Guidelines: Important Decisions in Project Management
Topics
Decide How to Perform the
Workflow 
The following decisions should be made regarding the Project Management workflow:
- Decide how to perform the workflow by looking at the Project Management: Workflow Details. Study the diagram with its guard conditions, and the guidelines. Decide which workflow details to perform and in which order.
- Decide which parts of the Project Management workflow to perform. The following are some parts that can be introduced relatively independently of the rest of the rest of the workflow.
|
Part of workflow |
Comments |
| Iterative development | Some customers have an existing project management workflow, but are interested in introducing the parts of the Project Management workflow that focus on iterative, risk driven development: Workflow Detail: Plan for Next Iteration, Workflow Detail: Manage Iteration, and Workflow Detail: Evaluate Project Scope and Risk. |
| Project start-up | Some parts of the Project Management workflow focus on the start of the project should be introduced early in the project: Workflow Detail: Conceive New Project, Workflow Detail: Evaluate Project Scope and Risk, and Workflow Detail: Develop Software Development Plan. |
- Decide when, during the project lifecycle, to introduce each part of the workflow. More information look at Project Management: Workflow Details.
Document the decisions in the section "Core Workflows / Project Management / Workflow", in the Development Case.
Decide How to Use Artifacts
Decide which artifacts to use and how to use each of them. The table below describes those artifacts you must have and those used in some cases. For more detailed information on how to tailor each artifact, and a discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of that specific artifact, read the section titled "Tailoring" for each artifact.
For each artifact, decide how the artifact should be used: Must have, Should have, Could have or Won't have. For more details, see Guidelines: Classifying Artifacts.
| Artifact | Brief Tailoring Comments (see the artifact for details) |
| Business Case | Must have. In every project, you need a business case. |
| Iteration Assessment | Must have. After each iteration, you need to do an assessment. |
| Iteration Plan | Must have. Every iteration needs to be planned. |
| Measurement Plan | Could have. Use this if you collect metrics. |
| Problem Resolution Plan | Could have. Use it if necessary. |
| Product Acceptance Plan | Could have. Use this if there's a need for a separate plan. |
| Project Measurements | Could have. Use this if you collect metrics. |
| Quality Assurance Plan | Could have. |
| Review Record | Could have. Use this for formal reviews. |
| Risk List | Must have. |
| Risk Management Plan | Could have. Use when necessary. |
| Software Development Plan | Should have. |
| Status Assessment | Could have. Use this to capture the status between iterations. |
| Work Order | Could have. Use this if the project manager needs it to communicate with project members. |
Tailor each artifact by performing the steps described in the Activity:
Develop Development Case, under the heading "Tailor
Artifacts per Workflow".
