Hollywood Secrets of Project Management Success

Chapter 14. Cut as You Go

When IT projects get into trouble, the contributing factor that’s most readily identified is defects. Having to fix defects is the major reason why schedules and budgets get extended. Rework almost always necessitates new cycles of definition, development, and verification. Most IT shops rely on testing activities to uncover defects. At the same time, most IT shops treat testing as an end-of-cycle activity—that is, one that occurs near the end of production processes. The trouble with this approach is that defects aren’t discovered until late in the game, when there may not be adequate time or resources left to address them all. Furthermore, when discovery happens late in the process, the true depth of the problem may ...