Big Visible Charts For A MicroISV

My previous post discusses some of the essentials of a home office designed for software development.
A bulletin board for 'Big Visible Charts' is at the center of the action.
BVCs aren't just for collaboration and communication.
Since this is a single person project, the priority is on:

• accountability to my stakeholders (family)
• focus (to keep me working on the right things)
• urgency (to constantly remind me how much work still needs to be done)

To satisfy these purposes my BVC has:

• Work Breakdown Structure (printed by MS Project)
• Schedule (a linear calendar of 4 weeks)
• Backlog Tasks cards (taken from WBS to show what is coming up)
• Current Scheduled Tasks cards (taken from WBS to show what is currently being done)
• Recently Completed Tasks cards (to show stakeholders what has been accomplished)

I will write a post later about why scheduling only needs to be done for 2-3 weeks (especially for one person) as long as a Work Breakdown Structure is kept current for the entire project. The entire project shouldn't exceed 4 months (or it should be broken down into 2 projects).

The guideline is to closely watch your footing on the path immediately in front of you (your 2-3 week schedule and Task Backlog).

Don't be too concerned about the path that is out of view, as long as you ensure that the path is leading to the correct destination (your WBS).

Periodically look back at where you have been to learn from it (add notes to your Recently Complete Tasks when they have important lessons for a retrospective).