Last year, I wrote about one secret of successful project managers: strategic lying. If your programmer tells you a task will be done in three days, it will be done in a week, and you should tell your client it will be done in two weeks, to be safe. Conversely, if your customer tells you [...]
Apparently, not all developers participate in pro bono or opensource projects. You should, even if, like myself, you are an empty shell of a human being who gets no fuzzy feelings from helping others.
My last post explained that boring projects pay more. By this principle, which shall hereby be dubbed The Law of Life Sucking, [...]
Unsurprisingly, my feelings towards projects vary. The ones I hate involve labyrinths of legacy code, infrastructure nightmares, and new requirements to turn the Tower of Pisa into the Empire State. The ones I love give me a blank canvas on which I can paint an MVC masterpiece after lovingly drafting a throng of specs. Also, [...]
This is not immediately obvious those who charge a flat rate per project, instead of by the hour. But unless you track your hours, you know neither how much you’re making on your current project, nor the fair price to charge for a comparable project in the future. Remember, $2000 might sound like a pretty [...]
It is often frustrating to deal with web development clients who don’t know everything about the web. Recently, I explained to a client that her new site would “not be stuck in a frame of a certain width” but would “expand to fit the size of the window”. In other words, my partner toiled day [...]
You stay up late one night, say, to do your taxes, and the next day at work is totally shot. You know that if you could only find someplace to nap for ten minutes, you would be back in working shape. In fact, statistics prove that napping boosts productivity. I highly recommend nagging your boss [...]
I have worked with several print designers whose clients happened to want a web presence, so they hired me to translate their designs into functional sites. They are all awesome people, but working with them has often been a rough ride with a a few disconnects. That’s because the web and a piece of paper [...]
I made the mistake of agreeing to do what was supposed to be a weekend job: a simple registration form for an event with a splash screen. I knew the client was not completely web-savvy so I padded the estimate just a bit and asked for $400 for the coding, and $100 to give [...]
I have never worked on a group software or web development project that was completed on time, except when working with top-notch, experienced project managers, in other words, iron-fisted filthy liars. Here is how they work:
Upon receiving a task to complete, these project managers first ensure that no direct communication occurs between the client and [...]
Some companies, more than others, are prone to PMS. It makes everyone cranky, unproductive and just plain miserable. This PMS does not occur once a month—no, no, it occurs constantly. What is this PMS of which I speak? Perpetual Meeting Syndrome.
It is the Sisyphusian cycle of meetings to discuss why something has not been done, [...]