Most large scale IT/Software Development/Implementation/Integration projects have a potential to contain a number of challenges. We need to anticipate these challenges ahead of time and have a plan, if possible, to mitigate them before they occur and to effectively deal with them if/when they do occur. Here I categorize a few of issues that I…
The above question was presented to me as part of the evaluation process for my suitability for being the CTO of a company in Washington, DC. I will answer this question in the context of technology workers. My guess is that similar strategy may also work for other creative and knowledge workers but I do…
I have been asked this question a number of times during job interviews and in various professional gatherings. Almost everyone I have talked to agrees that offering higher salary is not the best approach. This seems to baffle some non-technical managers but happens to be true. Offering higher salary does not increase technology worker’s productivity…
It makes my blood boil, makes me groan in agony and disgust to read job requirements which go like this: Must be an expert in xyz technology (it could be anything from SQL Server, ASP.NET, C++, Java, Oracle, J2EE, PeopleSoft, SAP etc.) Must have at least x-years of <domain> industry experience, where domain could be financial,…
How can a one measure overall performance of the software engineering teams and track it over a period of time to ensure continuous improvement? It boils down to defining a number of metrics and tracking those metrics on a regular basis. Here are a few I have found useful: Number of new issues opened in…
Abstract The problem of pricing software is tricky when it comes to accounting for relevant costs which must be considered in order to maximize profit. Most pricing literature assumes software costs as sunk costs and hence models pricing software as a pure selling problem. While this may be true for packaged software products for the…
There are many believes about how to keep the team motivated such that everyone strives to do better everyday. A couple of months ago I read an HBR article on this subject, which prompted me to give it some thought. In the end, I concurred with the article’s findings and was able to adapt it…