2.13 Recommendations for Management and Team Members

The following are guidelines that executive staff should use to empower the team and to ensure projects come out on time and on budget.

Allow the Project Manager and the team to define the project and the development schedule; don t shortcut the PLC process. Business requirements sometimes require a project to be defined and available before Phase 1 or Phase 2 are complete. Don t succumb to allowing outside sources to define your release date and feature list. Otherwise, the release date you give will slip and the features will not meet expectations or will not be competitive. Phase 1 and 2 are instrumental steps in defining a project. A house built on a bad or nonexisting foundation will not weather a storm .
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Wait until the end of Phase 2 to announce a release date. There are always situations and people in management who try to force you to announce a project and its release date before the project has been identified out. If you release information before the team has created an integrated schedule, the date you give will be incorrect. You will not only have ˜ ˜egg on your face but also create many months of unnecessary pain while employees vainly attempt to meet an unrealistic schedule.
Respect the development schedule. If at the end of Phase 2 you find the release schedule will not meet your business requirements, do not arbitrarily change the date. This approach never works. It only causes intense frustration and unnecessary problems. If the release date does not meet your requirements, you have one of two choices: 1) Figure out where increased head count will decrease project duration time; 2) Decide what features, functionality, or process can be cut to decrease project duration time. Every development schedule results in programmers working nights and weekends. You can t cut a schedule in half and expect employees to work a hundred- hour work week.
Empower the team. Don t give responsibility without authority. Appoint people to the team who have the ability to drive process, provide direction, and communicate team initiatives to their respective functional area.
Facilitate information flow. If contracts are being negotiated outside of the team, make sure you provide information access to the ProjectManager or any other applicable team member.
Take phase reviews seriously. Phase reviews are designed to give executive management a snapshot of the status of the project. Phase reviews are an excellent tool to confirm that processes are being followed and team deliverables are being completed on time. If executive staff doesn t take phase reviews seriously no one else will.
Make sure design reviews take place. Design reviews are necessary to confirm that the project being developed is realistic. Cutting the design process short will only increase the development process.

2.13 in a Nutshell

Management can support a team by following these guidelines:
Don t cut the PLC process short; let the team define the project and the development schedule.
Wait until the end of Phase 2 to announce a release date.
Respect the development schedule.
Empower the team; don t give responsibility without authority.
Facilitate information flow.
Take phase reviews seriously.
Make sure design reviews take place.
Here are some hints that will help create a successful team:
Bring in an expert to review the Design Document.
Allow the team to build an integrated schedule based on how long they think tasks will take.
Provide the team members with a forum where they can input and recommend changes if the integrated schedule needs to be modified.