Assessment Phase of a IT Project

Assessment phase of a IT project is a very critical phase where all the business requirements are captured and scope is finalized. Generally this phase is fast track and we need to make sure we plan diligently so that there are no last minute surprises in the assessment phase. So if you are in IT and you are going to start the assessment phase of a IT Project then you need to consider following key points:

- Clearly articulate the purpose of assessment in terms of objective of the assessment and the final deliverable of the assessment.
- Scope : Clearly articulate what is in scope and what is out of scope.
- Timelines : Start and End time of the assessment phase.
- Resources : Make sure all resources are identified and allocated prior to the start date. This includes resources from the client perspective as well.
- Manage Expectations : Make sure all the stakeholders and resources are aware of their roles and responsibilities. They should know what is expected out of them and the key dates on which they have any action item. This includes stakeholders from your team and from the client team as well.
- Templates : Make sure you agree with the client on the templates which will be used during the assessment phase.
- Reporting : Make sure get agreement from the client on the reporting needs. This includes daily or weekly reports.
- Documentation Sharing : Make sure you identify the platform to share documents with all stakeholders. It may be SharePoint, local network drive or any other medium.
- Time slots from key stakeholders : Make sure you block the time slots for each stakeholder ahead of time so that all critical stakeholders are available for the meetings.
- Final Presentation : Make sure you agree with the customer on the contents of the final presentation which will be a result/ final outcome of the assessment phase. Also, block time from all key stakeholders for the final presentation.

Project Management : How to avoid anxiety and stress of deadlines?

IT Project Managers often find themselves in a situation where they are questioned on the "timely" completion of tasks/ activities. There is always pressure to meet deadlines of deliverables. These are times when as a Project Manager you run after your team to make sure that the task is completed on time and the deadline is not missed. We all know that there are issues, risks and dependencies which make the situation even worse and as a Project Manager you end up being under stress/ anxiety. So is there anything that you can do as a Project Manager to avoid this stress/ anxiety? Answer is Yes, you can. All you need to do is build your project management cushion or buffer. Is this a guaranteed fix? No, it is not, but if executed with care it will give you a lot of comfort. Here is what you need to do...

- Build you project management cushion during the early stages of the project life cycle.
- This cushion/ buffer is the buffer time and the buffer resources that you need to build in your project plan.This is in reality your built in contingency.
- How to include it in your project plan? Lets understand with an example:
For a given technical task, your technical lead comes up to you with efforts of x days and a target delivery date of mm/dd. All you need to do is consider it as x+1 days and target delivery of mm/dd+1.
So when you communicate to the external stakeholders your delivery date is mm/dd+1 but internally your team still needs to meet the delivery date of mm/dd. This way you have 1 additional day which is your project management cushion or buffer. Please note, this is just an example and in real life scenario it may not be as straight forward as x days +1, it will actually be more complex.
- The most important point here is that your team still needs to meet the original timeline but you have added an additional cushion/ buffer as contingency.

If this contingency buffer is used with caution and care it will help you reduce a major chunk of you stress and anxiety when the project moves closer to the deadline. You will get sufficient time to handle any last minute issues.

PMP Certification in 4 Weeks

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Tips and Tricks For A PMP Certification Aspirant