Project Vital Signs

Stelios PantazopoulosLead Consultant

projectvitalsigns.com

My fellow IT practitioners… IT has lost

trust and credibility with the business

Photo Credit: wbz.com

How?

Poor track recordPoor visibility

ROI hard to quantify

Restoring trust and credibility

begins with the Project

Simply saying “the Project is ‘on track’”

is not good enough

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Need to show how and why

Project is on track

The Need

Holistic view into the State of the Project

Project as a Patient

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Project as a Patient

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In Medicine…

Medical History x Tests x Vital Signs x Experience

Diagnosis

Treatment

Vital Signs

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Vital Signs

Vital SignsSimple, quantitative, near real-time metrics

conveyed via a chartpublished to a location

and easily referenced by all

PMBOK Project Levers

PMBOK Project Levers + 1

Objectives with Vital Signs

• Bring visibility into all 5 project levers• Simple, quantitative, near-real time metrics• Publish to charts in full public display• Where possible include history and trends

Project Vital Signs

1) Scope Burn Up2) Current State of

Delivery3) Budget Burn Down4) Delivery Quality5) Team Dynamics

Scope Burn Up

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Schedule x Scope=

Expected Delivery Date

Scope Burn Up

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Current State of Delivery

Scope x Team=

Real-time state of delivery

Current State of Delivery

Budget Burn Down

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Schedule x Budget=

$$$tatus

Budget Burn Down

Delivery Quality

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Schedule x Quality=

How good is the end product

Delivery Quality

Alternative to Bugs as a Measure of Quality

Alternative to Bugs as a Measure of Quality

Team Dynamics

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Schedule x Team=

State of the team at different stages of delivery

Team Dynamics

Tuckman Model of Group Developmenthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forming-storming-norming-performing

Project Dashboard

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Example Scenario

Today is Aug 12

Start of Iteration 5

Production Release Sep 9, 4 weeks

What is the Current State of the Project?

What is the Diagnosis?

What (if any) Treatment is required?

Vital Signs

Scope Burn Up

Current State of Delivery

Budget Burn Down

Delivery Quality

Team Dynamics

What is the Current State of the Project?

Not going to make it.

What is the Diagnosis?

The team is firing on all cylinders.Quality is good.

Not enough time to deliver the full backlog for the September 9th

release.Not enough money to carry us through

the warranty period ending September 23rd.

What is the Treatment?

Release on Aug 26th instead of Sep 9th.Includes 35 stories that are ready for,

currently in or have passed QA.Remaining 20 stories to be included

in a future release, budgeted for at a later time.

Current State of Delivery : Before

Current State of Delivery : After

Current State of Delivery : After

Scope Burn Up : Before Treatment

Scope Burn Up : After Treatment

Budget Burn Down : Before Treatment

Budget Burn Down : After Treatment

Delivery Quality : After Treatment

Team Dynamics : After Treatment

Key Messages

Visibility into all leversthe PMBOK 4 + Team

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Transparency is key

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Shared team

responsibility

Project Vital Signs

projectvitalsigns.com

stelios@thoughtworks.com

Special thanks to Agile 2010, ThoughtWorks, Kraig Parkinson and, my wife, Tami