There is nothing better than a job well done. Wrapping up a project, relaxing, enjoying the laurels of your success… the only question is, how do you recognize the end? Do you know what it looks like?
One of the most important aspects of a project is completely understanding what the end of the project will look like. It’s the only way to recognize the finish line. Just as important is recognizing what the completed deliverable of a given task is. How do you know when you can really tell if a task is completed? How do you, as a worker, recognize when you have completed what the client really wants?
Identifying a clear vision of what a completed deliverable looks like is vital. I recommend, for a project, that not only do you include a complete scope in your project’s charter, but that you create a document that provides a description of what the final deliverable is, is not, and what measurables will determine if it has been delivered or not. When you discuss tasks during the process of working on a project, always make sure that you clarify with both the deliverer and the receiver of the task’s results what the deliverable looks like. Keep your footprints clear in the sand as you go.
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This blog is written by me, Stacey Douglas, an analyst, project manager, systems designer and executive in the software industry. You can learn more about me at my website, http://www.staceydouglas.com.
Stacey,
Don’t forget the important role that corporate politics play in this particular area. Case in point is a project that was finished 7 days ago (Sept 30th) by a junior PM whom I have been mentoring for about 2 years.
On this particular project the internal political pressure on the department VP had been increased again and again. This lead to a “slimming down” of their definition of what Done looked like. In the end, they defined Done as “5 products are in the system and we can print a report”.
As you can expect, the project was released successfully and is now “done”.
The only problem is that this is just a political statement and the real work to finish the project “properly” has just begun. They don’t have a definition for “properly” either…
Until next time,
Cornelius Fichtner
http://www.thepmpodcast.com