Just finished an engagement. They have extended the contract. The project went well–on time and on budget. I love a project like this. One of the main reasons i think this happened was a basic human factor–trust. There was trust on the PM’s end that the developers knew what they were doing and could produce competent estimates, and trust on the developer’s end that the PM was willing to listen, and knew how to handle a schedule and ask the right questions on the development project.

It reminded me of an article i read just a little bit ago that had a bit of good tips in there, particularly as it pertains to software developers, and communication. I read this after the fact (after I had learned a lesson the hard way, and subsequently determined that I would clearly communicate status on a project), but it helped confirm and encourage me that this is the Right Thing To Do. An insight i gathered from it is that the PM is not the enemy, but rather an advocate, and by clearly communicating if there may be a slip, then the PM can work with the client to communicate this.

Anyway, i’m pleased. I’ll admit that we could do better, but that’s what life’s about, you improve. There is still more work to do, but the initial “hump” has been cleared, and we (the team) have given ourselves the confidence to continue to push to give our client a superior product.