Time/Resources/Features

Being a PM at Microsoft boils down to being a project manager. Some PMs are really technical while others are very design focused. But, the bottom line is that we are all tasked with delivering software features that will make customers happy and thus sell.

Sometimes, our releases are more feature-driven. This means that what drives the effort is to mainly to deliver a specific, market-friendly set of features. Time is less of a concern, and resources are reasonably well known. Time is the variable that can be adjusted most easily in this type of release.

Other releases are more date-driven. This means that we target a specific date for releasing the product. Again, resources are reasonably well known and predictable (we hope), so the thing that adjusts is the feature set.

The relationship between the three looks like the image shown here:

Now, you may say: Dude, what's the big deal? Everyone knows that!

But do we? The simplicity of the model is something I find myself going back to again and again. And, undertanding how these three competing interests ultimately yield a product is not just the job of the project manager. Let's think it through.

Whatever your job is, remember this: There is no free lunch.

The CFO for a company I once worked for used to tell me: "All ideas cost money. I'm suspicious when someone proposes an idea that they claim won't cost the company money."

He was a shrewd but likeable guy with lots of business-battle scars. He had gems of wisdom that have stuck with me to this day.

What I see here at Microsoft is that sometimes people forget the triangle. I have seen people get run afowl with their manager because neither they nor their manager understood the triangle. Here's what can happen: The manager says, "Look, I need to see more A, B, and C so we can deliver this project on time."

The employee thinks it through and concludes: Well, doing A comprises 10 things (ie: I need to learn a new programming language, a new API, and write some docs). Doing B comprises 8 things (ie: I need to collaborate heavily with another time, etc.). Doing C comprises 3 things. I'd better get started.

Problem is: the employee doesn't tell the manager the real costs. The manager thinks they come at a cost that he or she believes to be accurate and known. But, the on-the-ground delivery person is working under a very different set of assumptions.

These two views are on a collision course. I can tell you who is going to win. Worse yet, the employee starts to feel pressure to work longer hours, to sacrifice more. It's a recipe for failure although the project may (but almost never does) still arrive on time with the predicted feature set.

When possible, I have advised these friends and acquaintances how to steer out of this type of situation. Like any great relationship, it requires open communication. The worst thing that can happen is when people aren't dealing with a shared pool of expectations, and they aren't talking about it. They may not even know that they have such a widely different set of expectations. They may think they are "on the same page." Surprise! They aren't.

So how do you avoid this? Here's one suggestion: Simply restate what you are hearing and what you understand. Never assume things are clear without knowing that they are clear between you.

So, as you can see, the Triangle is important for everyone. Failure to grasp its impact has consequences.

Rock Thought for the Day: I played the drums and then rocked out on my guitar last night. I was doing scales. I'm not sure why I now find them fun to practice. My Dual Rectifier was blowing the windows out, and it was fun. But, in my listening, I have been turning my attention back to some of my earliest pleasures: folk music. I bought an album for my wife: American Folk by Putumayo World Music. Shannon McNally, Nanci Griffith, Natalie Merchant, and several others make these 11 tracks far more than listenable. The liner notes confirmed what I heard in many of the songs: a huge debt to Bob Dylan that is paid by creations completely fresh, novel, and passionate.

Rock On