Description:
A major New York City Publishing company is looking for a SDLC Project Manager.

The ideal candidate will have the following experience:

• At least 3 years of experience as SDLC Project Manager
• Strong written and verbal communication skills
• Interest in Math & Science

Great team environment, Great company, Great Benefits!

Notes (+ next steps):
- Send an email with your resume to varunpoddar@poddarco.com
- This is not a job posting to work with PoddarCo; it has been posted on behalf of a recruiting company.  So please save job-related questions for the recruiter. A member of our team will forward your email to the recruiting company that owns the job posting. You will be copied on the email forwarded to the recruiter.
- To ensure the most recent and perhaps active job postings get prompt attention, only responses within 30 days of the posting date will be forwarded.
- This process may change at any time; any changes to the process will be posted on the blog.

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Description:
Our client provides high availability web content solutions for Fortune 500 media companies. Currently they are seeking a highly skilled JAVA / J2EE Technical lead to join the company. This job requires a candidate to have 6-8 years professional experience developing highly scalable and high availability websites and web applications. The core technologies required include; JAVA / J2EE, Spring, Hibernate, JavaScript and JQuery. Experience with various CMS systems is a must. This company will work with various CMS packages to include open source and proprietary systems. In addition to your technical experience this candidate will be focused on all layers of the web applications development and all aspects of the development life cycle.

The person should be comfortable with the following skills; requirements gathering, architecture, design, coding, testing, business analysis and reporting. Because our client is a solutions provider the job has a heavy client facing aspect so people should be comfortable working directly with external business units. You will also be leading smaller teams from a technology aspect and will have the responsibility to mentor more junior programmers and application developers.

This company will offer and excellent career path to lead projects independently and have staff reporting to them. The career path for this company does not stray away from core technology aspect. As you grow in the company you will always be “hands-on” with the development life-cycle even at a management level. The company offers an excellent salary and compensation package that is based on experience. This is a fulltime job in the New York City office of this company. All clients are based in Manhattan and the job will require very little travel. Projects are long term with continued communication and client engagement.

Notes (+ next steps):
- Send an email with your resume to varunpoddar@poddarco.com
- This is not a job posting to work with PoddarCo; it has been posted on behalf of a recruiting company.  So please save job-related questions for the recruiter. A member of our team will forward your email to the recruiting company that owns the job posting. You will be copied on the email forwarded to the recruiter.
- To ensure the most recent and perhaps active job postings get prompt attention, only responses within 30 days of the posting date will be forwarded.
- This process may change at any time; any changes to the process will be posted on the blog.

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Processes should exist as a catalyst for getting work done, not to slow it down. Checks and balances are needed to ensure nothing slips through the cracks, not to cover one team’s tracks so the next in line can be blamed. Documentation is prepared to pave the way for others who follow, not to constrain projects till every excruciating detail is noted.  Dates are necessary for planning, scheduling resources and aligning other work, but need to be kept real.

Some PMs get caught up in demanding these elements from their teams. Releases don’t get scheduled till project codes, install instructions, help guides, dev complete dates, QA completion notices, team-to-team hand off meetings, multi-layered sign-offs and varied support procedures among other things are in place. By then the business (client) needs move on, project demands change, resources shift.

It’s here that a customer focus plays a crucial role.  It doesn’t matter if the clients are internal stakeholders, end-users or external organizations and businesses. A client focus can shed new light on questions like – how can the process minimize redundancy and overhead while maximizing productivity and utilization? Does the process have to be so standardized? One size does not fit all; where can you make the process flexible so work gets done more efficiently, productively and quickly?

My two cents in conclusion: question the rigidity of processes and other must-haves; be alert to these things when they start becoming roadblocks. Also, take a page out of agile project management methodologies as they can really help address some of the concerns highlighted here (more on that in future posts).

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Role:
- Take a leadership role in the integration of the client’s sophisticated point solutions with their customers’ enterprise applications
-Convert customer business problems and use cases into detailed product requirements in order for software development to build superior products and features.
- Create and deliver technical materials to ensure other company functions are ready for new product releases, including Professional Services, Customer Support Sales and Training.
-Provide secondary support to technical pre-sales consultants and professional services. Develop product demonstrations to be used by the field sales teams

Ideal Candidate Profile:
-5+ years experience implementing software integration projects for a software company or consulting firm
-Strong knowledge of common IT technologies including portals, business intelligence, web services, Enterprise Application Integration, databases and Windows operating systems
-Prefer experience in software and product design, user interface design, storyboarding, focus groups, product requirements documentation, product requirements gathering
-Experience in associated areas such as technical service delivery, technical sales, R&D a plus
-Based in Boston, MA or able to move there at own expense. US citizens or US Permanent Residents only please.

Notes (+ next steps):
- Send an email with your resume to varunpoddar@poddarco.com
- This is not a job posting to work with PoddarCo; it has been posted on behalf of a recruiting company.  So please save job-related questions for the recruiter. A member of our team will forward your email to the recruiting company that owns the job posting. You will be copied on the email forwarded to the recruiter.
- To ensure the most recent and perhaps active job postings get prompt attention, only responses within 30 days of the posting date will be forwarded.
- This process may change at any time; any changes to the process will be posted on the blog.

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As I may have hinted on some posts, I enjoy photography.  So thought I’d post a link to some of my photographs.

http://photo.net/photos/poddarco

Feel free to share your thoughts – any feedback / critique is always welcome!  If you want to share some of your photographs, send me the link.  Would be nice to see you through a different “lens”…look forward to hearing from you!

Cheers!
-V

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For those interested in reading more about Scrum, read this guide (it’s an excellent intro and overview): http://www.scrum.org/scrumguides/

Cheers!
-V

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There is an increasing level of buzz regarding what Scrum can and cannot do, and how it is similar to or different from other project management methodologies.  I have to admit that enforcing Scrum’s guidelines or building processes around Agile concepts has been easier in small teams and start-up companies than in large corporations.

I’ll elaborate on the challenges, what worked and what did not work in future posts.  In brief some of the main challenges included (1) an inability to integrate post-development activities such as QA/testing and release management fully into the sprint cycle, (2) the product owner and scrum master roles spilling over one another (also the product owner getting over loaded) and (3) various aspects of the organizational culture and business realities becoming not necessarily blocks, but valid constraints.

Anyway, lately, I have been considering signing up for a CSM (Certified Scrum Master) course, in the hope of learning something new and exchanging experiences with others.  I wonder what challenges other people have had in implementing Scrum or other Agile methods, and what can I fit into my practice to help clients better incorporate these methods into their process.

If you’d like to share your experience using Scrum, feel free to comment or drop me an email at varunpoddar@poddarco.com

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Sreedharan’s very high integrity, single minded commitment to work, managerial acumen and punctuality set him apart.  He creates a conducive and professional work culture, picking up the right people, motivating and rewarding them.  This, along with the freedom to innovate and no punishment for unintentional mistakes, make the employees put up their best show even with governmental salaries.

Just thought I’d share with everyone…

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Scoping and budgeting are integral to any software release or project.  One month’s left in the calendar year, and 40% of the budget is still there to spend or lose. That doesn’t mean you rush order more hardware than you planned for.  Or you cram many extra features through development even if you don’t have the requirements flushed out or the developers / testers available.  Use left-over funds judiciously and plan project spend/cash-flow for the next year better.

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Some PMs get caught up in demanding these elements from their teams and resources. Releases don’t get scheduled till project codes, install instructions, help guides, dev complete dates, QA completion notices, team-to-team hand off meetings, multi-layered sign-offs and varied support procedures among other things are in place. By then the business (client) needs move on, project demands change, resources shift.

It’s here that a customer focus plays a crucial role.  A customer focus can shed new light on questions like – how can the process minimize redundancy and overhead while maximizing productivity and utilization? Does the process have to be so standardized? Where can you make the process flexible?

My two cents in conclusion: question the rigidity of processes and other must-haves; be alert to these things when they start becoming roadblocks.

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Some of the major changes in the beta-2 version of the wiki are

• Redesigned the layout
• Minimized the number of pages making it easier to get to content quickly
• Opened access to edit the home page to those that request such access
• Took greater security measures to minimize comment spam and fake Wiki pages

Cheers

-V

As the first step, I suggest understanding how a project traverses through its various stages, i.e. Initiation, Planning, Execution, Monitoring & Control and Closing; know what the goal of each phase is so you can better lead the team towards accomplishing that goal. I stress goal and not all the inputs, outputs and processes described by various methodologies. Regardless of whether you follow Agile, PMBOK, PRINCE or Waterfall approaches, projects follow a few basics: person-A dreams up a project for person-B to execute. Person-B needs to figure out how to organize the resources at his or her disposal to get the work done per person-A’s expectations. This entails reporting the vital stats at periodic intervals, and ensuring there are no loose ends. So read the theory behind what goes into a project’s beginning, middle and end, glean from that theory the practical insights that fit your environment and understand what your role is in facilitating the project through its life cycle.

Leadership, documentation and communication are probably three of the most basic skills needed to run projects successfully. From a documentation perspective, understand what are the needs of the project, of the team and of the sponsors. Some projects and sponsors will expect daily updates, others weekly. Some teams will warrant meeting and following up daily, others work better when left alone. Every project is different. This is where your leadership, communication and documentation intersect to produce what’s in the best interest of the project. At the least, know what goes into a project charter or some form of a project definition document, a status report, an issue log, a risk log and of course a project schedule. Familiarize yourself with the basics of risk identification, activity and resource scheduling, requirements capture and problem solving. Another important basic skill is being able to lead meetings whether they be weekly status calls, kick off meetings, client onsite discussions or steering committee calls. I have been quite surprised by how many PMs don’t know how to lead meetings effectively and efficiently.

IMO, intermediate project management skills focus on more elaborate risk management, issue management, team building, basic budget tracking, scope management, stakeholder management and facilitating proper project closure. Advanced project management includes budget control, detailed risk analysis, cost estimating, tracking project performance metrics through earned value management and other techniques, developing better forecasting skills and honing your project management style using a blend of best practices and methodologies. Check back again in the next few days for more posts on this theme. Btw, thanks to Soma B who unknowingly helped me get started on this series of posts…!

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Often some PMs get excited about leaving their existing projects to pursue new ones, thus leaving the transitioning-in PM perplexed and crying mercy.  Here’s a suggested checklist of transitional items both PMs might want to explore to enable a successful and seamless transition:

• Provide a helicopter view of the project, its predecessors and successors, its past, present and future. Aim of this is to allow someone new to the project to grasp the big picture and understand where and how this particular project fits in the larger scheme of things.

• Provide functional overview – what are the main needs, requirements and goals this project aims to address

• Provide project status (including but not limited to issues, action items, risks) and share some lessons learned in managing the project thus far

• Provide team overview (Objective) – which teams are involved, how many resources are there, how are they allocated and who are the team leads if applicable.

• Provide team overview (Subjective) – which teams or team members work well independently vs. which require continuous follow up.  Any team that has consistently been late, blocked or resource starved?

• Provide architecture/infrastructure/technical overview if applicable

• Provide stakeholder/sponsor overview (Objective and Subjective) – who are the stakeholders and sponsors, what are their expectations, how easy or difficult are they to manage, what matters to them most (quality, timely delivery, frequent status updates, preference for details or high levels)

• Information on continuation of existing meetings

By no means is this list exhaustive, but just a compilation of things that came to mind at the time of writing.  Please feel free to add to this.  Once there is some input from others, I’ll summarize the checklist items in a word document under the Templates or Wiki section.

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In my career, I have seen numerous PMs follow either of the two approaches, and be equally successful in their projects.  So ultimately it boils down to many factors, one of which is leadership.  I have found myself to be more trusting of people, so I tend to hold teams accountable for what I need from them (=deliverable) when (=milestone); how they get there (=the tasks) is to a certain extent, their team leader’s responsibility and accountability.  I find task level project plans either too narrowly focused or so detailed that the message gets lost.  A key attribute of preparing a project plan is to give all team members a perspective on how their individual efforts add up to the whole.  Everyone should understand what role they play, when their deliverables are due, what the dependencies are and what the impact of any delays on their part will be.

Often tasks may get delayed, dropped or re-assigned.  Deliverables and milestones however are integral to the project.  Even if the tasks leading up to the milestones change, the milestones still need to be met to satisfy the project needs and timelines.  This makes maintaining and tracking project dates much easier when the project is led by managing the deliverables and milestones.  Further if a task is delayed, there might be options to still make the deliverable date by adding another resource or working extra hours.  On the other hand, one benefit of tracking at task level is that with certain teams, it is the only way you will find out that a deliverable might get delayed before the deliverable due date because you know that a task leading to that deliverable has been delayed.  Whether that warrants a task level project plan or not becomes a situational decision at that point.  I tend to circumvent this issue by asking questions leading to this sort of information during the regular status calls, but keeping my project plans focused on deliverables and milestones.

In conclusion, my two cents: as the PM, while you need to be in tune with tasks that get delayed and try to contain them, preparing project plans and managing teams based on deliverables and milestones may make you more productive and your teams, more independent and accountable.

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The message through this illustration is pretty simple – minimize the number of meetings needed, invite only those whose participation is required, and lead meetings with a purpose.  Realize that at times going back n forth on a particular thought, idea, requirement, task or issue may not even be worth everyone’s time.  By this I am not suggesting don’t discuss these items; by all means discuss them but tune yourself to see when the discussion turns into a futile battle of wits and as the PM or meeting facilitator step in when the need arises.  Stress this point to the attendees and refocus the group, trying to lead the discussion to a firm decision either by consensus, compromise or authority.

Off late, I have seen numerous organizations continue to lay off employees even though the work load has increased significantly.  So, as organizations strive to get more out of each employee, and try to boost productivity, it is even more crucial to be judicious with the use of everyone’s time.  Treat it like a scarce commodity and spend it wisely.

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