5 Years This Course: Time For An Update

bas says : Hi everyone,

Next month it will be 5 years ago I wrote the first page of this website. For those who haven't been around that long ;) I started with the software project management guide. A lot has happened in these past 5 years... not only did the site grow beyond my dreams, but in some respects I changed my perception on software project management. Not only did I add 5 more years to my experience, but I also learned about new developments in the field...

So, I would say, time for an update of the course.

It took me months to write the original guide, so the update will be a work in progress for a long period... but every journey starts with a first step :) ... and you might consider this post as a first step.

I will start out with some postings on this forum, to get an overall plan and feeling for the new guide. Please feel free to contribute, correct me or just discuss or ask! It will be the only way we can create a good and of course free guide for our profession.

For starters I will need a good mental image of what a software project manager does, what is his job, what is his field of play. The original flow of stakes is based upon Barry Boehms Theory W, that states that the project manager should make everyone a winner.

Altough I still believe in this concept, for the new guide I will create a broader idea:

- the "right" approach for project management can be different for different projects. So, I will incorporate a kind of contingency approach where you tailer the "project management" activities to the situation. The situation we of course be determined by the stakeholders (people) surrounding the project (see previous postings about stakeholder analysis).

- the updated guide will contain a more integrated view with the software development life cycle.

- as offshore development and other forms of non-colocation are more and more common, this will be an important part of the update.

I have more and more ideas I would like to share... but just wait and see!

Or better yet, post your suggestions and participate!

By the end of this year we can have a new and updated version for new software project managers that should last at least another 5 years!

Happy anniversary to me! :D

Cheers
Bas