Best Practices - C#.NET Web Application Development

[Andrew Hayes]

Hi All,

I've been asked to develop an online ASP version of our HR product in 3
months, and only with part-time support from a database developer in the US.
The original product is written in VB6, contains over 50,000 lines of code,
and took 3 years to reach it's current incarnation.

Another online ASP that was done in house did took a team of 6 about 3 years
to complete so I'm pretty sure this project ain't gonna happen in 3 months,
especially with the other work I'm doing, but I need to respond with solid
reasons that my "pointy-haired manager" cannot ignore.

Does anyone know of a good reference for the full project lifecycle of a
C#.NET Web Application? Do's and don'ts, patterns, project planning, best
practices, .NET security, assemblies, testing, etc...

Regards...Andrew

 

[Mark Broadbent]

Your best port of call is the MSF (sorry there is a lot for you to go
through)
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...434a-a1dd-29652ab4600f&DisplayLang=enRemember your neck is on the line if you don't explicitly spell this out forhim that you don't believe this can be done (something in writing outliningyour findings perhaps!)Get him to take the responsibility for the project (which is what I presumehe is paid for). It is up to him to provide the necessary resources toimplement this project in the time schedules (if it could be done) and thatmeans extra heads (either externally or internally).In particlur, look at the MSF Risk Management process and maybe give this toCatbert.Hope this helps, good luck,Mark."Andrew Hayes" <[email protected]> wrote in messageHi All,>> I've been asked to develop an online ASP version of our HR product in 3months, and only with part-time support from a database developer in the US.The original product is written in VB6, contains over 50,000 lines of code,and took 3 years to reach it's current incarnation.>> Another online ASP that was done in house did took a team of 6 about 3years to complete so I'm pretty sure this project ain't gonna happen in 3months, especially with the other work I'm doing, but I need to respond withsolid reasons that my "pointy-haired manager" cannot ignore.>> Does anyone know of a good reference for the full project lifecycle of aC#.NET Web Application? Do's and don'ts, patterns, project planning, bestpractices, .NET security, assemblies, testing, etc...>> Regards...Andrew>

 

[Peter Bromberg [C# MVP]]

I'd be polishing up my resume. The pointy-haired fella doesn't seem to
be well-connected with reality, and this is a situation that is not
likely to change, based on my humble experience. Unless you have an
agreement up-front, just starting to work on this means you have
accepted doom.

 

[Mark Broadbent]

agreed!

 

[Guest]

Hi Andrew...

Maybe he just thinks you are a talented guy

Seriously though, sounds like your boss needs a reality check, a couple of
ways you might want to think about is pointing out the history of the
original project and then asking him how the rewrite can be achieved in 3
months.

Place the onus on him to justify his proposal, if it is a HR system get HR
involved, I'm sure they will listen to a well balanced and reasoned
discussion on delivery timescales.

Remember ...it is his job to push you to achieve but not unrealistically.
You can also turn this around by asking for his help in finding a way that
the project can be delivered, and having him justify his optimism.

best of luck

Ronnie

 

[jasongorman]

Sorry to hear about your predicament, Andrew. You've certainly got your
work cut out for you.

It's quite common for managers to just pluck completion dates out the
air. I imagine the scope will be equally arbitrary as you go forward.

The problem here is that your manager is not dealing with REALITY. The
most effective practice for grounding your project in reality is
Adaptive Planning (sometimes called "Agile Planning" or "The Planning
Game"). Adaptive Planning has very simple rules about who gets to
define which variables out of time, cost, scope and quality. Since he's
not writing the code, your pointy-haired boss cannot decide how long
it's going to take.

How long it will take depends on how long it takes you ;-) I've posted
3 potted lessions in Agile Planning at
http://parlezuml.com/blog/?postid=18 , which I hope make sense.

You've got to stand your ground on this one, or it'll somehow end up
being YOUR fault when the deadline passes and you haven't delivered. If
you follow an agile approach, at least in 3 months you'll have
delivered something, and - if the requirements are correctly
prioritised - something of value. Then your pointy-haired boss can
claim success, and you can defer the less valuable stuff into
subsequent releases.

If he won't see sense, kick him up the arse and run away! It's the only
language these people understand...

Best of luck

Jason Gorman
http://www.parlezuml.com

 

[Andrew Hayes]

Thanks to Mark, Peter, Ronnie and Jason for your comments. I very much agree
with you but the situation is such that I cannot leave the company for a
couple of years... Too much of my own money tied up in it but the boss has
much more clout that I do. :-(

Anyway, I've taken a look at the Agile Planning article and it certainly
helped, but I know that trying to introduce anything that is not considered
"work" (as in coding and showing pretty prototypes), is like pulling teeth.

I'll just try to make the best of a bad situation and see if I can get a
commitment from him for additional resources, either time or money, but most
likely I should be able to cut out a chunk of features from the 1st release
but leave enough in it so that it is sellable, that way we can increase our
customer base while still in development.

Of course, I have this image of him checking every piece of functionality
saying, "we need this, and this, and can't do without that, and this is a
good selling point, and... can you add this feature and that function, and
will it make coffee the way I like it?"

Regards...Andrew

 

[Carl Frisk]

At this point I would suggest SCRUM which would require another dev as a starting point. AGILE/XP methodologies require
teams and put accountability on both management and the dev team.

No matter what you do it's his job to deliver a written document describing exactly what he wants since he is the
customer. It's your job to tell him how much time it will take to deliver whatever functionality he is asking for.

Good luck.