MoneyWords.Com Checklist

: WWW.MONEYWORDS.COM Copyright 1997-2002, Tom Welch, CPC Page 1

Version 8.0

Project Managers RoadmapWere all smarter together

Think Top Down!

Methodology DefinePlanExecute

CloseChecklists Conflict Resolution Modes

Contract Outsource Management Mentoring Basics Supplementary Resources

Success Equation: Scope divided byResources, Time, Technology, and Processes

Proactive Project Manager integrates business need, user requirements, technology,budget, collaborative team/contributor efforts, and processes into an effective solution

DEFINEInitiate Project ActivitiesBuild business case:o Need or opportunityo Mission and purposeo Scope and deliverableso Objectives, assumptions, and constraintso Timelines/major milestoneso Budget, costs, benefits, and payback (return on investment (ROI))o Specifications/qualityo Major riskso Project team (organizational structure and skill sets) Define:o Customer (external or internal)o Sponsor, stakeholder(s), and contributorso Objectives (clear and realistic)o Strategy and tacticso Scope and methodologyo Budgeto Organization (projectized, matrix, or functional)o Core team members (select, evaluate, and monitor)

MoneyWords.Com Checklist

: WWW.MONEYWORDS.COM Copyright 1997-2002, Tom Welch, CPC Page 2

PLAN Prepare for Success Estimate:o Assess planning factorso Evaluate personal/team experienceo Review and select estimating methodso Investigate historical data and methodologieso Size (lines of code, function point, or feature set)o Estimate effort (man-months or FTEs)o Document assumptions and estimateso Schedule (calendar months)o Estimates review and sign off Tip: Recalibrate after first phase (or when preliminary analysis is complete) Conduct initial risk assessment:o Project team (technology and methodology skill level, business knowledge, team

composition, location, and environment)o User involvement and knowledgeo Organizational impact and priorityo Senior management commitment. READ motivation and intento Project attributes (development technology and methodology, schedule constraints,

project priority and novelty, and project development cycle and implementation)o Requirements stabilityo Stakeholderso Criticality, size, and complexity Prepare:o Project chartero Roles and responsibilities matrix Tip: Consider project size and complexity, product availability and need, andlevel (quality) of customer involvement Kick-off:o Assign team members o Hold kick-off meeting (agenda, location, props, and minutes) Buy-in:o Brief project team and contributorso Obtain commitments from management, team, and contributorsTools:o Identifyo Document and installo Train team members Metrics protocol:o Review project objectives and scopeo Identify critical success factors (CSF)o Identify metricso Balance and prioritize metricso Set targets (knowledge and achievement goals) Metrics (starting point):o Cost and resource datao Number of changes and defectso Process conformanceo Productivityo Code changes and growtho Requirements changes

MoneyWords.Com Checklist

: WWW.MONEYWORDS.COM Copyright 1997-2002, Tom Welch, CPC Page 3

o Use cases (completed, projected, integrated, and tested)o Schedule (development phases, milestones, activities, total effort, estimate time to complete, establish baseline, variances, and deliverables)o Issueso Code buildso Riskso Quality metricso Lines of codeo Functioned points Tip: Apply metrics to control, evaluate, and improve performance Document Activities Generate:o Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) (work units)o Define WBS activity levels (phases, subphases, and tasks)o Review WBS with project teamo Finalize WBS elements Organize:o Project notebooko Server space (activate backup procedures)o Web space (activate backup procedures) Clarify: o Project objectives after preliminary requirements document is availableo Assumptions and dependencieso Requirements (scrub) o Development activities are traceable to requirementso Project specifications (generate) Describe:o Entry and exit conditionso Review and approval criteria o External project dependencies Tip: Tailor all activities to project, document tailoring rules, and seek appropriate approvals Generate Software Development Plan (SDP)o Refer to Software Development Plan for narrativeNotes:1. Recognize planning for what it is...A RESULTS-ORIENTED PROCESS2. Go for the jugular! READ Ship Date!3. Knock it apart, then put it back together...ANATOMIZE, THEN SYNTHESIZE4. ALL activities should support methodology and GOAL5. RELEVANT approximations are better than inconsequential minute estimates6. Prepare ONLY plans that can be MONITORED7. Plans identify activities, but PEOPLE MAKE THEM HAPPEN

Prepare Schedule(s)Top-down and bottom-up process:o Identify scheduling toolo Identify deliverables and milestoneso Conduct planning meetingso Get project team inputso Scrub data inputso Generate schedule(s)

MoneyWords.Com Checklist

: WWW.MONEYWORDS.COM Copyright 1997-2002, Tom Welch, CPC Page 4

o Review schedule with teamo Run schedule and updateo Obtain schedule approvalo Distribute approved schedule(s) Tip: Prepare summary schedule for management reviews and micro schedules for day-to-day activities by phase. Schedule complex components first Establish Key Processes (Best Practices) Activate:o Requirements and issue managemento Project planningo Tracking and oversighto Configuration/change managemento Quality assuranceo Outsource management Tip: Enforce coding standard and software integration procedure. Key results areas are customer, business unit, department, and project team members EXECUTE Drive to Completion Power sources:o Formalo Rewardo Penaltyo Experto Referent Prioritize project manageables:o Timeo Costo Quality Control scope:o Gain product understanding and customer agreemento Baseline customers requirementso External changes (marketing, user driven, or environment)o Internal changes (no gold-plating - meet minimum requirements)o Impact analysis (budget, schedule, and risk)o Fix it in the next release (establish sustaining engineering bin)o Negotiate changeso Clear go/no agreement Manage risks:o Identifyo Documento Evaluateo Prioritizeo Mitigate Motivate team:o Vision and identityo Inspire, ENGAGE, and challengeo Manage team as a teamo Communicate, get feedback, and follow-upo Build mutual trust (honesty, openness, fairness, and RESPECT)o Delegate tasks to team (EMPOWER)o Make team responsible for actions, not individualso Maintain productive environment

MoneyWords.Com Checklist

: WWW.MONEYWORDS.COM Copyright 1997-2002, Tom Welch, CPC Page 5

Daily:o Focus on the GOAL!o STOP to evaluate progresso Avoid scope CREEP (and making major mistakes)o Lead and solicit FEEDBACK (emphasize collaborative effort)o THINK about relevant issues (and concerns)o Log and ACT on issues!!!o Troubleshoot (problem solve), and/or escalate, but resolve quickly MONITOR action(s) so that you get the desired resultso Make everyone a winner Tip: The name of the game is responsive issue resolution. Actively keep sponsor,stakeholders, and contributors in the loop. After the construction phase, code build daily (heartbeat of project) Weekly:o Conduct project review (focus on measures of merit)o Track against the plan (actual progress/work outstanding/gap analysis)o Take corrective action(s) (identify issues, recalibrate project, and document)o Communicate upcoming events (lookahead schedule with milestones/tasks)o Share knowledge, skills, and lessons learnedo Review metrics, productivity, quality, schedule, and costo Ensure key processes and practices are followedo Monitor vendors and subcontractorso Generate status report (performance reviews, key issues, top 10 risks,

jeopardy process (OK, Alert, and Jeopardy), variance and trend analysis, earned value analysis, and communicate state of project)

o Maintain user involvement (critical)o Complete deployment (and train users)o Say Thank you Tip: Conduct systematic technical reviews after each phase System Test Levels:o Unito Integrationo Systemo Acceptanceo Site (large scale projects) Metrics:o Staff hours burnedo Total computer hours used to dateo Source code growtho Defects and changes (categorize by severity)o Requirements questions, answers, changes, and TBDso System size, effort, schedule, and reuseo Tests executedo Discrepancies reported and fixed Tools:o Test report checklists and formso Configuration managemento Software analysis toolso Regression testing

MoneyWords.Com Checklist

: WWW.MONEYWORDS.COM Copyright 1997-2002, Tom Welch, CPC Page 6

Entry criteria:o Code unit tested and integratedo Build test plans executedo System test plan completedo Users guide drafted Tasks:o Plan testo Identify test requirementso Assess risko Develop test strategyo Identify test resourceso Create scheduleo Generate test plano Design testo Conduct workload analysiso Identify and describe test caseso Identify and structure test procedureso Review and access test coverageo Build test lab (simulate actual working environment)o Implement testo Record or program scriptso Identify test-specific functionality in design and modelo Establish external data setso Execute testso Execute test procedureso Execute regression testso Evaluate test executiono Verify resultso Investigate unexpected resultso Log defectso Evaluate testso Evaluate test-case coverageo Evaluate code coverageo Analyze defectso Determine if test completion criteria has been achievedo Prepare for acceptance testingExit criteria:o System test plans successfully executedo Acceptance test plan finalizedo Users guide and system description completedo Configuration audits are done CLOSE Mission Accomplishedo Customer accepts buildo Hold postmortemo Focused on lessons learned and review scope, objectives, and deliverables from business and technical perspectiveso Outline tangible and intangible project benefitso Evaluate costs (planned/actual)o Review all information relevant to future developmento Make recommendationso Archive project documentation and source code

MoneyWords.Com Checklist

: WWW.MONEYWORDS.COM Copyright 1997-2002, Tom Welch, CPC Page 7

Tip: Project closure activities are about learning, future development efforts,improvement of processes, and key result areas. No finger pointing! Finally, act onrecommendations

Conflict Resolution Modeso Collaborate (problem solve)o Compromise (sharing)o Accommodate (smoothing)o Withdrawal (avoiding)o Competing (forcing) Contract Outsource Managemento Outsource planning (procurement resources and plan, market conditions, constraints,

assumptions, SOWs, expert judgement, evaluation criteria, and documents)o Contract solicitation (qualified vendor list, bidders conference, and Request for Proposal (RFP))o Source selection (procurement policies, proposal screening, estimates, evaluation criteria, and contract negotiation)o Contract administration (contract, schedule, performance reporting, reviews, results, change requests, invoices, payments, correspondence, and contract changes)o Closure (documentation, audits, acceptance and closure) Tip: Carefully select vendor(s) and hold to the same standard as project team members and contributors Mentoring Basics Develop potential:o Focus on performance, achieving results, and professional growtho Provide penalty-free relationshipo Be a positive resource and candido Encourage questions, critical thinking, and self educationo Develop strengths, knowledge, and skillso Assist in creating an individualized improvement planTip: Meet with mentoree on a regular basis

Supplementary ResourcesCheckout Best of Breed Books at WWW.MoneyWords.Com. Also, click BookMarks, thenIT Project Management, Science and Technology, and Internet for more resources. Linksare updated weekly

Note: One shoe does not fit all, a companys culture, values, project management maturityand understanding, budget, goals, and project size/complexity drive the quality and thelevel of its project management effort

ABOUT TOM WELCHTo learn more about Tom Welch, click Project Manager and Web Content

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSTom Welch gratefully acknowledges the feedback of Dave W. Farthing, School ofComputing, University of Glamorgan, UK