O'Reilly Open Source Convention - August 1-5, 2005

Session
Preventing Crisis: Project Estimation and Tracking That Works
Andy Lester, Senior Programmer, Follett Library Resources

Track: Emerging Topics
Date: Thursday, August 4th, 2005
Time: 5:20pm - 6:05pm
Location: Portland 256
Crisis is always bad, even when you manage to solve the problem. Crisis always reflects poorly on you and your department.
It's almost a truism that development crises happen, but you don't have to work in a Dilbertesque hellhole. Crisis prevention must be an integral part of everything you and your department do. You'll learn how to:
- Keep management off your back so you can get real work done.
- Make honest schedules everyone can live with.
- Track your progress effectively to avoid 11th hour rushes.
- Stop your project from stalling, or sliding backwards.
- Handle change requests without stress.
- Go from scapegoats to rock stars.
These techniques have all been proven under fire, and draw from a number of methodologies.