Hi Gerry

>What's always worked for me:
>
>- Identify every task
>- Every task MUST have a deliverable

I agree entirely! However, that can be, in itself, a major project when dealing with a large development.

>- Use project management software for precedence diagramming, critical path analysis, resource allocation / leveling, progress monitoring

This is a little harder. As I said at the start, the snage with measuring progress in software projects is that it is rarely 'linear'. YOu can be 80% done after 1 day and still miss a 4-day deliverable <s>

>- No task is allowed to take longer than 4 days (without a deliverable) ... in a 5 day work week (this all allows for a 1 day contingency per week for sick days, unscheduled meetings, unproductive time, etc). If a task is "scheduled" to take more than 4 days, the problem hasn't been partitioned properly and the task has to be repartitioned. The rapid production of deliverables also keep enthusiasm up, for the developers and end-users alike.

Agreed! This is in line with all good practice. Do you also advocate "weekly builds"? (That is something that I like to see too because it helps keeps people focused on 'shipping').

>- Everyone has to "buy" into the schedule; developers must agree that their time allocation is reasonable; no one is "forced" to accept a schedule that they do not feel is reasonable. Typically they will feel (with a reasonable schedule) that they can do it faster and will work that much harder to prove their point.

Absolutely correct!

>- Ideally, assign a separate body for bug fixes (identified during integration testing); keep developers "developing"

Not so sure about this one. I would prefer to have developers fix bugs that come up during integration. Once past that point I would hand it over to the 'maintenance' team.

>- Weekly status reviews / meetings and an open door policy; developers are expected to come forward "before" the "end of the week" if their deliverable may be missed. This insures that you will never be more than "4 days" behind schedule (ie. a missed deliverable)

Imperative!