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Project Status Tracking: Track Project Status Openly and Honestly
September 25, 2008 | Author: PM Hut | Filed under: Performance Reporting, Project Management Best Practices
Project Status Tracking: Track Project Status Openly and Honestly (#21 in the series 21 Project Management Success Tips)
By Karl E. Wiegers
An old riddle asks, “How does a software project become six months late?” The answer is, “One day at a time.” The painful problems arise when you don’t know just how far behind (or, occasionally, ahead) of plan the project really is. Create a climate in which team members feel it is safe for them to report project status accurately. Strive to run the project from a foundation of accurate, data-based facts, rather than from the misleading optimism that sometimes arises from the fear of reporting bad news. Use project status information and metrics data to take corrective actions when necessary and to celebrate when you can. You can only manage a project effectively when you really know what’s done and what isn’t, what tasks are falling behind their estimates and why, and what problems and issues remain to be tackled. The five major areas of software measurement are size, effort, time, quality, and status. Remember the cardinal rule of software metrics: metrics data must never be used to punish or reward individuals for their performance.
Adapted from “Practical Project Initiation: A Handbook with Tools” (Microsoft Press, 2007). A condensed version of this paper was published in Software Development magazine.
Karl Wiegers, Ph.D., is Principal Consultant with Process Impact, a software process consulting and education company in Portland, Oregon. Karl’s most recent book is “Practical Project Initiation: A Handbook with Tools.” Karl is also the author of four other books and 170 articles. Karl is a frequent speaker at software conferences and professional society meetings. You can reach Karl through www.projectinitiation.com or www.processimpact.com.
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[...] review allows problems to be identified early so that corrective action can be taken to keep the project on track. Review also helps team members to learn and improve their [...]