Effective IT Project Management: Using Teams to Get Projects Completed on Time and Under Budget

In Phase 5 ”Beta, the documentation was completed, the team signed off on the project s quality, the project announcement was ready for release, all outstanding severity 1 or 2 bugs had been fixed, and the company had received signoff sheets from each of the beta sites. The Project Manager ensured that the company was ready to execute the release of the project and had updated the financial information associated with the project. The phase review was presented to executive staff. Executive staff agreed to release the project.

Release is a chaotic time. It has been compared to having the family over for Thanksgiving dinner. No matter how organized the cook is, she always spends Thanksgiving Day in the kitchen cooking the turkey .

At Release all the last-minute details come together and the team members are responsible for ensuring that the project installation goes smoothly.

• If applicable , Communications sends the press release out over the news wire and releases the marketing materials, including brochures , promotions, mailers, and advertising.

• If the project was announced during a public beta, documents may need to be updated and a press release announcing general availability should be released. An announcement highlighting the new features or the new project is e-mailed and if applicable mailed to users.

• Help Desk confirms they are ready to support users.

The employees responsible for assisting users in installing the project are trained and can differentiate user errors from project errors.

• The Training department confirms their class schedule is final and available to users.

• The Project Manager is actualizing the Release Plan.

• The team meets for the last time to review assignments and confirm that all deliverables are complete. The team then signs the quality pledge (see Figure 6.1).

  Figure 6.1: Quality Pledge

6.2 in a Nutshell

At release, all the last-minute details come together and the team members are responsible for making sure the project installation goes smoothly.

• Help Desk confirms they are prepared to take user questions.

• The Training department confirms their class schedule is final and available to users.

• The Project Manager is actualizing the Release Plan.