21 Rules of Thumb

How Microsoft develops its Software -- Jim McCarthy, Microsoft Corporation:
"On Time
1. Don’t know what you don’t know.
2. Get to a known state and stay there.
3. Remember the triangle.
4. Don’t go dark.
5. Use zero defect (ZD) milestones.
6. Beware of a guy in a room.
7. Never trade a bad date for an equally bad date
8. When slipping, don't fall.
9. Low tech is good.
10. Design time at design time.
11. If you build it, it will ship.
12. Portability is for canoes.

Great Software
13. Enrapture the customers.
14. Remember one thing: Unity.
15. State your theme.
16. Vary it.
17. Balance it.
18. Evolve it.
19. Your product should be a hierarchy.
20. Establish a shared vision.

Shipping
21. Get the team into ship mode"