Life of a Software Program Manager

What is a Defect?

2006-06-26T19:02:00.000-05:00

I received some interesting feedback on a previous post of mine (Defect Count is Constant), and it really prompted me to define what is a defect, and why I believe that the defect count is fairly constant. This comment was from a developer, but I'm sure applies to many more people and roles in software. I definitely don't want to ship a non-perfect product. Especially because I just got out of

What Salary should you Offer ... Part 2

2006-06-19T20:31:00.000-05:00

Wow, a few very good comments on the first post. Let me first respond to something that I want to make sure was very clear. The option of applying the 15% raise almost blindly, based on the employee's previous salary, is a typical HR tactic. It is not something I personally believe in, and don't ever blindly advocate. Sometimes it works out that the proper salary to offer someone is a 15% raise

Weekly Recaps are Useless

2006-06-19T20:06:00.000-05:00

I started this blog with the intent to post a play by play of my job on a weekly basis. Based on some feedback, and monitoring which articles are read the most, I'm not going to bother posting a weekly "In the life of" type of posts, but will definitely continue to post my thoughts / rants / musings on the world of commercial software. Comment below if you think there is value in continuing

What Salary should you offer a New Employee

2006-06-17T17:32:00.000-05:00

Updated Response on June 19, 2006: Link One of the most difficult topics facing managers today is compensation. There are several factors that come into play, and software further compounds these issues since it is the only field that I know of where the same job can have a 30%, 40%, 50%, or even 100% swing between companies and even employees at the same company. This was a dilemma that came up

Howard Stern is Streaming on Sirius

2006-06-16T11:57:00.000-05:00

Launch the Sirius Player Here: Link Sorry for the miscellaneous blog entry, but I'm a huge Sirius Satellite Radio fan. As of today, Sirius's largest personality, Howard Stern, has both of his channels streaming through the website. This will be the next big boon for increasing Sirius subscriptions. I'll admit I'm not even that big of a Howard fan, I just think it is great for my stock investment

This Week's Reading Assignments for Software Development Managers and Aspiring Managers

2006-06-14T11:12:00.000-05:00

Here are some collected readings from around the web that relate to managers or aspiring managers Climbing out of Technical Debt - Link Shipping a 1.0 Product - Link Understanding Managers - Link Non-Technical Skills for IT Staff - Link Painless Estimation Tools - Link Please comment if you find any other valuable clippings. Technorati : Digg, Reading, Software

As usual, Joel Spolsky is Right on Point

2006-06-11T11:41:00.000-05:00

Joel Spolsky is an incredibly interesting author. He's written a few books, posts regularly on his blog, and at the same time runs a successful software company. You can search through his blog and see some of his other postings on software management and development, his process and theories behind hiring summer interns, but I recently came across what I think is his best idea yet: The FogCreek

How to Hire Talent

2006-06-10T18:31:00.000-05:00

I may be in the software industry, but this is a problem that affects every manager in every field. How do you recruit and hire the best talent? There are the general cliche's like "Hire people smarter than you" or "Hire someone you could work for," but these don't actually give any information you could use. Everyone has their own process for hiring and I've been through several as both a

Upcoming Posts

2006-06-10T09:20:00.000-05:00

I thought it might be nice to post a list of the initial topics I plan to post on. I'll update this post with links as I post the content In no particular order The Value of Product Management How to Negotiate Scope SDLC in the Real World How to Hire Talent What Salary should you offer a New Employee How to Grow your Employees The Value of Automated Testing Strategies of Software

Dopod S300 / Qtek 8500 Mini-Review

2006-06-10T09:17:00.000-05:00

The first step is admitting that you have a problem. I have a problem: I'm addicted to cell phones. I can't get enough. As soon as I hear about a new phone or accessory that is coming out, I turn into a kid the night before Christmas. I read the gadget blogs, hang out in the phone forums, contribute to some open source pocket pc apps, and anything else I can do to stay involved with the community

SDLC in the Real World

2006-06-10T09:13:00.000-05:00

SDLC - System Development Life Cycle (SDLC) - a methodology used to develop, maintain, and replace information systems. I've run into more than a few project managers, developers, testers, and product managers that have caught the SDLC buzz word fever. They've either latched onto the newest, latest, coolest, hippest methodology, or they read in a book that you can't succeed without one, or (

Google Introduces a Spreadsheet - Competition for Microsoft

2006-06-10T09:10:00.000-05:00

There's plenty of press about this one, but I thought Scoble had a good quote: I want better software. Competition brings better software. It gets product managers to worry about customers. It causes discussions of features that were long-ago decided on. If you want to see the other articles, click here. Technorati :

Read RSS on your Windows Mobile Device with AvantGo

2006-06-10T08:44:00.000-05:00

AvantGo has finally released an updated reader for Windows Mobile devices that supports RSS. Find the full story here at MSMobiles.com. Download it here. Update... June 11, 2006 This link all of a sudden made it to the front page of Digg, so I'd like to respond to some of the comments. Good wrap up of Pocket PC RSS Clients on About.com. My personal recommendations for Windows Mobile 5 RSS

Defect Count is a Constant

2006-06-10T08:42:00.000-05:00

One of the most inspirational people in software that I've come across is Jim McCarthy. I had the privilege of seeing him give a presentation, and he had a few quotes that made a lot of sense. The one that really stood out to me was "Defect count is a constant." This became very clear to me last week, as my team went through a Bug Bash. In 48 hours, we closed out over 400 defects, but the

The Value of Product Management

2006-06-10T08:32:00.000-05:00

When I started out, I thought that it was critically important for each developer to know all the ins and outs of the end user. If you are writing a financial application, the developer should be able to pass for an entry level accountant. Well, then I got into healthcare, and I realized that it's impossible for developers to know anything close to what an end user knows. This is when I saw the

Wow, this is really cool - Stream Sirius to your phone

2006-06-10T08:26:00.000-05:00

Listen to Sirius on your Windows Mobile phone. I've used this and it is very handy. Read Download Technorati : Cell Phones, Smartphone, Software, WM5, Windows Mobile

Interesting Reads

2006-06-10T08:23:00.000-05:00

I've added a link to my links section, but one blog that I've found very informative is Guy Kawasaki's (http://blog.guykawasaki.com). He has written a few books, and has plenty of experience in the VC space. He posts very frequently, here are a few of my favorite posts. Top CEO Lies - LinkTop Engineer Lies - LinkTop VC Lies - LinkScott McNealy Top 10 - Link