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I've been doing a project plan for the next couple of months.
Who says there's no place for creative writing in this business.
Seriously..I've seen managers from my last 5 or more gigs produce project
plans and until this gig, never saw one that knew what he/she was doing.
That changed with this one. I gotta admit. When I got here in August, my
manager had a project plan for the project for which I was hired, along with
5 developers. Yes, it was updated almost every day. However, using the plan,
the finish date didn't end of changing much. Tasks within the project were
shuffled, moved, condensed, expanded, etc. Within at most a couple of weeks
from the original date, the new system was rolled out and it worked. Right
from the first day. I was impressed.
Now...was it because of the plan? I'd say not. However, what the plan did do
was keep higher management appraised of what was going on, leaving us to do
what we needed to do.
So...the question. Does anyone start a project with a really detailed
project plan...every task accounted for? If so, what has your experience
been and what techniques did you employ to keep it in sync with what you are
doing on a daily basis.
BTW...I know there are going to be those who react to this emotionally.
"Plan? Plan? I don need no steeeenkin plan. I'm experienced and it will
stifle my creativity" That's fine. I expect it.
John Posada
Senior Technical Writer
Barnes&Noble.com
jposada -at- book -dot- com
212-414-6656
icq: 178047452
aim: jposada1
"Here lies the body of William Jay.
Who died maintaining his right of way-
He was right, dead right, as he sped along
But he's just as dead as if he were wrong
----The Boston Transcript"
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