The whole category in one page.
WRITE DOWN WHAT IS OUT OF SCOPE, NOT ONLY WHAT IS IN IT
Unstated exclusions are assumed to be included, and scope causes more project failures than any other single factor. Training, documentation, data migration and post-delivery support are the ones always assumed.
BREAK WORK DOWN UNTIL EACH TASK TAKES DAYS, NOT WEEKS
Long tasks hide their status. Track tasks completed rather than percentages, because a percentage can be inflated and a finished task cannot.
ESTIMATE EFFORT AND DURATION SEPARATELY
Two days of work can take two weeks. Ask the person doing it for a best, likely and bad case — a wide spread means the work is not understood well enough to estimate yet.
PUT CONTINGENCY AT PROJECT LEVEL, NOT INSIDE EACH TASK
Padding individual estimates hides the buffer and it gets consumed anyway.
EVERY FAILED PROJECT WAS VISIBLY IN TROUBLE BEFORE ANYONE SAID SO
Make early warning safe. Where reporting problems is punished, they surface at the deadline instead.
ADDING PEOPLE LATE MAKES THINGS SLOWER, NOT FASTER
Reducing scope is the most reliable recovery. Never silently reduce quality — it costs more when it is discovered.
RAISE DELAYS THE DAY YOU KNOW, WITH A REVISED DATE YOU ARE CONFIDENT IN, BECAUSE A SECOND MISSED DATE DESTROYS CREDIBILITY
RECORD DECISIONS AND THEIR REASONS, BECAUSE THEY ARE QUESTIONED MONTHS LATER BY PEOPLE WHO WERE NOT THERE
AND FINISH FEWER THINGS AT ONCE, SINCE WORK IN PROGRESS DELIVERS NOTHING UNTIL IT COMPLETES
