Outline guide to project management to supplement the workshop 'simplified project management techniques, '

摘要

These terms apply generally to work done, not just to software products. There are three things to accomplish through the introduction of this terminology. One, there is a need for a standard vocabulary. Two, there is a particular need for checkpoints as well as phases. So often, projects of all kinds drift along from one phase to another with no hard evidence of progress. Three, there must be an "order of events" for activities to be easily plotted against a schedule. Not every activity requires tremendous amounts of documentation, and not every checkpoint will take hours to complete. Not every project development phase will require intermediate milestones. As much as anything, what follows is a framework for thinking about how to get work done. Choose a methodology that suits your project. The phases provide logical boundaries for splitting up work across business units. For example, if you decide to outsource the construction, you would want to choose a plan in which are sure not to take delivery of partially constructed items. The checkpoints exist as opportunities to abandon or alter the course of the project. Milestones are important, finite events between the checkpoints that serve to measure progress against time, and to compare planned and actual dates. An missed event that has no consequences cannot be a milestone.