2009/9/8 Venkat Mangudi <[email protected]> > Kiran K Karthikeyan wrote: > > > projects I hire for are small (less than 10 developers) and the tech > leads > > double up as project managers in most cases and if the team grows, we get > a > > This is how projects go south. A tech lead cannot "double up" as a > project manager. A classic Indian IT situation where the developer > aspires to "grow" into a Project Manager. > > The skills needed to be a Project Manager are way different than those > needed of a Tech Lead/Architect. Creating a Gantt chart in Microsoft > Project does not mean one is equipped to become a Project Damager. In > fact, I would strongly encourage people who swear by MSP to unlearn 70% > or more of what they have learnt if they have to become successful > Project Managers. >
I prefer not making project plans. It soon becomes an overhead. Basically the tech lead estimates what needs to get done on a weekly basis and makes sure its done/adjusts next weeks plan if it doesn't get done. There are names for such an approach (SCRUM, Agile etc.), but basically its how you can avoid having to hire an experienced techie who just does MSP when you need every resource you spend money on coding. If you really need to track progress, just use a bug tracker with all features being bugs. Kiran
