3 Weeks from go live

So we are less than three weeks form go live on the project. Amazingly now is when everybody is starting to remember things that need to be done that they failed to mention when the project was planned. Fortunately on this project we have some contingency time to deal with most of these. The reason we have the contigency is that we were able to speed up the initial testing to finishe a week earlier than planned. By pushing hard early, we gave ourselves the breathing room to deal with other issues and risks.

3 Weeks from go live

As we get closer to the go live date, now is the time to finalize the production support plan for after go live. Part of this will include meeting with the vendor to review support documents and procedures.

3 Weeks from go live

As we get closer to go live we are double checking evrything during our final UAT. Although our error count is very low so far we are repeating several test cases with different data as a secondary check.

3 Weeks from go live

Monday Morning - Ramping up UAT today. PM focus is the go live plan. The application is a vendor package that is customized for the client's specific needs and business. Thus we need to combine our go live list with the clients.

3 Weeks from go live

Starting this week I am going to keep a running list of the things I am doing as a PM to get the project ready for delivery. I am hoping that this may be useful to some of you when you plan your go live events for IT projects.

The project is currently on schedule with two defects reported during system test, Both defects are minor so we will start UAT Monday on time. This project has a significant data conversion component and the first full mock conversion will run tomorrow so we can test the data Monday.

My major tasks for Monday include finishing the first draft of the go live plan for the weekend of go live.
Stay tuned, more on Monday

The Ten Fallacies of Project Management

# 4 - You can make up time

It is very difficult to make up time on a project. Once a major task misses a milestone date by more than a few days there really is no way to fully make up the lost time. The reason is that the work effort for the remaining tasks doesn't change. Even with overtime or extra resources you will probably only recoup part of the time. Check out the Project Right Track web page tip of the week at http://bit.ly/9hdM9H for more on this issue

The Ten Fallacies of Project Management - #5

I can add more resources

On IT porjects that are behind schedule adding more resources often does not woirk because typically the new resources are contractors who do not know your systems or applications. One way to mitigate this is to build a relationship with a consulting firm who will invest in getting some of their esources familar with your company.

The Rush is On

OK so it is after Labor Day. In many organizations the rush is now on to deliver a whole bunch of projects in the next few months. As project managers we know this time of year well. The pressure increases for delivery of the projects no matter what it takes. This is where we need to remind ourselves that it isn't our project but the company's. Thus we need to make sure that we make project decisions that are in the company's best interest. Taking shortcuts with quality so we can say we met the deadline is seldom in the company's best interest. What is in the company's best interest may require tough choices such as delaying one project so that a more critical project can get done.

The Ten Fallacies of Project Management - #5

"It's My Project"

This week the tip of the week will cover fallacy #5, "It's my Project". Ownership and accountability by a project manager to their project is important but you always need to remember that it is the company's project. Thus your decisions and actions must be those that are best for the project. This includes admitting early that the project may miss a date or milestone. Check out the full tip at www.projectrighttrack.com

Check out the Project Right Track Web Site for the tip of the week

This week's tip continues the series of the 10 project management fallacies with fallacy number 7," My project is the most important". Read more at http://bit.ly/9hdM9H.

The Ten Fallacies of Project Management

#7 - My Project is the most important project

Yes your project may have the highest priority but is it really the most important to the organization? Does having a high priority guarantee that you will get budget or resources that you need? The answer is not always. Companies live in the moment when it comes to most projects. They want what they want today. Thus your project may be a high priority but if sales is hgearing up for a new campaign that launches in 6 weeks their IT project that supports that campaign will be front and center on evrybodies mind.

As a PM it is important to understand the other projects in the portfolio that may impact your project. Does your project and the sales project need web developers? If so then that is a risk that you need to manage to. Paying attention to the company portfolio of projects will help you idenyify these risks quicker so you can mitigate and manage them more effectively.

The Ten Fallacies of Project Management

#8 - A schedule is a plan

Running a project with only a schedule basically makes the assumption that everything will go well. What happens when the first critical task is late or a vendor misses a delivery? That is where the project plan comes in. The project plan includes sub-plans  such as communication plans, risk management plans etc that help you manage the schedule more effectively.

Project Management Tips

Check out the Project Right Track website at http://bit.ly/9hdM9H for our weekly project management tip

Planning Contigency With The Business Owners

I am running a project for a client. Today I met with the business lead to discuss potential contigency plans in case the project runs late. One of the things we discussed that I think is important is what are the must do tasks for a business area vs other tasks that they should do. For example in claims processing you must be able to open and pay a claim. Voids however can be done later. So our plan is to identify the must dosand build our contgency plan around those only.

The Ten Fallacies of Project Management

#9 - Setting overly aggressive schedules / goals works.

 I've worked for many CIOs who beleive that setting a very aggressive schedule sets up a project to deliver quicker than if it was planned on a more paced schedule. I have never known this to work. When you have an overly aggressive schedule you have no contigency time. The smallest hiccup or delay will have an enormous ripple effect. Once the first ripple hits, the rest follow just like a bolder thrown into a pond. If a project has to meet an aggressive date then you need to identify the most critical scope items and focus efforts on delivering those. On IT projects with aggressive schedules you will have to increase your testing effort as it is likely the aggressive schedule will result in a higher defects rate.

Its like a full time job

I am working at a client with another PM who recently received his PMP. We always joke about something he said to me a while back. One day he looked at me and said, "This PM thing is like a full time job". For most of us who have been PMs for a while we can appreciate this comment. The truth is that project management never ends or lets up. From start to finish the PM has to be on top of their game. This includes planning for contigencies. To me the sign of a really good PM is one who not only plans the project well but plans the contigencies equally well.

And what if you win the lottery?

Many of us are not very good at keeping our project management documents up to date. So what happens if you are suddenly gone? Can the PM who replaces you find what they need to pick up the project? Better yet what if you are the PM replacing another PM who went off to Alaska for a reality show. (I love Ice Road Truckers). Encourage your fellow PMs and yourself to keep the docs current and archive the old stuff!

No it is not a horse ...

Every contigency and risk in your plan needs a trigger point. This is an event or date that results in the contigency being invoked or risk mitigation to begin.

So what is contigency

Contingency is a buffer of time or money that is established to handle anticipated but unknwon events or changes in the project

Ten Fallacies of Project Management

#10 - Weekends are contigency time.

Weekends are for recovery, rest, and relaxation. If you don't plan in contigency time for the project up front then people may have to work weekends when the schedule slips. If this happens too often the team can get burned out and more than likely cause the project to slip further behind. There are two ways to build in contigency time. One is to build a resrve bucket of hours that is some percentage of the overall project effort in hours. The other is to add in placeholder tasks that have durations of 1 or more days. Check out the tip of the week starting 8/7 at http://bit.ly/ciyf0W  for more thoughts on this item.