The Community Blog for Business Analysts

Seilevel
Seilevel

It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye: Tips for Getting Closure on Your Project

Sometimes projects are like villains in horror movies: they just won’t die. Even when you’ve doused them in gasoline, set them on fire, then dumped them in a river, they just keep coming back. A project’s extension beyond its natural or expected life is not good for the project as a whole (even though it might help keep you busy). Projects are expensive and each unnecessary day spent on a project is hundreds (or sometimes thousands) of dollars that could be allocated elsewhere. Here are some tips than can help you keep the project moving towards a harmonious end for both the business and IT teams:

1. Feature Alignment: Make sure that the business understands all of the features that will be delivered as part of the project.
The BRD or other requirements documentation should spell out very clearly the features that will be delivered as well as those that will not. This sounds very obvious, but it is important and sometimes neglected at the beginning of projects.

2. Fix my Defects! Here’s a dirty secret about the software industry: all software has defects! Not surprised? Well, unfortunately and often understandably, resources will be asked to stay on a project until “all defects are fixed”. If you’ve agreed to such a request, get ready to be on the project for a long, long time. A better plan is to have agreement on the level of severity of which defects will be fixed before project exit–for example, all “Critical” or “Blocker” defects. There may be disagreement as to what counts as a “Critical” defect, but much ink has been spilled on this subject already.

3. Confidence is Key Regardless of how many defects are fixed, how well the project is planned, and how proud you are of your team, your users will not be prepared to see their safety net pulled from under them if they don’t feel comfortable using the system you’ve built. One way to build confidence is by building and measuring
user adoption . But sometimes, it just takes a lot of hand-holding and training on how to use the system, and an explanation of the business value.

4. Focus on Business Value No system is perfect, but every system should be built to achieve a business goal. When everyone is “in the weeds” reacting and focusing on discrete, individual tasks, it’s easy to lose sight of the big picture. It’s a good idea from time to time to review the project
business objectives especially when there is disagreement over which defects need to be fixed before project exit.

Do you have other tips? Let us know!

This entry was published on Aug 12, 2010 / Seilevel. Posted in Project Management, Business Analysis, Leadership & Management. Bookmark the Permalink or E-mail it to a friend.
Like this article:
  1 members liked this article

Related Articles

COMMENTS

Only registered users may post comments.

Modern Analyst Blog Latests

As we start a new year many of us will take the time to reflect on our accomplishments from 2012 and plan our goals for 2013. We can set small or large goals. goals that will be accomplished quickly or could take several years. For 2013, I think Business Analysts should look to go beyond our traditional boundaries and set audacious goals. Merriam-...
Recently, I was asked by the IIBA to present a talk at one of their chapter meetings. I am reprinting here my response to that invitation in the hope that it will begin a conversation with fellow EEPs and BAs about an area of great concern to the profession. Hi xx …. Regarding the IIBA talk, there is another issue that I am considering. It's p...
Continuing the ABC series for Business Analysts, Howard Podeswa created the next installment titled "BA ABCs: “C” is for Class Diagram" as an article rather than a blog post. You can find the article here: BA ABCs: “C” is for Class Diagram Here are the previous two posts: BA ABCs: “A” is for Activity Diagram BA ABCs: “B” is for BPMN

 



Blog Information

» What is the Community Blog and what are the Benefits of Contributing?

» Review our Blog Posting Guidelines.

» I am looking for the original Modern Analyst blog posts.

 




Copyright 2006-2024 by Modern Analyst Media LLC