I have been tracking some of the project management trends and things to be avoided in development here and here; but the following story on the British National Health Program is absolutely must reading for anyone doing development work where the scale is massive and the risks are great – yeah the kind of projects you gals and guys at SAIC, IGS, EDS, Accenture and maybe Deloitte (if they let you) get involved in. Also it is absolutely must read for health care ISVs – and CIOs, if they have the time. Might want to take a glance- dont get someone to summarize it for you.
Barry Boehm and Richard Turners book Balancing Agility and Discipline by Addison Wesley suddenly is looking very good and prescient in its approach to managing risk in development. One cannot say it enough – the key in development is to achieve your goals by maximizing the reduction of the risk of not meeting those goals at every step along the way. Yep, in software development, the best offense is a good defense.
(c)JBSurveyer 2006