Painless Software Schedules
I've just re-read one of my favourite Joel on Software articles, which is about software schedules. Much of it is a load of common sense, and it addresses the main problems with schedules, i.e. being given an unrealistic time estimate, and getting shouted at for not achieving it.
3 Comments:
Ah but how do you determine if a timescale is unrealistic? Programmer X might be able to implement a component in 5 days and Programmer Y might take 10. Which is the realistic timescale?
Bleatings from TechEd btw, what a shame your employers didn't see fit to send you out here :)
They're both realistic. The idea is that the developer estimates the timescale, because the developer is likely to have a more accurate idea of how long they will take.
Yeah, TechEd would be fun, but after my last job, I've got out of the habit of asking for even a day out to a free MSDN event.
For those not wanting to depend on Excel I tossed together a version that uses XML/XSL using a web browser to do the transformation.
http://willcode4beer.com/design.jsp?set=sched
Its pretty simple (read trivial) but, my goal was to have something I spend minimal time maintaining.
Post a Comment