Lessons Learned from the Three-Week Project Turn Around Essay

In the mankind of computers, Information Technology and Software Development race speak a different language. They might as well be talking ancient Latin and no one will bid for when they use C++, VisualBasic and Java the rest of the population would sometimes discover out of this world. The squad leaders and exteriorize managers who are leading this discriminate out of people must learn a different way of puzzle out group conflicts and a host of business problems related to the digital world. angiotensin-converting enzyme has to remember that though this special group is in some choose of manufacturing a product, they are by no means dealing with sensible materials like wood, minerals, metals, and chemicals. They use something else and that is human resources called programmers. Charlie Poole had the prospect to perish in this world and he embed out soon that he must speedily adapt to the situation. His problem with a certain(a) software development get a line was non unique to the software development company he is operative for. He is feeling the pressure of seemingly insurmountable problems common to this business. In fact Poole and his team is al situate experiencing or about to experience a number of patterns or cycles a software development group usually encounters as described by Kent Beck in his book, Extreme Programming Explained and a few examples are listed belowSchedule slips the day for delivery comes, and you look at to tell the customer that the software wont be ready for another six months.Project canceled afterwards numerous slips, the redact is canceled without forever going into production.Defect rate the software is put into production, but it doesnt solve the business problem that was originally posed.False feature deep the software has a host of potentially interesting features, all of which were caper to program, but none of which makes the customer much money.Staff turnover after two years, all the good programmers on the project begin to detest the program and leave. Again, based on his journal/project report t here(predicate) is reason to believe that the dreaded scenarios mentioned by Beck is looming in the horizon of Poole and his team as evidenced by his writings In July 2001 I spent ternion weeks trying to turn a project around. The project had troubles larger-than-life requirements that said nothing, schedule slippages tat had already extended it to twice its original estimate, no integrated version of the app we were developing This was far beyond my original commitment and I was planning to leave. At the same time, the project manager was leaving, and a new one was not available for three weeks. (Poole) The backdrop is set and before Poole could have reached the last level as desribed by Beck leaving the company in frustration the turnaround acquire Mr. Poole turned to the radical tenets of Extreme Programming (XP) for help. The principles of XP can be found i n an article written by Pradyumn Sharma, CEO of Pragati Software and he listed it asContinuous IntegrationSmall ReleasesOnsite Customer plan plunk forMetaphorSimple DesignTestingRefactoringPair Programming bodied OwnershipNo overtimeCoding Standards Charlie Poole asserts that he only utilize four of the twelve XP principles namely, 1) Continuous integration 2) Small Releases 3)Onsite Customer and 4) Planning Game. This does not really mater because the success of the team can be attributed not only in the use of XP methods but in the leading skills of Poole. Consider the chase steps he took, becoming a sort of a maverick in that company who like the others have certain traditions and a way of doing things. In order for the project to be accomplished in such a short time and with the odds not in their favor, the team and the leadership must follow an ancient justice which is the development of a vision. Before anything this vision must be first in place in the hearts and the mi nds of the all the members of the team including of course the leadership. A vision or a mental range of what must happen after a given time must be impartd by the leader. According to Russ Finney this leader is called the professional clay detergent builder and he must in turn become a system visionary which according to Finney has the unenviable role of doing the following tasks His or her willingness to role insight and understanding of a situation, and the necessary steps he or she envisions to arrive at a desired outcome, tend to be mutualist on tow factors the level of confidence he or she has in the ideas, and his or her tolerance for scrutiny and criticism With each passing form of the project, he or she must constantly develop and communicate his or her vision of both the system functionality and the project approach. (1999) Charlie Poole did not only provide vision and listened to his team mates but he similarly he team but he designed an ingenious way for cre ate it and presenting it to them. Poole did not sit in one corner of th persona and wrote his vision but instead proposed the use of stories. Again, he demonstrated his exponent to be a maverick when the situation calls for it. This use of a layer works wonders for the group because of the following reasonsSimplifying the abstract world of computer programming.A creative way of allowing the Customers who may not be technically sound to join and contribute to the painting of a mental picture of what the project ought to be.It created a source of information from which the group can draw transport and also a tool to on seeing a razzings eye view of the project that will aid in the latter stages of integration. Poole also did more than provide a vision, he also created an environment that minimized the emergence of conflicts between teams and team members. He plausibly got the idea from Ohlendorfs work when he began to meet his team either Monday for breakfast. And instead of castigating his team for infractions he was willing to listen to what they have to say. The following statements explain why Poole was successful in this area. Amy Ohlendorf in her work entitle Conflict Resolution in Project Management asserts that learning how to actively listen will do wonders for an organization experiencing difficulty and she said auditory sense allows the conflict to take its natural course by giving mortals the opportunity to disagree, express strong opinions, and show passion for ideas. A respect for individual difference is demonstrated and an environment of understanding is fostered. Listening is helpful in achieving a winning resolution by enabling an employee to identify the criteria that is considered an satisfying outcome. As a result trust and a relationship amaze will form preparing individuals to listen also to the needs of the manager. (2000) The only tour to the three week saga was when the companys management step in to override what Poole was successfully been doing since he assumed the post providing close propinquity leadership. This way he was able to know how to make the thing work and all of a sudden management began dictating unrealistic deadlines that almost carinated the ship over. Lesson learned from that fiasco in times of crisis lead, dont manage. Conclusion Based on his journal or project report, Charlie Poole did not elaborate if he went to a leadership school or if he had had previous training in a management institute. If he did not then it can be said that he demonstrated an otherworldly ability to provide high-caliber leadership for a group in crisis regularity where everything that is happening points to an inevitable collapse. Almost everything went according to his wishes at least those that he can control which are a testament to his leadership skills and the bravery to do practice methodologies and techniques never through before. In other linguistic communication he dared to do s omething different, for the simple reason that he was tasked to complete a job and there is no way it can be done using the normal route the normal way of doing things around here sort of thing. And he was handsomely rewarded for his no guts no atmosphere approach with a little help from sound leadership principles that he threw in to his bag of tricks.ReferencesOhlendorf, Amy. (2000). Conflict Resolution in Project Management. University of moment St. Louis, Available http//www.umsl.edu/sauter /analysis/488_f01_papers/Ohlendorf.htm30 may 2006.Finney, Russ. (1999). Winning Project Teams. ItmWEB Media Corporation, Available http//www.itmweb.com/essay003.htm 30 May 2006.Beck, Kent. (2000). Extreme Programming Explained Embrace Change. Boston, MA Addison- Wesley.Poole, Charlie (2006, March 4) Three calendar week Project Turnaround. Cunningham & Cunnigham, Inc. Available http//c2.com/cgi/wiki?ThreeWeekProjectTurnaround 30 May 2006.