January 26th, 2008 by admin | No Comments »
So very often we have been frustrated because the manager does not take the obvious path to solve a problem. Rather they tend to take a complicated path, that just aggravates the problem. Like when a project is behind the schedule and the project manager goes out and brings 5 more resources after much fight. If anything it just increases the level of confusion.
In this wonderful post about the mythical man month, Sulkshan talks about how “Assigning more programmers to a project running behind schedule, shall make it even more late“. Then why do the project managers put in more people into a project running late? He might not have read the book but if he has spent anytime in software development, then he has definitely experienced a similar situation.
To understand why managers behave the wat they do, just put yourself in the shoes of a manager. Now assume that your project is running behind schedule. Your manager asks why it is running short and what you are doing about it. The truth is you goofed up and you have no clue about how to fix it. You know it but do you admit it in front of your boss? No way. So you come up with the standard answer that you were given fewer resources than required, that some of your key people left in the middle of the project and without your brilliance the project would have been much more behind the schedule. See you have now converted an adversity into an opportunity to prove how smart you are 
Since the project was delayed because of lack of man power, the natural solution is to put more people onto it.
Even the project manager knows that putting more people onto the project will not solve the issue. But the problem is he does not know what will solve the problem. Any clues from your experience??
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