Project Slider Bars

I’m not sure where I got this idea implanted into my brain, but I would like to give credit (if I could remember who it was) to the person that thought of this description of a software project. There are basically four sliders within a project, quality, time, money and scope. All four are inter-dependent. The sad truth of it is as a developer you only have control of one of those slider bars, quality. So what is a developer to do if a project is late? Naturally work harder, put in some overtime and get the job done. So what happens if a project is REALLY late? The only slider bar that you have in your control is quality and what happens? Quality suffers…

This is by far one of the worst mistakes a developer can make, because what’s going to happen is that the entire team (including management) is going to pay for it over and over and over again in the long run. I remember a study about cost and the later it takes to fix something in the project timeline the more costly it will be for the overall project. So what is a developer to do? Push back; tell someone, people have to change their perception that this is bad news… This is GOOD news! It’s even better news if it can be identified early that a project will be late. Tell people, tell people early, tell them so they can do something about the other 3 sliders, which are out of a developer’s control. It also adds value to the team that their managers are supporting them – that they don’t have to work on crappy code – that, quality from a manager’s standpoint, is important (I’ve seen sometimes it isn’t). For those managers out there, stop saying “just get it done”. You may not realize it but you’re going to pay for it in the end. As a developer you really don’t have a lot of control over anything other than quality, make that as one of your high priorities. There will be pushback of course from above if something is late. Be strong, set those expectations early, and tell someone that has control of the other sliders if something is going wrong; it really isn’t bad news…