I recently got a note from Jack Bicer, a friend who heads up TechBizConnection (Orange County networking group) as well as Septium (a custom software development firm). He passed along the following tips on managing a software development process. I think the list is right on target and has the advantage of being both powerful and concise.

Top 10 Tips for Successful Software Development Management

(see http://www.septium.com/10-tips.pdf for more details)

1. Understand the user’s needs, write the software specifications before coding and keep them up to date.
2. Develop the User Interface with the specifications and flush out design issues.
3. Implement risky modules early.
4. Create validation milestones, every 3 to 4 weeks.
5. Provide the necessary resources.
6. Get developer buy-in for features, timelines and milestones.
7. Keep people accountable to their commitments.
8. Resist “feature creep” during implementation and testing.
9. Use automated functional testing tools and do stress testing.
10. Under-promise, over-deliver and plan a pleasant surprise at the end.

In every project, one or more of these guidelines may be broken. A breach of a guideline does not mean a project will be unsuccessful. Other guidelines will usually pull you through and help the project succeed. It is the large number of breaches and the depth of the breaches that will create project failures.

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