8.2 ASSIGN MANAGEMENT RESPONSIBILITY

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8.2 ASSIGN MANAGEMENT RESPONSIBILITY

Somebody has to take responsibility for the work being done. Ideally, this will not be the people doing the work but rather somebody with authority within the organization and someone with access to senior management. Access to senior management is important because the final activity within the initiation stage concerns a proposal for further work. This further work will involve a cost and will need to be authorized at some level. Many programs flounder because they cannot get a fair hearing from senior management who control the purse strings, and since we are going to face enough problems anyway, design to succeed from the start by making sure that you can get that fair hearing.

There are many terms used to describe the individual who takes on responsibility for a work item; the sponsor, the champion and the customer authority are some common examples. Personally, I prefer the third choice as sponsors and champions can lack involvement, merely lending their name to the project while the term "customer authority" implies someone with a specific role, namely to act as the final arbiter for the project when decisions have to be made. Whatever term is used (and an organization will have its own preferences), a relatively senior individual should be appointed as the sponsor or customer authority for the Software Metrics program. As a general guideline, the more senior the customer authority the better, provided the involvement of that person can be assured. Do not go for seniority at the expense of involvement!

It is generally advised that the customer authority should not change during the life of the a project. Reality often means that such a change will happen, possibly more than once. We all know the pain that severe changes to requirements can cause a project, so if your customer authority does change, endeavor to ensure that the new sponsor accepts and agrees to the requirements, designs, etc. that have already been signed off. This can involve some effort but it more than pays for itself. Notice that this implies that such things are documented and retained. It is no good having the terms of reference in peoples heads.



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Software Metrics. Best Practices for Successful It Management
Software Metrics: Best Practices for Successful IT Management
ISBN: 1931332266
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 151
Authors: Paul Goodman

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