Peter Clark

Projects involving subcontracts have their own special kinds of risks and problems. In this column, Peter Clark offers advice on how to use leverage and visibility to minimize the risks and help ensure the successful delivery of the required scope when working with subcontractors.

Peter Clark's company recently embarked on a "Lean Office" initiative. Now, Peter thinks many of you have steam shooting out of your ears just from reading those words. You probably think that it is just another lame management initiative that will take valuable time away from what is really important: coding and (maybe) testing. But in this week's column, Peter explains why this is the best initiative yet.

There are several topics that can trigger near religious fervor in software developers--languages, indentation, and comments come immediately to mind. One of Peter Clark's personal favorites is the relationship of issue priority to issue severity in defect tracking systems. Just what the heck do all those levels mean, anyway? In this week's column, Peter describes a solution that his company devised to clearly define the characteristics of severity and priority and help them better understand how the two work together.

Scheduling a project can become a comedy of errors if you don't remember to plug in all the necessary pieces. In this week's column, Peter Clark takes us to a project kick-off meeting and shows us how to spot several common mistakes people make when creating project schedules.

Trust must be earned in any relationship; it is not automatic nor can it be assumed. You only learn how much you can trust someone over a period of time. The same principle rings true in project management. In this week's column, Peter Clark shares a valuable lesson for project managers and other management professionals, demonstrating that a healthy level of paranoia must precede openness. If openness is premature, one's trust could prove to be unfounded in the end.

Sometimes the best thing that can be said during a confrontation is nothing at all. But if you're forced to respond, just promise that you'll get back to the situation at a better time. In this week's column, Peter Clark recalls a time when a competitor completely extinguished any chances of striking a business deal by letting his temper flare...in front of an audience during a teleconference call. From that incident, Peter learned to recognize when people are dangerously reaching their breaking points. No longer intimidated by temperamental barks, Peter explains how he keeps his cool during battle.

When your idea of a completed task is significantly different from that of your team's members, you're asking for trouble. In this week's column, Peter Clark outlines some steps you can take to ensure that everyone on your team understands your expectations when you ask them if they're "done."

A cautious project manager knows that all projects are at risk of failure. This week, Peter Clark explains how taking the time to leave a formal trail of communication between you and your customers can lead to a fairy-tale ending.