Methodology Acceptance Criteria

After the project methodology has been implemented and the first pilot project successfully completed, the project methodology team, together with the client, should walk through the necessary acceptance criteria. Questions to answer include:

Has the methodology addressed all areas of our business?

Does the methodology allow us visibility to monitor all projects in the pipeline?

Have we addressed all necessary templates that are required?

Are there quality gates built into our methodology?

Will the methodology be able to capture project metrics?

If relevant, have the software licenses for the methodology been purchased?

Is the hardware in place and in production?

Have all the users been provided with methodology training?

Have the required support agreements with vendors been approved and implemented? Have the project office team roles and responsibilities been completed?

In the end, the only thing that really counts to the client is the perception of what was delivered and the client experience during the deployment. If the client is happy and well informed, deployment will be easier.

Consider a Pilot Project Deployment

When any project framework or development methodology is implemented, the company should consider deploying a pilot project before a full-blown methodology rollout. By initiating a pilot project, the project team has the opportunity to prove the effectiveness and true value to the stakeholders. The methodology team then recruits a pilot project manager to manage a project using the new methodology. The entire team patiently observes, monitors, and documents all movements in the pilot project.

Any small problems or issues are noted and corrected when the pilot project is complete. The entire team then holds a design review meeting to ensure that any changes are incorporated into the methodology procedures, training, and marketing material. Figure 5.3 shows steps for implementation of a pilot methodology.

Figure 5.3: Implementation of a pilot methodology.

Team LiB II I * previous next ►

Lessons Learned

Introduction of any project methodology into an organization requires careful coordination and control. The following are lessons learned on projects rolled out by Fortune 1000 clients:

Using a flexible methodology in which projects are approached collaboratively and incrementally provides recognizable results at a much faster pace, compared to an inflexible methodology that forces users to comply with every document and step.

Communicate to all stakeholders the status of pilot implementation.

Share success and highlights of milestones achieved and benefits that will be gained.

You cannot gain acceptance from everybody when deploying a new project methodology; someone will identify missing pieces.

Perform an assessment of the organizations current capability, identifying what key process areas need to be improved to gain the maximum benefit; then make the appropriate changes.

When working with sales and marketing staff who sell project methodologies to clients, be sure that the project lead is involved before any commitment date is provided as many projects fail when promises are made in isolation by sales teams just to get the contract from a client.