Project Plan

Now that all the pieces of the puzzle were starting to come together, the Vshift team created the initial project plan (Figure II-2.5). Vshift usually puts together quick project plans that simply outline all the tasks necessary to complete the project, grouped by major task areas. An approximate time to complete the task is also recorded, and all the dependencies are created.

Figure II-2.5. This is the project plan for the expense report application.

instant message

A dependency is when you link child tasks with their parent tasks. The parent tasks must be completed before the child task can begin.

The plan is kept simple because of the short nature of the project and because of the tendency for small projects like this to change dramatically throughout the project life. Although the plan is simple, it is still crucial to understanding exactly how much time the team can spend on each task while still meeting the project due date. If the team finds that it is going over the estimated completion time on any critical task, Vshift will know immediately that the project as a whole may be at risk of running behind.

With the technology decisions, design prototypes, project plan, and all the new technology research completed, the Vshift team is ready to begin development for this application. It will use the responses that come back from MonkeyTongue regarding the memos sent out during this week, to ensure that the team stays on track. The next chapter will focus on the details of this development effort, including how the team will deal with the various programming challenges that crop up.