The Fun of a Program ManagerOne of the secret formulas to make "better software"

Better Software - 2009 - Firenze

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About me

• Open Source

• Business Models

• Web Content Management

• Web Marketing

• Agile Management

• Social Software

• StartUps?

Entrepreneur, Managing Director, Evangelist, Networker, Father and Program Manager.

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Project ManagerWeb

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A very temporary job.Frustration, confusion

Not really quality driven

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About the FUN

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The program manager

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Similar to a Project Manager but with very different approach and experience.

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What does a program manager do?

1. Design UIs

2. Write functional specs

3. Coordinate teams

4. Serve as the customer advocate

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Beyond the single project scope

• Strategic insight

•Positive thinking

• Learning process

•Trust building

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A vision

focus, goal, objectives:

discuss, get into the context, ask the broad picture, understand,

and review.

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User Interaction11

Wireframing12

Visual design13

Architecture

Source: www.architectour.net

and refactoring

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Functional specs donts

• Focus on what

• Keep it simple for the development

• Mess with the technical implementation

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Functional specs dos• Focus on how

• Keep it simple for the user

• Share with customer and match expectations

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A good team•one program manager for every four programmers

•a program manager doesn’t care how the development team implements things internally

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Role of the Program Manager

• peer

• facilitator

• motivator

• shall NOT be the manager of the developers

“it’s absolutely critical that the program managers and developers be peers”

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Trust and respect • debates

• conflicts

• criticals

• ...build consensus and bring people together

“without it the design does not get a fair trial, and is not born out of conflict and debate, so it’s not as good as it could be”

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Love and FrustrationThe delicate balance of owning a project without really owning it.

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Credits & Resources• How to be a program manager - by Joel Spolsky

(www.joelonsoftware.com)

• Francesco Merlo (Reflab - technical leader with a wierd passion for User Interfaces)

• ChangeThis! (www.changethis.com)

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ThanksFrancesco Ciriaci

francesco@reflab.com

Twitter: fciriaciDiigo: francescociriaci

Skype: fciriaci

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