5.17 Conclusion

< Day Day Up >

Large projects present many opportunities for failure. Keep referring to your target-state document and understand the business implications of each component being cancelled. Despite what some people might think, especially those project team members with a vested interest in any given requirement, the survival of your organization simply does not rest on all deliverables going in on time, if at all. If a rational analysis suggests that the implementation or impact of such a deliverable is problematic, try to delay or cancel its rollout with management's informed blessing. If I did not know better, I would guess that the phrase "Discretion is the better part of valor" was coined by a mortally wounded project manager.

I want to close this chapter by highlighting a point previously discussed regarding the specific risk of a vendor going out of business. It is probable that a thorough risk analysis will lead to some changes in your plan, whether the impact is on the target state or the schedule. One of the challenges in this business is that one can generally anticipate a huge gap emerging between the original assumptions made about scope and what the final outcome turns out to be. An enlightened project manager knows this going in, and leverages it as the design heads toward a plan everyone then pitches in to build. Thus, one must conclude that risk analysis is a key and final prerequisite to the "planning process."

< Day Day Up >