SPaMCAST 397 – Cumulative Flow Diagrams, QA Sign Off, Project Strategy

The Software Process and Measurement Cast 397 features our essay on cumulative flow diagrams. A CFD can help everyone from team members to program managers to gain insight into issues, cycle time and likely completion dates. Cumulative flow diagrams are extremely versatile tools for managing work. Figures for this essay are included as a separate entry in the feed. Our second column is a visit to the QA Corner. Jeremy Berriault weighs in on the thorny question of who signs off or approves the results of testing for projects. We discuss some strange behaviors that occur when responsibility and authority for the results of testing are ambiguous. We also have the debut column from Jon M. Quigley. Jon inaugurates his column with a discussion of whether project risk, scope and strategy are related. The short answer is yes, and the longer answer suggests what happens when all of the options are not considered. Jon is a principle at Value Transformation, LLC (www.valuetransform.com) along with being a teacher, coach, serial author and past guest on SPaMCAST 346. Re-Read Saturday News We continue the read of Commitment – Novel About Managing Project Risk by Maassen, Matts, and Geary. Buy your copy today and read along (use the link to support the podcast). This week’s installment will address Chapter 7, which using the monomyth structure represents both atonement and the return home, the completion of the cycle. Next week we will conclude with a few final thoughts. The next book in the Re-read Saturday Series will be Kent Beck’s xP Explained, Second Edition. Visit the Software Process and Measurement Blog (www.tcagley.wordpress.com) to catch up on past installments of Re-Read Saturday. Next SPaMCAST The next Software Process and Measurement Cast features our interview of with bestselling author Kevin Kruse. We discussed his new book, 15 Secrets Successful People Know About Time Management. The ideas on managing time and more accurately managing focus are extremely useful and in some cases just a bit controversial. Listen to the interview, then buy a copy of his book and become more productive! Shameless Ad for my book! Mastering Software Project Management: Best Practices, Tools and Techniques co-authored by Murali Chematuri and myself and published by J. Ross Publishing. We have received unsolicited reviews like the following: “This book will prove that software projects should not be a tedious process, for you or your team.” Support SPaMCAST by buying the book here. Available in English and Chinese.