Project Blastoff
The blastoff determines the purpose the product is to
fulfill and also helps to identify the stakeholders. Blastoff deliverables
qualify the project and are used as inputs.
On the blastoff, the initial costs are defined, the work
the scope is shaped, the strategic plan for the project and goals are determined.
The Blastoff deliverables are: Propose of the project, the
scope of the work, the stakeholders, constraints, names, relevant facts and
assumptions, estimated cost, risk, go/no go decision.
Propose of the project: A short sentence telling what
the project intends to do.
Scope of the work: The Business area affected by the
installation of the product.
The stakeholders: The people with an interest in the product.
Constraints: Restrictions on the scope or style of the
product.
Names: Any special terminology to be used in this project.
Relevant facts and assumptions: Special facts that people
need to know.
The estimated cost: How much money will the sponsor needs to
invest in the project?
The risks: Short and main risks that could affect the
project.
Go/no go decision: The viability of the project, enough time
to build a better project’s foundation.
Formality Guide
A rabbit project will probably have only a brief blastoff
meeting. Horse project should be more formal and hold a blastoff meeting. Elephant project
have a lot to lose by not having the blastoff deliverables firmly in place
before proceeding further in the product development process.
Scope, Stakeholders, and Goals
The scope, stakeholders, and goals are not decided in
isolation from one another. Rather, the scope of the work indicates the stakeholders
who have an interest in the work; the stakeholders, in turn, decide what they
want the goals of the project to be. Stakeholders include anyone with an
interest in, or an effect on, the outcome of the product, for example, Consultants,
Management, Core Team, Inspectors, Market Forces, Legal Experts, etc. You need
to know the goal of the project. You can think of the project goal as the
highest-level requirement; all the detailed requirements you collect along the
way must make a positive contribution toward that goal.
Constraints
You can think of constraints as a special type of
the requirement that provides some guidance on where to focus your
requirements-gathering efforts.
Good Job Fabiano,
ReplyDeleteJust adding my views about to Go or not to GO decisions.
The ability for a project to work successfully is defined from the deliverables from project blastoff. Deliverables can define that whether or not the project is worth to spend money and time on it. Always give a closer look onto the deliverables like:
1. Is the goal clear and definite?
2. Is the goal measurable? Will we know when the project be completed?
3. Is there any clear benefit from the goal?
4. Can we achieve the objectives within the given time and budget?
5. Are there any risks that can become bigger problems ?
6. Do we have stakeholders that will approve the project?
7. Should we invest in the project?
8. Are there any reasons that we should back-off from the project?
Other project management techniques can be considered as well like
SWOT- Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats
ALUo- Advantages, Limitations, Uniques Qualities and overcome limitations of some options
SMART- Specific, Measureable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-bound
PESTLE- Political, Economic, Sociological, Technological, Legal and Environmental Factors
CATWOE- Customers, Actors, Transformation processes, World view, Owners and Environment
further explaining on more terms another important case is ICEBREAKER
ReplyDeleteit is the case study we have put together to illustrate the requirements process.icebreaker use data from the environment to predict when ice will from on roads.so to illustrate the decisions collects all the activities to be studied and hide them in a central circle.
THE SPONSOR
We have said—often, and it shall be repeated—that the product has to provide
the optimal value to its owner. However, for many products you do not,
and usually cannot, have direct access to the owner. Many projects are carried
out by commercial organizations, which are strictly speaking owned by
their shareholders.we cannot proceed without a sponsor. If no one is representing the interest
of the organization at large, then there is little point in proceeding with
the project. The sponsor is most likely to be present at the blastoff meeting
(you should be worried if the sponsor is not there) and is most likely one of
these people:
● User Management: If you are building a product for in-house consumption,
the most realistic sponsor is the manager of the users who will
ultimately operate the product. Their department, or its work, is the
beneficiary of the product, so it is reasonable that the cost of construction
is borne by the departmental manager.
● Marketing Department: If you build products for sale to people outside
your organization, the marketing department may assume the role of
sponsor and represent the eventual owners of the product.
● Product Development: If you build software for sale, the budget for its
development might be with your product manager or strategic program
manager, in which case one of those would be the sponsor.
The importance of IceBreaker
ReplyDeleteIceBreaker is a case study we have put together to illustrate the requirements
process. IceBreaker uses data from the environment to predict when ice
will form on roads. It then schedules trucks to treat the roads with de-icing
material (a salt compound) before the roads can become dangerous. The
IceBreaker case study uses subject-matter knowledge from the many ice fore-
casting and road de-icing systems, and other products produced by Vaisala
(U.K.) Limited and Vaisala Worldwide. We acknowledge Vaisala’s permission
to use its material and the company’s kind cooperation.
Imagine IceBreaker is your project. You work for Saltworks Systems,
and you are responsible for producing the requirements specification. The
first customer for the IceBreaker product is the Northumberland County
Highways Department. Northumberland is a county in the northeast of Eng-
land, tucked up under the border with Scotland, with serious snow and icy
conditions in winter. The Highways Department is responsible for keeping
the roads free of ice that is likely to cause accidents; it has agreed to provide
expertise and information for you to build the optimally valuable product
for the department.