I just got hold of a new piece of project management software, Turbo Project Express by IMSI. I've worked for several companies on several projects, and the project management ranged from none at all to pointlessly overdone. Now that I'm off on my own, I can manage projects the way I want 'em managed. For the previous set of games, I just made up some long-range goals and a target date. I used the PM software to make sure I was on-track to getting the games done on time. For the next set of games I'll write, I'll likely do the same thing.
Anyway, while the old software (Project Manager Pro by Softkey) worked, it was never that good. This new one's downright impressive for the $35 price tag, and it's certainly overkill for my simple project-management needs. It does tons of stuff like resource-leveling that I'll probably never use, but it's nice to have the option in case I ever do.
I finished reading the Corman book I mentioned earlier. I'll probably be relating certain bits of wisdom from it now and then, but I'd recommend it for anyone who plans to develop stuff on a budget. In addition to be a highly-entertaining read, it's got tons of little tips on how to do stuff on a budget. It's always nice to be entertained while you're learning something --hasn't happened to me since Schoolhouse Rock :)
If you're interested in another entertaining read in which you'll learn something, don't hesitate to check out Deadline: A Novel About Project Management by Tom DeMarco. The plot's silly and contrived (an ultra-rich software CEO buys a small country, turning it into a software-developer, so they can clone popular software products), but it's a reasonable stage to explain lots of software project-management wisdom. There's little in it that hasn't already been said in books like The Mythical Man-Month, but this one manages to say it entertainingly. If you're planning to run a software project of any size, and you don't read one or both of these books, you are doomed to repeat history.
Not surprisingly, the project I was on that had the draconian project management failed miserably.
