1. Introduction to Project Management
Chapter 1
Applied Software Project Management, Stellman & Greene

2. Good project management principles
Make sure all decisions are based on openly shared information
Don’t second guess your team member’s expertise
Introduce software quality from the very beginning of the project
Don’t impose an artificial hierarchy on the project team
Remember that the fastest way through the project is to use good engineering practices

3. A good project manager needs to...
Understand every facet of software development
Know what programmers, testers, analysts and architects do, why they are on the team, the pitfalls they may encounter, and how to avoid those pitfalls
Read and understand the documents created by the team
Provide intelligent feedback

4. Tell everyone the truth all the time
The most important principle in this book is transparency
The project can succeed if:
Decisions are based on real information gathered by the team and trusted by management
Transparency happens when information is made public and rationale behind decisions is explained

5. When faced with unrealistic deadlines, a project manager may...
Pressure the team to work late and make up time
Trim the scope
Gut quality tasks
Eliminate reviews, inspections and documentation
Stop updating the schedule

6. Establishing transparency is about...
All agreeing on:
What needs to be built
How long it will take to build it
What steps will be taken
How to know that it has been done properly

7. Trust your team Rely on the expertise of the team
No one likes to be micromanaged
...
However, one cannot blindly trust the team
Ideas need to be evaluated using sound engineering principles

8. Review Everything, Test Everything
Reviews get a bad rap
A review does two things
It prevents defects in the software
It helps the project manager gain a real, informed commitment from the team
It is always faster and cheaper to hold a review than it is to skip it
Because it is easier to fix something on paper than it is to build it first and fix it later

9. Reviews can... Catch costly errors early in the project
Foster respect among team members
Result in real team commitment to the work
Meet with much resistance!

10. Testing ... Is likely to be dismissed as unaffordable or idealistic
Must be planned from the beginning and supported through the entire project
Requires a commitment from the team to actively look for defects at every stage, in every document, and in the software

11. All software engineers are created equal
No single work product is more important than another
If any has errors, they will impact the final product
Treat all ideas as worthy, regardless of who suggests it

12. Software practices...
Must save more time than it costs to implement them
All of the effort that goes into reviews, testing, requirements, etc. positively affects the bottom line of the project
While it may be tempting to cut out the practices and concentrate on pumping out code, be strong!