Effective Software Project Management

Chapter 34. The Extreme SDPM Launching Phase

A community is like a ship, every one ought to be prepared to take the helm.

—Henrik Ibsen Norwegian playwright

Chapter Learning Objectives

After reading this chapter, you will: Understand the complications added to the Launching Phase when using an Extreme SDPM strategy Know how to launch an Extreme SDPM strategy for the INSPIRE model Know how to launch an Extreme SDPM strategy for the Flexible model

All of the Launching Phase discussion for the Linear, Incremental, Iterative, and Adaptive SDPM strategy situations apply to the Extreme SDPM strategy and will not be repeated here. (You can see Parts II, III, IV, and V earlier in the book for those discussions.) Extreme SDPM strategy projects follow the same procedures as by-the-book projects, except they repeat those procedures several times over the life of the project. Within a single repetition all of the launching activities that are done in the Linear, Incremental, Iterative, and Adaptive SDPM strategies are done in the Extreme SDPM strategy. But you do face some additional considerations. Extreme SDPM strategies focus on projects whose goal is not clearly specified and obviously whose solution is not known. The goal or solution that can be obtained is discovered in parallel.

In fact, your initial statement of the goal may not be attainable. For example, the goal is to cure cancer. That is an admirable goal, but it may not be realistic. However, you are still going to work on ...