A pragmatic guide for the non-dev manager

tl;dr; By default IT projects will fail. This session will give you, the non-dev manager, some tips and best practices on how to manage your project.

Having a successful project is hard. Often times the definition of success is missing. Having a failed IT project in your hand is normal. By failing, we don't mean the project  did not  launch - it just did not  accomplish any one of the following:

• Finished On Time

• Finished On Budget

• Your Users are happy

We have found that the two major reasons  for this failure are poor communication between the Dev team and the stakeholders and the unrealistic expectations from the Dev team.

So, unsurprisingly "communication" is the missing key element. The problem can become worse when the project manager or other key stakeholders don't have development know-how, thus finding themselves struggling with common language.

Furthermore, often times the developers themselves lack the knowledge on how to communicate their own needs and ideas (e.g. "we need to re-write everything" being overused). Frustration is in abundance and the project goes into a horrible limbo.

But there is a way to overcome these challenges! This session will go over some pragmatic techniques and best practices. To name a few of the radical ones:

• Stop development for a while. Seriously.

• Remove features from the existing project. Really.

• Time box everything. Not kidding.

• Code review your devs - even if you don't know how to read code.

The above items are obviously exaggerated, but by talking about them, we believe you will suddenly get a new angle over your own projects.

This session is a follow up session of "The Gizra Way", intended for non-devs and devs alike.