6.3 The Release Presentation

The team now presents release to the executive staff (see Figure 6.2).

Figure 6.2: Release Presentation

Page 1: Cover Page. This document should be for controlled distribution and list the names of all the people attending and receiving the review handout. The cover page should have the project name , the phase, and the date.

Page 2: Agenda. List major deliverables for this phase, the team members who will be presenting, and the time allotted for presentations. Agenda items for a Phase 6 review may include: introduction, general program status, Beta Plan, team overview, and issues and risks.

Page 3: Phase 6 ”Release Project Status. Review the items that have been created or completed in a Phase 6 ”Release:

• Project is ready for release

• Hardware, software, networking services, and documentation are ready for use or to be shipped to users

• Launch plan is executed

Page 4: Review Phase 5. Review the action items from Phase 5 to see if they are complete. List the item and its status.

Page 5: Integrated Schedule. For Phases 5 and 6, list the start and completion date for Development, Documentation, QA, Beta, Release, and Maintenance.

Page 6: Updated Development Costs. For Phases 5 and 6, list the contracted costs for Communications, IT, QA, Documentation, and Help Desk.

Page 7: Contracted Costs. For Phases 5 and 6, list the hardware costs, the software costs, and the networking costs, as well as the personnel costs to develop, stage, and support the project, any transportation costs, and the sustaining costs to support.

Page 8: Team Status Cover Sheet. The following sheets highlight the team deliverables that have been created by team members.

Page 9: Project Manager.

• Release Plan execution

• Announcement execution

• Any changes from Phase 5

Page 10: Issues and Risks. For this phase, list issue, owner, risk, impact, and status.

Page 11: Executive Session. Executive sign-off, executives note any action items for the team and agree to let the program move to the next phase.

6.3 in a Nutshell

• The Project Manager updates the project financials.

• The team presents the final phase review to executive staff.

• Management will need an update to ensure the release went as scheduled, resulting in the briefest phase review.

  Tip  

  It is a good policy to follow the release phase review with a party where awards are given out. Executive staff should thank all the people who have contributed to the success of this project s release.