The Math Behind Project Scheduling, Bug Tracking, and Triage
Avery Pennarun (via Hacker News):
Many projects have poorly defined (and often overridden) priorities, hopelessly optimistic schedules, and overflowing bug trackers that are occasionally purged out of frustration in a mysterious process called “bug bankruptcy.” But a few projects seem to get everything right. What’s the difference? Avery collected the best advice from the best-running teams at Google, then tried to break down why that advice works—using math, psychology, an ad-hoc engineer simulator (SimSWE), and pages torn out of Agile Project Management textbooks.
We’ll answer questions like:
- Why are my estimates always too optimistic, no matter how pessimistic I make them?
- How many engineers have to come to the project planning meetings?
- Why do people work on tasks that aren’t on the schedule?
- What do I do when new bugs are filed faster than I can fix them?
- Should I make one release with two features or two releases with one new feature each?
- If my bug tracker is already a hopeless mess, how can I clean it up without going crazy or declaring bankruptcy?
