Pawel hits the nail on the head with this post on helping a development team as a project manager. It’s not just about getting out of the way and letting the dev team get on with their work. It’s about actively clearing the way for them, freeing them to do what they do best. It’s about helping them maintain “the flow” of problem-solving and creativity that goes into creating good (if not great) software. To do that well is a balancing act for the project manager. On the one hand, you must buffer the team from the worst distractions and time-consuming tasks tangential to their core work. On the other hand, you have to be careful not to filter so much that they’re not connecting well with other departments, or product owners, or users.
However, I’m not sure that I agree with Pawel when he says that “if they end up helping you with project management, something is wrong”. That seems a bit too black-and-white in judgement. Often team members may see a risk or issue upcoming, or question the schedule, or another department’s estimates, and their feedback is valuable and noteworthy. Is that “helping you with project management”? I believe it is – and it’s all good. I believe what Pawel is getting at is that, taken to an extreme, asking the dev team to do core PM work, and vice-versa, is counter-productive. Far be it for the project managemer to believe that their role should include coming up with extensive test cases, or coding up a Silverlight application, or designing APIs.
Subscribe via RSS 
0 Responses to “Enhancing “the flow” of development”