosophy (and swords and such) so I picked up the book and read it. The book was written in 1643 by an undefeated Japanese samurai master who was so effective [...]http://redrockresearch.org/?p=62Software Development Best Practices - Software Requirements Managementhttp://redrockresearch.org/?p=63I recently hosted Red Rock Research’s second weekly software development best practices seminar for the general public. Our topic was Software Requirements Management.Requirements Management is perhaps the most controversial topic in software development. Everyone seems to have their own technque. It is also the most important skill-set–statistically more important than development skills–to the overall success of a software [...]http://redrockresearch.org/?p=63Publishing My First Book: Software Quality Systems Managementhttp://redrockresearch.org/?p=64I’m publishing my first book next month. It’s about software quality management. Quality management, that is, in the sense of improving software processes and production support methods, not about ‘how to test software.’ I include overviews of the four formal quality models: CMMI, Six Sigma, and ISO 90003, and ITIL. I outline how to create a quality system within an organization and [...]http://redrockresearch.org/?p=64Book Review: Crossing the CHASMhttp://redrockresearch.org/?p=65I’ve heard people make references to Geoffrey A. Moore’s Crossing the CHASM book for several years now but had’t read it until this past week. Moore’s book is a must-read for any IT company trying to launch a new product. Although the concepts in the book are not novel (so admit’s Moore) the book brings a vocabulary and metaphoric dictionary [...]http://redrockresearch.org/?p=65Need a tech job: www.twitter.com/RedRockJobshttp://redrockresearch.org/?p=66This economy needs help. Follow www.twitter.com/RedRockJobs and be the first to know about immediate tech job openings, contract work, side jobs, or special requests. You never know when that friend in need could be you! Mike J. Berry www.RedRockResearch.com http://redrockresearch.org/?p=66Whiteboards for Everyone!http://redrockresearch.org/?p=69Do you like designing on whiteboards? I do. Colorful markers against a clean, white surface inspire all kinds of creativity and fun. Recently David Crossett of Ready Receipts gave me a great tip. He told me that instead of going to your local OfficeBOX superstore and paying $200 for a 4×8 whiteboard, just hit HomeDepot [...]http://redrockresearch.org/?p=69