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in reply to Re: Making the Business Case for Developer-Run Development
in thread Making the Business Case for Developer-Run Development

And don't don't don't accept anyone with PRINCE2 training!

Why? sounds like you have real Project Horror storie in there somewhere.

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Re^3: Making the Business Case for Developer-Run Development
by qq (Hermit) on Aug 16, 2004 at 22:40 UTC

    Well, generalizing from a sample of one ...

    I'd say that PRINCE2 is very heavy on design up front and full specifications, and creates endless documents (not developer documentation, but customer/client docs).

    The documents had a rigid structure that included lines like "The scope of this document is defined by its inclusions. However exclusions are included to further define the scope of this document". After a page of boiler plate text that defined the scope of the document came several pages that defined the scope of the project. And everything had to be signed by three people, in four different places.

    PRINCE2 is also presented as a miracle cure that if properly understood and implemented will suddenly disolve all the real world difficulties of development and customer satisfaction in one go. I spent months on defining and redefining "processes" while watching our real work get neglected. It only stopped when the company went under.

    This manager was a nice guy, friendly, listened well, stood up for developers when needed. But he was blinded by his management training, and couldn't really hear alternatives. If you gave criticism, he'd reply "if there is something you are not happy about, please bring it up" - which you just had. Then, later, he'd give you an two hour personal meeting to explain why you had missed the point and he'd patiently explain his boneheaded opinion again. Whereas you'd be too tired to oppose, and meekly submit.

    He also micromanaged technical work, but thats another story

    qq