4 ms·

Which isn't realistic in some cases. For example, if the postmortem determines that project management was lacking, that traces back to somebody, even if he or

Which isn't realistic in some cases. For example, if the postmortem determines that project management was lacking, that traces back to somebody, even if he or she isn't named.

tome 8y ago
Can't you stop past blaming the project manage by analysing the reason he/she did something wrong?
- saalweachter 8y ago
  To expound, if you focus too much on “Jeff did X wrong”, the take home message of the postmortem is “don’t be Jeff”. If you focus on “trying to solve X by Y failed because Z”, you have the more generally applicable message, “don’t do Y to solve X unless you can deal with Z”. Also keep in mind that Microsoft today is a robust corporation with many jealously defended fiefdoms; carefully picking the people to throw under the bus to protect your fiefdom and attack your internal competitors’ fiefdoms is an important skill set in such an environment. You could be seeing that in this postmortem, and that is exactly what people are trying to stop by keeping postmortems “blameless”.
nradov 8y ago
But we have to look deeper. Project management doesn't exist in isolation. Any software development organization will typically have a project management office (PMO) with documented methodology, policies, procedures, templates, best practices, etc. If a particular project had poor project management then why did that happen? Did the PMO fail to provide the right resources? Is the hiring process for project managers faulty? Are we giving project managers the necessary training before assigning them to real projects? Occasionally individuals really are to blame. But organizations get better results when everyone assumes positive intent by individual employees and focuses on finding process problems.
- slededit 8y ago
  The Microsoft culture was one of fighting for your own resources. If you failed to receive them you were to blame. Bill Gates formed a highly competitive internal environment. You were expected to stand up and fight for your cause - even against BillG himself. If you were right against Bill it was extremely good for your career. This was a time where the success of a BillG review was determined by how many F-bombs came out, and it was never zero. For more information: https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2006/06/16/my-first-billg-review/ https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2006/06/16/my-first-billg-rev... Also understand MSFT culture has changed dramatically since that time. Its no longer representative of the company today.

Which isn't realistic in some cases. For example, if the postmortem determines that project management was lacking, that traces back to somebody, even if he or she isn't named.

tome 8y ago

Can't you stop past blaming the project manage by analysing the reason he/she did something wrong?

saalweachter 8y ago
To expound, if you focus too much on “Jeff did X wrong”, the take home message of the postmortem is “don’t be Jeff”. If you focus on “trying to solve X by Y failed because Z”, you have the more generally applicable message, “don’t do Y to solve X unless you can deal with Z”. Also keep in mind that Microsoft today is a robust corporation with many jealously defended fiefdoms; carefully picking the people to throw under the bus to protect your fiefdom and attack your internal competitors’ fiefdoms is an important skill set in such an environment. You could be seeing that in this postmortem, and that is exactly what people are trying to stop by keeping postmortems “blameless”.

nradov 8y ago

But we have to look deeper. Project management doesn't exist in isolation. Any software development organization will typically have a project management office (PMO) with documented methodology, policies, procedures, templates, best practices, etc. If a particular project had poor project management then why did that happen? Did the PMO fail to provide the right resources? Is the hiring process for project managers faulty? Are we giving project managers the necessary training before assigning them to real projects? Occasionally individuals really are to blame. But organizations get better results when everyone assumes positive intent by individual employees and focuses on finding process problems.

slededit 8y ago
The Microsoft culture was one of fighting for your own resources. If you failed to receive them you were to blame. Bill Gates formed a highly competitive internal environment. You were expected to stand up and fight for your cause - even against BillG himself. If you were right against Bill it was extremely good for your career. This was a time where the success of a BillG review was determined by how many F-bombs came out, and it was never zero. For more information: https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2006/06/16/my-first-billg-review/ https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2006/06/16/my-first-billg-rev... Also understand MSFT culture has changed dramatically since that time. Its no longer representative of the company today.