I've always thought of software project management as kind of a sheep herding process, although I'm sure most project managers ( PM ) would think of it as more of a cat herding process. However for most of my career there's been, for the most part, no process whatsoever no matter where I worked.

It wasn't because of the lack of methodologies to adopt. At one place the PMs decided they would start practicing RUP - Rational Unified Process. Personally I never believed they got it quite right beyond assigning tasks. But it was only after several more years of doing software that I finally realized why they got it wrong.

Essentially I think it goes like this:

The reason so many projects cannot be classified as successes is that they are "managed" -  hence the title of those who "manage" them - Project Managers. Management is for resources. Resources are nails, wood, dirt, concrete, time - the kind of stuff you use up ( think "consume" ) to complete a project. People are not resources no matter what that department down the hall likes to refer to itself as. You know the one, the one whose name begins with "human." Do you consume people to finish your projects? I hope not!! Are you making Soylent Green?

Most PMs will look at a situation like this . . . some tasks need to be completed in a specific time frame. Naturally the PM asks a senior developer how many developers, UI people and time will be needed. While many senior developers will do the best they can, they leave out some very important things like access to systems, databases and data, testing coordinators, software and the appropriate environments. The PM doesn't know any better because they have good people skills, but very little technical knowledge.

Some managers ( I'm not referring to PMs ) know this kind of stuff if they have the appropriate background, however they're not often involved in the task assignment process. They might become indirectly involved via other meetings. Perhaps if they were involved earlier they might be able to provide the appropriate facilitation recommendations.

I believe that the Project Management title should really be changed to Project Facilitator ( PF ). Really the only things that PMs manage are the expectations of the client with the reality that is happening as the software ( or other project ) is being built. Of course a whole mindset change will be involved to actually make this work. Instead of a PM asking, "How many hours do you need to finish this?" a PF will be heard asking, "What is needed in order to complete this as requested?" Afterwards, the PF will remove the necessary roadblocks so that the developer ( or developers ) can complete the tasks.

Unfortunately the bulk of PM is completed now with software. A PM creates the project, makes some pretty pictures and starts creating tasks and assigning developers to create the tasks within the time lines that may or may not be realistic. Hopefully the PM has actually asked someone with a technical background if they are realistic.

Since you have to pick your battles and lead by example in the coming months my thoughts will be more than just words on a blog. Project Facilitation will be a concept that I'll be blogging about more frequently as well as things related to software creation and my soon-to-be-released flagship product.  

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I came across an article this morning, "Blogs falling in an empty forest," via slashdot. While articles proclaiming the death of something on the Internet come and go like the weather changes in Kansas, I have to agree with what the article is saying.

Years ago I started my blog. Actually it was more like I allowed my "web site" to transform into a blog. It was just the thing to do. Since I actually work in the software development industry and have some measurable level of technical expertise to have, "just a regular old website" would be nothing short of embarassing.

Then the Gold Rush started. Everyone had a blog. Everyone's dog had a blog. The blogs of hell as authored by the masses were unleashed on an unsuspecting public. Some were good and have survived and even flourished. Some, as the author of the article states, sit abandoned as most people have moved on to the next shiny object that seems to be capturing people's attention right now.

So yeah, there just aren't as many blogs as there were a couple years ago. It's not the hottest thing right now, the thrill with blogging is largely gone just like disco, parachute pants and 8 track tapes. But, I don't think I'm absolutely ready to give up my blog just yet. There may be a whole bunch of other, trendy places I can go and post my thoughts. But, at the end of the day, it's not my place. So, while the masses may migrate to spots like Facebook and MySpace, I'll go ahead and stay where I am. I may still use services like Flickr and Twitter, and time may pass between posts, but I don't plan on abandoning my blog anytime soon.

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Although I didn't end up on the jury, I have a few observations about the whole thing . . .

First off, I had forgotten about it entirely and ended up reporting late. Fortunately the the clerk was cool about it. Those that were called were still watching a video about the jury process. So I didn't miss anything too dreadfully important.

We went downstairs to the court room where the attorneys would select the jury from those that were called for jury duty. All in all, there were approximately 40 of us called, give or take. The initial 12 people were called and they moved to the jury box to be interrogated by the attorneys so that their fitness for jury duty could be established. This process is referred to as, Voir dire. This whole process kind of amused me.

First off, each person had to tell their name, their age, how long they had lived within the county, their marital status, occupation, their ( if applicable ) spouse's occupation and how many kids they may have and ages. While I'm not fully convinced that that information needs to be disclosed, I'm not going to dwell on it because there are other things I would much rather focus on.

There were a lot of questions initially asked by the district attorney. Rather than get into the specifics of the case, suffice it to say that each potential juror was asked questions like, "Will you be able to fully commit your attention to this case for its duration?" or "Are you physically capable of serving for the duration of the proceedings?" or "Can you separate your personal experiences for the purposes of reaching an objective decision in this case?"

The number of people willing to try to get out of jury duty for any one of those three questions was really quite surprising. But that isn't what amazed me. What amazed me was that the attorneys and judge seemed to try anything to keep them on the jury panel??!!

For example, let's say I tried to get out of jury duty by telling the DA that I have something going on at work and it is going to keep me from being 100% focused on the case. My mind will wander, I will be a worthless juror and the defendant or the state will seriously suffer and justice will not be served thanks to me - the entire judicial system will fall apart at the seams. It appears that even though there are thirty ( +/- ) people still available in the jury pool, sitting on their ass, doing absolutely nothing, patiently waiting, wasting their time, being entirely unproductive is of no importance. The attorney still asks, "Well do you think you can set it aside or manage through for this case?"

It seems to me that if someone doesn't want to be on jury duty and tries to get out of it, you should let them go and move on to the next person in the jury pool. Why keep someone on jury duty if they don't want to be there? Quite honestly if I was on trial I want each person on the jury to want to be there.

Ultimately I never even made it to the jury box to be questioned by the attorneys. So yeah, I sat there for almost 5 hours waiting to be called. By the time the attorneys actually reached an agreement on the jury I was actually kind of irritated at the fact that I hadn't even been questioned. I mean crap, what a waste of time.

I suppose there's those folks out there that will probably comment that, "Well it's your civic duty . . . blah blah blah . . ." If you're the kind of person that would say something like that you're most likely the kind of person that would turn in your kid for stealing a piece of gum from a store because, "Honesty is the best policy." Whatever . . .

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