Project deliverables are essential to everyone on a project, not just the project manager. They are a way to measure the project's success or failure. Deliverables can be as large as a milestone or as small as an email, but all deliverables should be treated with the same quality standards. So, what is a deliverable, and why is it essential to ensure it meets the standards of success?

Many software development companies want to move to a Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) model, but still have long release cycles. There are several reasons this happens. One example is that the company is holding a release until features are complete and is not using a feature flag system. I’ve also seen that they are holding onto the idea that they can only release at the end of a sprint. While I get the concept from a project management perspective, after all, it does make release tracking easier, it doesn’t have to be that way.

Total quality management (TQM) is a top-down organization concept that dedicates quality to every function of an organization. It was developed in the 20th century and was initially created for product manufacturing. Over time, it was adopted by numerous agencies to gain a competitive advantage in their market. TQM is a way to harness an organization’s resources to improve effectiveness and efficiency with support, training, and guidance.

Over the years, I have worn many hats in various roles. I have managed projects, products, processes, development, and testing throughout them. One requirement has always been to make our work as efficient as possible. While I see the business value of efficiency, bringing value to the development sphere while keeping costs down, I always look at effectiveness first.

Team velocity is a crucial tool for effective project management. Not only does it track team delivery, it also allows for the projection of delivery potential.

When I was a QA Manager, I was frequently asked the question, “Why do I need to pay for testing?” Quality is a cost. It costs money to test and maintain those tests. The trick for project managers is to show the value of quality.

When an organization starts a new project, there is often a flurry of activity. Most of it revolves around cost in some form or fashion.

In software development, project managers are often tasked with building or modifying features that add scope to an application. Scope is something that most project managers are painfully aware of, as it frequently increases costs and complexity. In an Agile environment, new features are broken down, refined, estimated, and then developed.

A good friend of mine once told me, “A fast nickel is better than a slow quarter.” This is one of those statements that often sounds witty but is usually ignored. He told me this a couple of decades ago, and I didn't think much of it until later in my career.