Management

The manager of a development project is charged with the responsibility of ensuring that the software is delivered on time, within budget and to an acceptable level of quality. This involves establishing the requirements of a project, estimating costs, planning the use of resources, guiding client expectations and compiling metrics to assess the risk of failure.

Unfortunately, the computer industry has a well-deserved reputation for delivering software late and over budget. Even giants such as Microsoft, with all the managerial talent at their disposal, have been known to let deadlines slip by months on cherished products. The sites that we link to below offer several opinions as to why such disasters happen so frequently and the best methods for avoiding them.

Related links on the internet

Project Management Articles Handouts

Some excellent project management tips from consultant Michael Greer. We're particularly impressed with Ten Guaranteed Ways to Screw Up Any Project. Count how many of these blunders you've encountered in your career. We bet it isn't zero.

One hundred rules for NASA project managers

Exactly what it says. Managerial wisdom garnered from the experiences of NASA staff. Some of these rules are perhaps more relevant to engineering than IT, but there are several fundamental truths that abide for any industry.

Project management proverbs

Anyone who has ever been involved in a commercial IT project will read this site and nod sagely at its contents. A superb collection of amusing maxims that ring so true that they actually say something quite serious and profound about the chaotic nature of software development.

philosophe.com

This "web site devoted to quality assurance for web sites" is a collection of essays by Quality Assurance professional Derek Sisson. Although the emphasis is on QA, there is a wealth of information here that will be of interest and value to managers, designers, developers and testers alike.

Web Developer's Journal

Several articles on web development covering topics such as site design, e-commerce and the management of an internet business.

Web Style Guide, 2nd Edition

Online book covering all aspects of designing a web site from the planning stage through to the technical aspects of page layout. An outstanding reference and guide to use when creating or modifying a web site.

Web Monkey

Long established site providing a large number of tutorials and articles about HTML, JavaScript, Perl, PHP, mySQL and many more topics to do with web development and management.

Web Review

Online magazine with articles about web development issues, ranging from tutorials about a particular programming problem to discussions about the state of the web development industry.