7.13 Quality of Deliverables

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So where are we? In this chapter, we have examined a variety of tools and techniques available to help keep you on top of the project and poised to take corrective action. Dozens more scenarios could be explored, but a gap would still exist between what has been discussed in this book and what might surface in your projects. Therein lies both the challenge and reward of project management work: its unpredictability and the opportunity to react with creativity and focused hard work.

"So where are we?" is a good question to ask yourself and the team. Start asking it early, and keep asking it because it is not always easy to tell where "we are." Nasty obstacles can pop up at very inconvenient times. On the other hand, as previously documented, some parts of the process can look very unseemly until completion, and there is no getting around the bad press you may be accumulating. Most problems are recoverable, but you may have to accept the fact that perfection is elusive in the IT world.

There is a beginning, middle, and end to every project. As project manager, you are charged with getting everything and everybody to the finish line in great shape. In theory, that should be pretty simple because you properly understood the requirements, you implemented them as best you could, you tested to validate success, and you documented everything.

Testing provides the final answer to the "so where are we?" question. The test plan, which we alluded to as success metrics in the Big Thirteen, should be designed to validate that requirements were met. In some cases, this can be restated as how well requirements were met. Too many technologies are out there to allow for a detailed discussion on test planning in this book. Suffice it to say that you were advised to champion this responsibility from Day One, and get the team thinking along these lines as well. Try to test things as early as possible. This gives the team adequate time to react to any issues raised by the test, proof of concept, or pilot process.

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