[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
know for sure whether the requirements are correct and complete.
Fortunately, she doesn t have to. She should put on her quality assurance hat
instead. What she really needs to know is how the requirements were cre-
ated. To find out, she can ask some simple questions, such as the following:
Who was involved in generating the requirements?
Who reviewed the requirements?
Who has approved the requirements so far?
Although she does not understand the detailed requirements herself, she
should at least know a good process when she hears it. If she thinks the
eliverable was created using a poor process, she can withhold her approval
until a better process is followed. If she feels the process to create the re-
quirements was sound, she should feel comfortable to approve the docu-
ment. Here are some examples of poor processes and good processes.
Signs of a bad process:
The requirements were generated by talking to only one or two
people.
No one has done a preliminary review of the content.
The requirements were not approved by any of the people that
provided requirements
Key users were not involved in the requirements process.
The document is sloppy, poorly formatted, and hard to read.
Signs of a good process:
The requirements were generated by getting all the key users and
stakeholders together in a facilitated session for a full day.
Additional interested stakeholders from Legal, IT, and HR were
consulted to understand how this project would impact their de-
partments.
The document has already been reviewed and approved by all major
users and stakeholders.
The document looks good, reads well, and follows a standard tem-
plate format.
In this example, quality assurance was used to understand whether a specific
deliverable was acceptable and should be approved by the sponsor. However,
75
Lessons in Project Management
quality assurance is used on an ongoing basis by managers to understand the
status of a project. The manager needs to ask questions regarding project
management processes. This includes questions related to schedule, budget,
issues, risk, quality, communication, etc. Quality assurance focuses on pro-
jects, and these are the processes used to manage a project.
Quality assurance is not a one-time activity. It should be an ongoing part of
your project. The manager of the project manager and the sponsor are the
key individuals who should be performing a quality assurance check at the
end of every phase or during every major milestone.
If the project manager can explain and justify the process used to create the
project deliverables, there is a good likelihood that the deliverables are ac-
ceptable. If the project is also using sound project management processes,
the manager or sponsor performing the quality assurance check should have
confidence that the project is on track.
C H A P T E R
18
Cancel Projects
That Lose
Business
Support
Hey, Tom! How are you doing? Everything going okay? I didn t look up
from my computer screen but immediately recognized Sam s voice. Sam
Boyd, our Human Resources manager, was very charismatic, to put it
politely. It was mid-April and Sam was completing our company recruit-
ing for spring college graduates.
I am doing just fine; thanks for asking. How are things in Human
Resources?
Everything is going great. I just finished an interview with a young man
by the name of Ron Jobs, who will be graduating from Northeast Illinois
State next month. I m really impressed with him. He will graduate top of
T. Mochal et al., Lessons in Project Management
Tom Mochal and Jeff Mochal 2011
78
Cancel Projects That Lose Business Support
his class and he seems sharp as a tack. I d like to offer him a position
here. Of course, I have to get an interview team set up....
Did you say his last name was Jobs ? I interrupted.
Yes, but no relation to Steve. That was the first question I asked!
Don t blame you. I m just checking to make sure your interest in him
as a candidate isn t tainted by any desire for a new iPhone!
Sam chuckled. Just then my phone rang. As a rule, the only time I inter-
rupted a face-to-face discussion was when my boss was calling, but Sam
motioned that he had to leave anyway, so I waved good-bye and picked
up the call. I was surprised to find Emma Flood on the other end.
Emma was the IT director in our Chicago office and she wanted me to
evaluate a project significantly over budget and long overdue to assess
whether it is now on the right track. I agreed to offer my input and ar-
ranged to meet via teleconference later in the day with two of the major
project participants.
My first meeting was with Curtis Chapman, the project manager. He
was desperately trying to establish a revised schedule and budget. I
asked him what the project sponsor thought of the revised schedule,
and he said he had exchanged e-mails with her and she seemed happy
that the project might finally be completed. I also asked whether the
project charter had been updated. He insisted that there was really no
need to update it since the original assumptions, deliverables, scope, etc.
were the same as before.
Then I talked with Jennifer Adams, the project sponsor. Jennifer was
very unhappy with the whole project and used the opportunity to vent
her frustrations with the IT team. She held nothing back, saying it was
doubtful the business value of the project would be achieved with the
increased budget, and recent business changes made it questionable
whether the original requirements were still valid. She said she would
just be glad when the whole project was complete and behind her.
After the meetings, I collected my thoughts for a recommendation to
Emma. When I spoke with her again, she was extremely curious as to
what I thought of the project and its chance for future success.
I came right to the point. Unless something changes very quickly, I
think the project should be cancelled.
79
Lessons in Project Management
LESSON
One of the advantages of being the project adviser is that I normally don t
have any attachment to the projects I evaluate. Ownership, or partial
ownership, of a project can sometimes cloud one s ability to make ra-
tional decisions.
It is generally believed that if a project is approved, it must have inherent
business value. In addition, the value must be such that the project is priori-
tized higher than other competing projects that are nominated but not ap-
proved. However, project business value can change as the project pro-
gresses. Market conditions change, project cost estimates change, and busi-
ness priorities change. A project with great business value today might be
irrelevant months, weeks, or even days later.
With that in mind, let s look at the project in the Chicago office. This pro-
ject has already failed once, and is about to fail again. Sure, the project might
be able to hit its revised timeline and budget but what will the result be
from a business perspective? The IT team, led by Curtis, is determined to
deliver the project as it was originally defined, even if the assumptions and
expectations of the client have changed considerably. Curtis wants to pre-
tend everything is okay, even though he must realize the inherent problems
with the initiative at this point. To be charitable, he may be hearing what he
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]