The Basics of Software Project Management

    There's lots of chatter going around in my Google Reader Project Management list about making project management simpler, removing the complexity from project management, ditching the need for project controls, and the like.
    I can't actually formulate a response to these - mainly because I consider this approach ill informed, short sighted, and not focused on the stewardship and governance aspects of writing software for money, or for doing anything for money. Especially other people's money. Especially money they gave you expecting a return on their investment. This is not elitist
    I always fall back on Norm Brown's Project Breathalyzer. I discovered this many years ago and use it when ever someone says, "we don't need all this process. And besides who needs project controls anyway?"
    So when someone makes a statement about "we need or don't need this or that process," take out your Breathalyzer chart and ask if they can answer these questions - with or without their suggested approach.     Maybe they don't need to answer them.    Maybe the answers don't provide value to the project. Maybe they're simply not interested in managing the project from this Point of View. No problem. But now you've established a context and a domain to have a conversation about the activities that take place in a software development project.
    It could be there are another set of Breathalyzer questions. This is an opportunity to development them. Maybe from the POV of "agile project management." But I mean PROJECT Management not software development.