Dilbert Scott Adams

Dilbert Scott Adams

Dilbert Scott Adams

Chapter 2: Planning the Project Assuming you have a Project Charter! Focus is on desired results. Your plan is the first “cut”. Keep the initial planning short Don’t waste time planning without data Plan a little, gather data, re-plan… There is too much uncertainty & risk to plan everything in advance. Timebox: Time needed for person or team to accomplish a task. Manage It! Your Guide to Modern, Pragmatic Project Management. Johanna Rothman

Cone of Uncertainty No such thing as a single point estimate Manage It! Your Guide to Modern, Pragmatic Project Management. Johanna Rothman

Project Plan Template Product purpose History Release criteria Goals Project organization Schedule overview Project staffing (staffing curve) Proposed schedule Risk list Technical Debt What was not completed in the previous release: Design debt Code redesign (refactoring) Testing debt Writing debt Manage It! Your Guide to Modern, Pragmatic Project Management. Johanna Rothman

Release Criteria & Goals List Key product deliverables (think Features) Key? “If we don’t have that, do we still have a release?” Goals: Product goals Project goals Team goals Organization goals Automated Smoke Tests let you know if anyone has broken the build. Manage It! Your Guide to Modern, Pragmatic Project Management. Johanna Rothman

Project Organization & Schedule Overview Depends on life cycle and structure of team. Identify major milestones. Schedule Overview Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) Identify sequence of tasks Show: Dependencies Durations (start and completion dates) Owner Tangible product required at completion Manage It! Your Guide to Modern, Pragmatic Project Management. Johanna Rothman

Matrixed Team (Fig. 2.1) Matrix Team PM = Person Month(s) Matrix Team Each team member has their own functional manager and the project manager. Manage It! Your Guide to Modern, Pragmatic Project Management. Johanna Rothman

Risk List – the Top 10 Monitor and update list as you go. Exposure: Multiply Probability by Severity Trigger date: The date by which you need to act Manage It! Your Guide to Modern, Pragmatic Project Management. Johanna Rothman

Define Release Criteria Define what is important and monitor it. Need to publish the release criteria. Criteria statements should be SMART! S Specific M Measurable A Attainable R Relevant T Trackable Make sure there is buy-in by team and management! Manage It! Your Guide to Modern, Pragmatic Project Management. Johanna Rothman

Define what is important… Think about the problems you are solving for your customers! The release date. Combination of schedule, features, and few defects… depends on customer and their expectations. The point: You should not be deciding what is important on your own! Manage It! Your Guide to Modern, Pragmatic Project Management. Johanna Rothman

Release Criteria How to get started… brainstorm. Rita’s draft: All code compiles & build for all platforms Zero high-priority bugs For all open bugs, workarounds documented in release notes All planned test run, at least 98% pass rate. Number of open defects decreasing from last 3 weeks. Feature X: unit tested, system tested, and verified by customers. Ready to release by June 1. All open defects evaluated by cross-functional team. Manage It! Your Guide to Modern, Pragmatic Project Management. Johanna Rothman

Use the Release Criteria They must be SMART! Assess progress in satisfying Release Criteria. Release Criteria define what is meant by done. … and if you cannot satisfy all the Criteria? Let “them” know ASAP Agree on changes to Release Criteria (done-ness) Make sure everyone is on board Manage It! Your Guide to Modern, Pragmatic Project Management. Johanna Rothman