Latest Posts - Page 107 of 179

March 18, 2019March 10, 2019 Lessons Learned From Consulting

Project Deliverables, Quality, Guidelines and Best Practices

Sooner or later, every developer is asked for project deliverables. This may be source code, binary files, or full-blown documents. No matter which of these is required, the best approach is to make sure these are complete. Thus, let’s look at some guidelines, suggestions, and best practices to help you nail this part of your job. Follow The Instructions First and foremost, follow directions. We should have learned this in grade school. Just as in those educational exercises, project deliverables should directly come from the requirements. Do not add deliverables unless they are implied. More importantly, do not skip on any of the project deliverables. The best way to look at these is to see them as what you will be... Read more

March 15, 2019March 1, 2019 Lessons Learned From Consulting

Communicating Progress and Status – Consulting Tips

No matter how good you are at your job, sooner or later communicating status will be required. A helpful hint is to avoid waiting until this becomes a requirement. Instead, get in the habit of regularly reporting your progress and status to your boss. Since this is a regular task, you should find the proper balance between keeping it short and providing enough detail. A Weekly Status Template First and foremost, try to keep your status report to a single page. The commonly accepted parts of this communication are, list what you did, list what you plan to do, list any issues or questions. Your weekly report should be able to capture these items in less than ten bullet points for each.... Read more

March 13, 2019March 1, 2019 Lessons Learned From Consulting

Your Code Repository and Ownership of Source – Consulting Tips

A software consultant brings intellectual tools with them as well as applications. This capital comes in the form of experience and also the more concrete source code. That includes anything you take advantage of in your personal code repository. Although we typically are not fans of legal issues, we do need to spend the time reviewing contracts and ownership rights before we jump into that project or use our library. Using Your Code Repository There are two issues to understand when using your code. One is whether using that will contractually cause you to give up ownership. The other is whether a client allows you to use outside code in their project. You may think that the code you use that... Read more

March 11, 2019March 1, 2019 Lessons Learned From Consulting

Developer Tools and Licenses as a Consultant (or Employee)

One of the common aspects of consulting that is missed is clarity about developer tools and licenses. In particular, this obstacle is natural to overlook when you are used to being an employee. The challenge is not just being able to access the tools; you also have to navigate what can be used for your customers. Even more, there are applications you can use for your projects, but they are not licensed for your customers. Get Legal Developer Tools and Licenses Step one is to make sure you are adequately covered. Every tool you use (i.e., install on your machines) should be appropriately licensed. If you do not, then you might find yourself on the wrong side of a software... Read more

March 8, 2019February 25, 2019 Lessons Learned From Consulting

Consulting Project Enhancements and Follow-Ups

The completion of a project is not necessarily the end of a customer relationship. To the contrary, consulting project enhancements are a common way to keep that relationship alive. When that fails, a follow-up project also has a higher likelihood of being won than a new one. Take advantage of these options to keep your business thriving. Consulting Project Enhancements The first path to review is pitching enhancements. These are almost a slam dunk if you take good notes during the project creation process. There will be items scoped out of the project early in the requirements gathering through to the last minute. Even as late as deployment due to resource constraints. Every one of these is an opportunity for an enhancement... Read more

March 6, 2019February 24, 2019 Lessons Learned From Consulting

Writing Proposals and Winning Projects

Once you find a prospect your next step is turning them into a customer. In the IT world (as well as most other lines of business) this is done through a proposal. Therefore, writing proposals is a significant facet of growing a business. There is no black magic involved in this process; we just need some common sense. A Process for Writing Proposals Our focus on every project should be solving a problem or a group of them. Thus, the first step in our process for writing proposals is to fully define the problem or problems at hand. We can go off and try to figure it out on our own, but the customer is the best source for this information. Work with your... Read more