Bruce Mason’s Interview for Website Planet: Effective Project Management, Communication, and More
QArea’s Bruce Mason Interview for Website Planet
Last week, the renowned industry publication, Website Planet, interviewed Bruce Mason, QArea’s Delivery Director. Check out the interview highlights, where Bruce shares his thoughts on project management and ensuring the best possible project outcomes no matter the circumstances, below.
Having worked in software development and testing for over twenty years, Bruce Mason has worked on hundreds of projects and has successfully navigated every challenge and bottleneck imaginable. A few days ago, Bruce sat down with Website Planet, a popular online resource for all things software development and delivery, to discuss his thoughts on project management, communication between the client and the team, pricing models, and more.
1. On Translating the Client’s Business Needs Into Technical Requirements
Bruce and his team use a five-step approach to fully understand the client’s needs and turn them into the requirements the developers can actually use:
- Business discovery and recognizing the context.
- Defining the requirements and translating them into technical specifications.
- Validating the assumptions and refining the requirements.
- Launching an iterative development process based on the feature backlog.
- Maintaining the necessary documentation and handing over the finished product.
2. On the Criteria Used to Assign Team Members to Projects
The correct team composition is an essential factor determining the success of the project, which makes it especially vital to assign the right team members to every role. These are some of the criteria Bruce uses when making decisions:
- How well their competencies match the needs of the project
- How good their problem-solving skills are
- Whether they can adapt to new requirements and conditions
- How developed their communication and collaboration skills are
- Whether they are a good fit for the existing team’s dynamics
- Whether they have the required domain knowledge in addition to technical skills
3. On Handling Change Management After the Project Has Already Started
On complex, long-term projects, change requests are nearly inevitable, which means the company needs to have an effective procedure for dealing with them. Bruce believes in the principles of clarity and transparency for everyone involved in the project — the team needs to fully understand where the change request is coming from and how critical it is to the success of the project, while the client has to thoroughly grasp the impact of the proposed changes.
4. On Staying Up-to-Date with the Latest Developments in Software Development and Testing
Being fully aware of where the software development and testing industry stands at every given moment is a crucial part of the job of a Delivery Director. For Bruce, this process is a combination of several activities:
- Hands-on experience — even though his work does not involve coding, participating in various technically complex projects gives him valuable knowledge about the technologies, tools, and frameworks used in software development.
- Online resources — as an active member of numerous professional communities on Reddit and LinkedIn, as well as an avid follower of resources like InfoQ, McKinsey, Gartner, and Forrester, Bruce is able to regularly catch up with new tech trends.
- Industry events — attending conferences is an excellent way to not only get in touch with the technical side of the software domain but also take advantage of valuable networking opportunities.
For more insights on project management that helps clients reach their goals and empowers the team to make the right decisions, check out the complete interview over at Website Planet.
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