Checklist Description

Now the project is underway with a project plan, people following the prescribed project method, and deliverables in production, what should a project manager be doing as part of the process?

This checklist in intended to help build mechanisms that kick in at relevant stages of the project to monitor the following.

Checklist

1. Project phases and milestones:

   1. Apply stop criteria for each project phase. Determine when the phase deliverables are good enough . Otherwise too much time may be spent adding low value polish .

   2. Apply early warning criteria and project checkpoints to prevent overrun on budget or timescale (see checklist 2.2 Spotting a project runaway before it happens ).

2. Quality:

   1. Quality cannot be added to a product at the end. It has to be built in from the start.

   2. Quality can be built in by the prevention of defects.

   3. To prevent defects, a project manager should ensure the following exist:

      1. a set of build procedures/processes that are understood by the entire project team (see checklist 5.1 What should be in a methodology? )

      2. build standards for every deliverable (whether an internal deliverable or an external deliverable) see Standards below

      3. testing for every deliverable see Testing below

      4. a quality feedback loop to enhance the procedures and standards.

3. Standards:

   1. Module layout standards (e.g. header, global data area, local data area, i/o handover area etc.).

   2. Screen and report layout standards.

   3. Naming conventions:

      1. file naming conventions and directory structure standards