DZone
Thanks for visiting DZone today,
Edit Profile
  • Manage Email Subscriptions
  • How to Post to DZone
  • Article Submission Guidelines
Sign Out View Profile
  • Post an Article
  • Manage My Drafts
Over 2 million developers have joined DZone.
Log In / Join
Refcards Trend Reports
Events Video Library
Over 2 million developers have joined DZone. Join Today! Thanks for visiting DZone today,
Edit Profile Manage Email Subscriptions Moderation Admin Console How to Post to DZone Article Submission Guidelines
View Profile
Sign Out
Refcards
Trend Reports
Events
View Events Video Library
Zones
Culture and Methodologies Agile Career Development Methodologies Team Management
Data Engineering AI/ML Big Data Data Databases IoT
Software Design and Architecture Cloud Architecture Containers Integration Microservices Performance Security
Coding Frameworks Java JavaScript Languages Tools
Testing, Deployment, and Maintenance Deployment DevOps and CI/CD Maintenance Monitoring and Observability Testing, Tools, and Frameworks
Culture and Methodologies
Agile Career Development Methodologies Team Management
Data Engineering
AI/ML Big Data Data Databases IoT
Software Design and Architecture
Cloud Architecture Containers Integration Microservices Performance Security
Coding
Frameworks Java JavaScript Languages Tools
Testing, Deployment, and Maintenance
Deployment DevOps and CI/CD Maintenance Monitoring and Observability Testing, Tools, and Frameworks

Integrating PostgreSQL Databases with ANF: Join this workshop to learn how to create a PostgreSQL server using Instaclustr’s managed service

Mobile Database Essentials: Assess data needs, storage requirements, and more when leveraging databases for cloud and edge applications.

Monitoring and Observability for LLMs: Datadog and Google Cloud discuss how to achieve optimal AI model performance.

Automated Testing: The latest on architecture, TDD, and the benefits of AI and low-code tools.

Related

  • Implementing BCDR Testing in Your Software Development Lifecycle
  • Advancements in Mobile App Testing: Harnessing AI's Potential
  • Test Automation Success With Measurable Metrics
  • The Illusion of Safety: Thoughts on 100% Test Coverage

Trending

  • Five Free AI Tools for Programmers to 10X Their Productivity
  • A Better Web3 Experience: Account Abstraction From Flow (Part 1)
  • Creating a Custom Starter With Spring Boot 3
  • Information Security: AI Security Within the IoT Industry
  1. DZone
  2. Culture and Methodologies
  3. Career Development
  4. A Project Manager’s Acid Test: Fund Your Own Product

A Project Manager’s Acid Test: Fund Your Own Product

Peter Schuh user avatar by
Peter Schuh
·
Mar. 01, 11 · News
Like (0)
Save
Tweet
Share
2.73K Views

Join the DZone community and get the full member experience.

Join For Free
Do you think you are a rockstar project manager? Can you roll out an agile process and leap the tangle of legacy waterfall hurdles without breaking a sweat? Can you walk unaided from a fight club thronged with hackers, cowboy coders, support junkies and alpha heroes? Want to prove it?

I’ve got the acid test for you.

Identify a small product that you have always wanted to build. Commission something that you could use on the job or at home. It needs to be something that requires more than just you to complete. It must require a budget, paid help, realizable value, clear goals, and a plan. In other words, scope and fund your own project.

Yes. You fund the project with your own money. That’s what makes this an acid test.

For me, for example, this something is to rebuild and productize a web-application that has become a critical part of managing the rental properties my wife and I own. We have used two different prototypes over the last two years and I firmly believe this product captures a soon-to-be-ubiquitous element of property management. So I am taking the leap.

This PM acid test assesses whether you have the skill to contemplate and manage everything about your small project (and the product on which it is based). Either directly or via delegation you will need to:

  • Define your own requirements and break them into plannable features.
  • Identify a MVP (minimal viable product) and keep the project aligned to that vision.
  • Find and contract with the professionals who will complete the work.
  • Forecast and manage the development schedule.
  • Identify the technologies to use and the deployment environment.
  • Vet archiitecrure and design decisions.
  • Review all completed deliverables from a functional and technical perspectives.
  • Balance new features versus technical debt.
  • Do anything else a project manager, product manager, product owner, stakeholder or sponsor would do or delegate.

Of course you can get help on any or all of these activities. You can hire an architect to make decisions and review code. You can hire a QA professional to write scripts and run tests. But you still need to acclimate these professionals to your product and vision. And any additional hands will cut into your budget.

Even when delegating you still need to preform an informed review of all significant work products. Delegation without review is an elephant trap.

The only certainty around this acid test is that something will go badly. If you hire four contractors at least one will be a dud – you’ll pay someone to clean up that mess. Your own conception (and delivered specs) of the system will never be free of potholes – someone will need to go back and patch those, or dig up the road and start over. And your vision of the product will never be communicated so clearly as to avoid every misstep – that’s more rework still.

You will need to be on top of everything. Or you can sit back and watch Team Burn Rate blow half your budget in two weeks. Whenever anything goes wrong it will be your fault. You did not give clear requirements. You hired the wrong person. You changed your mind. You let one decision sit too long and made another decision too early. You let a technical issue sit unaddressed as it smoldered its way through your release timeline.

Can you complete a releasable version of your own, personably-funded product before you cut off the money supply because you can’t lose any more? That’s why it is an acid test.

Testing Project manager

Published at DZone with permission of Peter Schuh, DZone MVB. See the original article here.

Opinions expressed by DZone contributors are their own.

Related

  • Implementing BCDR Testing in Your Software Development Lifecycle
  • Advancements in Mobile App Testing: Harnessing AI's Potential
  • Test Automation Success With Measurable Metrics
  • The Illusion of Safety: Thoughts on 100% Test Coverage

Comments

Partner Resources

X

ABOUT US

  • About DZone
  • Send feedback
  • Careers
  • Sitemap

ADVERTISE

  • Advertise with DZone

CONTRIBUTE ON DZONE

  • Article Submission Guidelines
  • Become a Contributor
  • Visit the Writers' Zone

LEGAL

  • Terms of Service
  • Privacy Policy

CONTACT US

  • 3343 Perimeter Hill Drive
  • Suite 100
  • Nashville, TN 37211
  • support@dzone.com

Let's be friends: