I’ve been thinking about process a lot recently. Yes, I am still an independent developer but I do feel that working every project differently, though it does allow me to keep clients very happy, is not as efficient as having some kind of overarching process that is applicable to all my projects.
I’ve tried this before with Waterfall and it quickly broke down; individuals who were new to managing a tech project felt overwhelmed and a bit caged in the the reverence for the spec. So, I moved to what I considered a version of Agile, but I am not happy with how fluid specs become and recently a project got somewhat out of hand.
What was interesting about my dip into Agile is how out of control small adaptations become when you do not have a team to slow you down. The project’s scope did not just jump all at once, it creeped inch by inch until the project I was coding was radically different, larger, and more complex than the one that I had agreed to do. You can imagine how the creeping scope discussion went.
Hard Code, which I read over my recent vacation, devotes a significant number of pages to what can loosely be defined as “process.” Of course, this makes sense for a company as large as Microsoft. Yet it got me thinking about my own process issues. At Microsoft the entire development cycle is tightly managed by the company’s process. Obviously, their process is not advisable to a small organization but the focus on process certainly is.
So, now I found myself on a quest for a new project management process. In short I would to have the firm spec of Waterfall with the adaptability of Agile; I would particularly like something similar to Agile but more appropriate for a lone developer. Any suggestions? Comment below.
