The Deal
Yeah. New jobs are tough. There's an adjustment period where everything sucks and you're trying to catch up. My new job has that and more.
Not only is the job new, but the product we're building is new. The team that is building it is new. The technology we're using is also new.
We have a deadline of Dec. 08 to have it completed and released. In software product development cycles, that puts code freeze (the point where we stop coding functionality) somewhere around September. Between that point and December, it's all testing and code correction.
It's now March and we've yet to complete a design. The product we're building sort of exists in another product owned by our company. That product has forty screens for just one of its features. We'll have that and more.
Our product manager really knows the business we're trying to serve, but knows very little about our own business. He doesn't know how (or doesn't want to) to create the proper documentation and designs we need to build the document. We don't have a Feature List (list of functionality we'll support) or Use Cases (descriptions of how users will use our software to conduct their business). Yet he thinks he's smart enough to criticize database models and we're smart enough to build his "Master Product" from the thoughts in his head.
Our Business Analyst is his brother. He too knows nothing of software development. I spend more time explaining how software works to him then he explains how our new product works to me.
Our development team is completely new. Of the fifteen people we have, only three of us have worked with each other before. Under normal conditions, a brand new development team is a tricky thing. You have no idea what peoples skill sets and performance abilities really are. Sure they passed the interview with flying colors, but give them an IDE (programming tool), a design and see what happens. Under our current conditions there's no time for training, mentoring, or even explanation. We need results and we needed them two weeks ago. So far what we've gotten are a few gems, but mostly build errors and dumbfounded looks.
I was hired to lead the UI (user interface) development. The UI technology we're using is completely new. It's another project owned by our company, but it's development, though ahead of us, is in its infancy. It's incomplete and inconsistent. It requires a lot of extra work to figure it out and make it do simple things like delete a record - extra work our developers are unwilling or incapable of doing (more dumbfounded looks). After spending six to eight hours in design meetings with the product manager and his brother the BA, I end up spending another two to four hours trying to catch up the lack of UI development.
This product will go one of three ways. It could fail and never see the light of day taking my job with it. It could squeak out by the skin of its teeth barely functional and hardly usable. It could be a great success and I get promoted to lead another new product development team.
So it's more then just a new job. It's a bomb slowly exploding in our faces each day till we hit September and there's nothing left.
We can't get another product manager. It's too late and they're very hard to come by. Hiring a second Business Analyst has proven hard enough.
Hiring more developers is a crap shoot. Throwing more resources at something doesn't alway fix it. Instead of having three useless developers, we could end up with nine.
Getting an extension on our deadline has been mentioned, but we've also been told not to count on it.
Quitting is an option, but going back to my old job no longer is. I figure if it's either quitting or losing my job, I'll stick around. There's got to be something I can learn from one of the many hats I've been wearing to positively apply somewhere else down the road.
- b
Not only is the job new, but the product we're building is new. The team that is building it is new. The technology we're using is also new.
We have a deadline of Dec. 08 to have it completed and released. In software product development cycles, that puts code freeze (the point where we stop coding functionality) somewhere around September. Between that point and December, it's all testing and code correction.
It's now March and we've yet to complete a design. The product we're building sort of exists in another product owned by our company. That product has forty screens for just one of its features. We'll have that and more.
Our product manager really knows the business we're trying to serve, but knows very little about our own business. He doesn't know how (or doesn't want to) to create the proper documentation and designs we need to build the document. We don't have a Feature List (list of functionality we'll support) or Use Cases (descriptions of how users will use our software to conduct their business). Yet he thinks he's smart enough to criticize database models and we're smart enough to build his "Master Product" from the thoughts in his head.
Our Business Analyst is his brother. He too knows nothing of software development. I spend more time explaining how software works to him then he explains how our new product works to me.
Our development team is completely new. Of the fifteen people we have, only three of us have worked with each other before. Under normal conditions, a brand new development team is a tricky thing. You have no idea what peoples skill sets and performance abilities really are. Sure they passed the interview with flying colors, but give them an IDE (programming tool), a design and see what happens. Under our current conditions there's no time for training, mentoring, or even explanation. We need results and we needed them two weeks ago. So far what we've gotten are a few gems, but mostly build errors and dumbfounded looks.
I was hired to lead the UI (user interface) development. The UI technology we're using is completely new. It's another project owned by our company, but it's development, though ahead of us, is in its infancy. It's incomplete and inconsistent. It requires a lot of extra work to figure it out and make it do simple things like delete a record - extra work our developers are unwilling or incapable of doing (more dumbfounded looks). After spending six to eight hours in design meetings with the product manager and his brother the BA, I end up spending another two to four hours trying to catch up the lack of UI development.
This product will go one of three ways. It could fail and never see the light of day taking my job with it. It could squeak out by the skin of its teeth barely functional and hardly usable. It could be a great success and I get promoted to lead another new product development team.
So it's more then just a new job. It's a bomb slowly exploding in our faces each day till we hit September and there's nothing left.
We can't get another product manager. It's too late and they're very hard to come by. Hiring a second Business Analyst has proven hard enough.
Hiring more developers is a crap shoot. Throwing more resources at something doesn't alway fix it. Instead of having three useless developers, we could end up with nine.
Getting an extension on our deadline has been mentioned, but we've also been told not to count on it.
Quitting is an option, but going back to my old job no longer is. I figure if it's either quitting or losing my job, I'll stick around. There's got to be something I can learn from one of the many hats I've been wearing to positively apply somewhere else down the road.
- b
posted by JenBob at
8:33 AM
4 Comments:
Wow, that is a lot. I feel for, good luck. i hope you pull it together, at least get it going in the right direction, so you can ride again.
Need any temp programmers.
Call me for advice and counseling. Your situation is very fixable, but you don't have much time. Main issue is to get a CLEAR and UNAMBIGUOUS definition of: the problem you're trying to solve first, then the solution you're proposing to solve it. But do them in that order. Otherwise you're f'd.
OMR
I've been trying to manage the same project for over 4 years... May your pain end quickly.
Jeff
Post a Comment
<< Home