I've been developing software for almost two decades now, so I've been in
projects large, small and everything in between. I've used several methods
for PM, but the one that I felt more in love is SCRUM.

It goes the complete opposite of all other methodologies that preach using
the tools, usually expensive ones, and obviously made by the guys who
invented the methodology (did anybody say rational?).

SCRUM preaches simplification, being responsive and agile. In fact,
estimation and tracking are made on pieces of paper. And that brought me
much better results than any other software package.

There is a very practical and easy to read book on the subject. You can find
it here:
http://www.crisp.se/ScrumAndXpFromTheTrenches.html

Cheers

Padu


> Sure. So my first assumption was that whatever I did so far was more
> like an ad-hoc development. But then I achieved better results and
> faster turnouts when I wrote down tasks and to-do-s onto a piece of
> paper (notebooks usually -- the original paper one, not the computer).
> So that way I knew how much stuff I needed to still do to finish the
> project and the like, then later on I could look back what did I do.
> 
> So it turns out that it is nothing more than a to-do list, and maybe a
> ticket based bug-tracking system -- but in a paper. So I thought I
> might need a computerised to-do list and/or bug-tracking system. Then
> I started to thinking about more and more, that I would need something
> that could show dependencies of these tasks, deadlines, hours needed
> or other resources like hiring someone, outsourcing (for example PCB
> manufacturing) and so on. And then I thought it is nothing else then a
> project management really.
> 
> I know these stuff are still in a very early stage, basically all
> major project management was developed by recent years. So it is not
> perfect by any means, however, it should be better to think about a
> project and the goals and the risks etc in advance than doing nothing
> -- that was only my way of thinking and I may well wrong on this, just
> please let me know. Anyway, in my way of thinking I thought whatever
> project management I start with is better than just using nothing. So
> why not start with something that is easy of use and maybe not that
> sophisticated but at least something that leads my learning curve on
> managing my projects.
> 
> Not sure yet which way is the best so I am open to any suggestions,
> and would very appreciate any advise on this!
> 
> Many thanks,
> Tamas
> 
> 
> >
> > Personally, I have an aversion to project management software. They
> made us
> > create Gantt charts in college, and nobody followed them, it was just
> a big
> > waste of time. In fact, trying to follow a Gantt chart was worse than
> > submitting one for a grade, and then tossing it in the trash bin. The
> > biggest fallacy of Gantt is its treatment of assumptions made a long
> time in
> > advance, as fact. It assumes that requirements won't change,
> resources will
> > be available, and deadlines will be met. Show me one example of a
> project
> > where this is true, and I'll explain to you why it doesn't meet the
> > definition of a project.
> >
> > We don't use any formal project management software at work. What we
> have is
> > a simple Word document which we update every week. We go over and
> delete the
> > tasks that were done the previous week, add new tasks, bold the tasks
> that
> > we plan to do this week, and then prioritize and assign them.
> >
> > Granted, there may be software that is actually useful for "managing"
> > projects, but I'm yet to find it.
> >
> > Vitaliy
> >
> > --
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> > View/change your membership options at
> > http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist
> >
> 
> 
> 
> --
> int main() { char *a,*s,*q; printf(s="int main() { char *a,*s,*q;
> printf(s=%s%s%s, q=%s%s%s%s,s,q,q,a=%s%s%s%s,q,q,q,a,a,q); }",
> q="\"",s,q,q,a="\\",q,q,q,a,a,q); }


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