And let??™s face it: none
of us is good at estimating.
??? Abreaction to information overload: an expert project manager knows how much attention to
devote to every channel of communication and not to attempt to attend to all of them equally. A
novice project manager suffers overload and failure. Project and test managers must absorb a large
amount of information much of it saturated with noise. Some of the information is unexpected,
unwelcome, and difficult to process and react to (bug reports for example). Those project managers
who have devised filters such as plans and bug triage meetings to reduce or interpret the noise
will cope better. Managers dysfunction when the load induced by the need to interpret, exceeds
their threshold. This threshold can be determined by one of three reactions to information,
characterized by ability, and preparedness to learn:
??“ Acceptance as part of an expected event: the information was expected or easily accepted, and
few changes are required. If the solution to the problem the information posed is valid, and
is in the project manager??™s repertoire, there is little to perturb the project management process.
6 A way of behaving. A list of steps for approaching a problem. Experts write their own scripts on the hoof. Novices
have very few scripts and cannot easily invent them.
The Test Team and Its Context 181
??“ Reorganization as part of an unexpected development: the reorganization is not part of the
project manager??™s repertoire, and must be quickly devised.
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