Product Description

Historically, all software projects have involved a certain degree of risk and pressure -- but many of the projects in today's chaotic business environment involve such intense pressure that they are referred to colloquially as "death-march" projects -- i.e., projects whose schedules are so compressed, and/or whose budgets, or resource (people) assignments are so constrained, that the only "obvious" way to succeed is for the entire team to work 16 hours a day, 7 days a week, with no vacations until the project is finished. While the corporate goal of such projects is to overcome impossible odds and achieve miracles, the personal goal of the project manager and team members often shrinks down to mere survival: keeping one's job, maintaining some semblance of a relationship with one's spouse and children, and avoiding a heart attack or ulcer. This new and thoroughly-updated edition of Ed Yourdon's book takes into account many of the changes that have taken place in the more than six years since the publication of the first edition.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #179951 in Books
• Published on: 2003-11-20
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

From the Back Cover

Death MarchSecond Edition

The #1 guide to surviving "doomed" projects...Fully updated and expanded, with powerful new techniques!

At an alarming rate, companies continue to create death-march projects, repeatedly! What's worse is the amount of rational, intelligent people who sign up for a death-march projectsaeprojects whose schedules, estimations, budgets, and resources are so constrained or skewed that participants can hardly survive, much less succeed. In Death March, Second Edition, Ed Yourdon sheds new light on the reasons why companies spawn Death Marches and provides you with guidance to identify and survive death march projects.

Yourdon covers the entire project lifecycle, systematically addressing every key issue participants face: politics, people, process, project management, and tools. No matter what your role--developer, project leader, line-of-business manager, or CxO--you'll find realistic, usable solutions. This edition's new and updated coverage includes:

• Creating Mission Impossible projects out of DM projects

• Negotiating your project's conditions: making the best of a bad situation

• XP, agile methods, and death march projects

• Time management for teams: eliminating distractions that can derail your project

• "Critical chain scheduling": identifying and eliminating organizational dysfunction

• Predicting the "straw that breaks the camel's back": lessons from system dynamics

• Choosing tools and methodologies most likely to work in your environment

• Project "flight simulators": wargaming your next project

• Applying triage to deliver the features that matter most

• When it's time to walk away

This isn't a book about perfectly organized projects in "textbook" companies. It's about your project, in your company. But you won't just recognize your reality: you'll learn exactly what to do about it.

About the Author

EDWARD YOURDON has been called one of the ten most influential people in software, and has been inducted into the Computer Hall of Fame alongside Charles Babbage, Seymour Cray, James Martin, Grace Hopper, and Bill Gates. An internationally recognized consultant, he is author or coauthor of more than 25 books, including Byte Wars, Managing High-Intensity Internet Projects, and Decline and Fall of the American Programmer. He co-developed the popular Coad/Yourdon methodology, co-founded the influential Cutter Consortium Business Technology Council, and serves on the Board of Directors of iGate and Mascot Systems.

Customer Reviews

Know how to spot em -- if you must: know how to handle em
Death March is a pretty light and easy read - fairly thin too so borrow it off someone for the w/e and read it! Time well spent for anyone with an interest/involvement in non-trivial sized IT projects. It's not aimed at but is very relevant to any attempted .com style startup as well as companies that are involved in or undertake several month+ IT projects.
This book works to define a class of projects/endeavours that are almost asking to fail -- looks at classifying this helpfully and what the pros and cons might be for being in various types of these projects (some can be very trying but enjoyable heroic efforts if you're into that kind of thing). It gives good advice on how to spot and classify these types of projects and gives good warning for those heading towards one. And for those who have no choice or leap into them with giddy abandon: it gives very useful advice on both surviving them and raising you c. 1% success rate to 10% ;)

A worth while read ... starts slow but finishes with panache
The book had been highly recommended to me by a colleague but I struggled somewhat with the drab content of the first 2 chapters. With those out of the way, the pace quickened and the content engaged. Expect no gold nuggets to solve your current problems but find small gems to help avoid such pitfalls in future projects. A worthwhile and thought provoking read ... I was surprised to be the first reviewer!

Don't panic: there is light at the end of the tunnel
I was delighted to discover that none of my current projects fall into the 'death march' category; at least not as defined by Yourdon (one of my favorite gurus). So you too may be surprised; things may not be as bad as you fear. And if they are, then at least you will have the comfort that you are not alone. Yourdon offers some good advice, especially on the importance of managing Requirements and managing risk. I particularly liked the concept of concentrating on the 'top ten' risks to the project. This is an easy read, gratifyingly low on detail but with enough substance to stimulate the thought processes. One of the few books on Project Management that I've read cover to cover.