Software Project Management For Dummies®

Chapter 18. Ten Ways to Make Your Software Project Crash and Burn

In This Chapter

• Avoiding that boring planning stuff

• Ignoring risk management

• Not relying on your team

• Building an Iron Triangle

• Keeping yourself invisible

• Making your schedules totally unrealistic

• Making sure the team loses respect for you

You can make your software project crash and burn in so many ways that limiting this chapter to just ten is difficult. Some of the forces that could terminate your project are beyond your control: Say the CIO resolves to pull the project for financial reasons; or perhaps your project sponsor decides not to sponsor the project because of political considerations. Maybe the alignment of the planets just does not make the project feasible.

In this chapter we focus on just ten ways that you — and you alone, without the intervention of the Head Honcho, project sponsor, or astrological omens — can kill a software project.

Failing to Plan

Failing to plan ahead is the most obvious way to fail. If you're looking for the quickest way to end your project, don't spend the majority of the total project time on planning. In fact, why not just avoid planning altogether? That ought to ensure that the project never takes off.

Planning is the most time‐intensive part of the project management process because it involves all of the project management knowledge areas. Planning includes creating project plans, gathering requirements, crafting communication plans, forming risk management plans, and developing quality ...