I used to be on the leading edge of programming. Not necessarily bleeding edge, but knew where it was.
This project has dragged on for 2 years and has a long way to go. My role thus far has been an analyst/ junior project manager. We have an official project manager and someone else on paper in charge of documentation. Since we are nearing actual coding, I am doing a good bit of the requirement documents, or translating this guy's things (he's very smart, but very academic).
During this time, I've been doing a lot of diagrams, spreadsheets and other documents. A I have not written a line of code for this application. But, I have supported the old, crappy system. This application began it's life two versions of ColdFusion ago (CF 5).
Essentially my skills have dulled a great deal. I only know where the edge is, and knowing less about the bleeding edge. There is only so much one can read about and practice at home.
We recently acquired another developer. This guy has awesome coding abilities. He really pushes the envelope as to the potential of the application.
The original plan was for me alone to do the coding. With my skills being dusty, where do I fit in all this? He has the knowledge, I have been doing documentation. How can I balance being the 'team lead', yet don't have the skill set to lead the actual development?
I understand that is how 'management' works, but I'm playing both teams. Can there be some sort of equilibrium, without me looking like a ignorant fool?
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Team skillset
15th Feb 2007
Answers (1)
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Probably More Than a One Man Coding Effort
If the project has been developing requirements for 2 years, I suspect the scope of the effort will require more than one developer.
Express your interest in doing some of the coding to your project manager and ask if he can partition the effort to give you a piece of the action. If the new guy is highly skilled, don't feel intimidated, use this as a chance to learn and strengthen your own skills. Sit down, talk to the new guy, and use him as a mentor. Establish a cordial working relationhsip now and you'll make it easier to work together when the real coding starts.
As for being "team lead", for a two-man effort, I'd quietly drop the title, especially as there is already a project manager assigned. Too many chiefs just lead to political disarray. Treat the new guy as a peer and just go forward from there.
Express your interest in doing some of the coding to your project manager and ask if he can partition the effort to give you a piece of the action. If the new guy is highly skilled, don't feel intimidated, use this as a chance to learn and strengthen your own skills. Sit down, talk to the new guy, and use him as a mentor. Establish a cordial working relationhsip now and you'll make it easier to work together when the real coding starts.
As for being "team lead", for a two-man effort, I'd quietly drop the title, especially as there is already a project manager assigned. Too many chiefs just lead to political disarray. Treat the new guy as a peer and just go forward from there.
15th Feb 2007
Replies
Honestly we haven't been doing true "requirements" for 2 years. The documentation created is scarce and poor at best.
We created 'requirements' in the form of a PowerPoint presentation and various diagrams in order to get client approval (and for them to understand what we were proposing). We have a project charter, the official project plan, and the plan I created that followed the company template. Also there are the requirements interviews and their summary documents.
The previous project manager was leading the team in creating almost enough documentation with the idea of jumping into coding (as may developers do). But not enough for the development team to actually know what to do. We were putting tons of business logic into use cases only because it wasn't anywhere else. And of course the client wasn't going to see these for approval of any sort.
With the new project manager we have just started over creating documentation that should have existed in the first place, starting with business objectives to be approved.
Team lead maybe is a strong term. My role has bounced around from business analyst to programming analyst to programming team lead.
This SHOULD be more than a 2 man effort, but the dollars won't allow it. This is a government project, so alloted money for this is scarce and is tucked away under the operations budget. This has gone from a rewrite to a refurbish due to the sunken costs.
Initially, I alone was the project meat, along with a project manager. Personally I am trying my best to get into project management, so I'm not dying to do all the coding in the first place. Hence some of the complexity of all this. Regardless, I am getting burned out, both in coding and this project in general.
We created 'requirements' in the form of a PowerPoint presentation and various diagrams in order to get client approval (and for them to understand what we were proposing). We have a project charter, the official project plan, and the plan I created that followed the company template. Also there are the requirements interviews and their summary documents.
The previous project manager was leading the team in creating almost enough documentation with the idea of jumping into coding (as may developers do). But not enough for the development team to actually know what to do. We were putting tons of business logic into use cases only because it wasn't anywhere else. And of course the client wasn't going to see these for approval of any sort.
With the new project manager we have just started over creating documentation that should have existed in the first place, starting with business objectives to be approved.
Team lead maybe is a strong term. My role has bounced around from business analyst to programming analyst to programming team lead.
This SHOULD be more than a 2 man effort, but the dollars won't allow it. This is a government project, so alloted money for this is scarce and is tucked away under the operations budget. This has gone from a rewrite to a refurbish due to the sunken costs.
Initially, I alone was the project meat, along with a project manager. Personally I am trying my best to get into project management, so I'm not dying to do all the coding in the first place. Hence some of the complexity of all this. Regardless, I am getting burned out, both in coding and this project in general.
duckboxxer
15th Feb 2007
