Schedule Project Planning Review Meeting
Attendees of the Project Planning Review meeting should include representatives from senior management, and
all groups that will have to commit resources to the project as required by the Software Development Plan
(e.g., Development/Engineering, Operations, QA, Test, Customer Support, etc.). Typically these would
comprise the Project Review Authority, along with team leads for the various functional areas of the
project team.
Once the attendees of the Project Planning Review Meeting have been identified, set a date/time for the
meeting to take place. It is important that you provide sufficient lead time to allow the participants to
review the project materials that will be used as the basis for the approval decision.
|
Distribute Meeting Materials
Prior to the meeting, distribute the project materials to the reviewers. Make sure these materials are sent
out sufficiently in advance of the Project Approval Review Meeting to allow the reviewers adequate time to
review them. A minimum set of work products that should be presented for review is:
-
Vision
-
Business Case
-
Risk List
-
Software Development Plan (and its enclosed plans)
|
Conduct Project Planning Review Meeting
During the meeting, the reviewers assess the proposed Software Development Plan to determine whether it
represents a program of activity that will deliver the project objectives. The reviewers also look for any
erroneous assumptions or omissions in the plan. Consider such things as:
-
Does the plan address the needs identified in the Business Case and Vision?
-
Will the plan deliver the desired results within the schedule and budget outlined in the Business Case?
-
Has the plan been developed to a sufficient level of detail that the outcome of the project can be
realistically predicted?
-
Have project estimates been prepared using sound analytical methods?
-
Are review points and milestones scheduled at frequent enough intervals?
-
Are plans in place to mitigate/avoid all serious risks?
-
Are sufficient resources identified in the plan, and are these resources available/acquirable?
-
Are roles and responsibilities clearly defined?
-
Are the monitoring and control processes defined in the plan acceptable?
-
Are all the supporting plans and guidelines completed to an acceptable level of detail?
At the end of the meeting, the reviewers should make their approval decision. The result can be one of the
following:
Plan Approved
|
The project will proceed as planned. Senior management commits remaining funds and resources for
the project.
|
Project Canceled
|
Project no longer viable given the known risks and project budget/schedule.
|
Decision deferred
|
More information is needed, or further investigation is required before an approval decision can be
made.
|
|
Record Decision
At the end of the meeting, a Review Record is completed capturing any important discussions or action
items, and recording the result of the Project Planning Review. If the result was "decision deferred" a
follow-up Project Planning Review Meeting should be scheduled for a later date.
|
|