I lead a national implementation team that I staffed and am responsible for implementing over 580 changes throughout the country in the transportation industry. The problem is, I have no identifiable project manager to receive specific statement of requirements from. In my interactions with the actual implementors (engineers) we seem to be establishing the requirements 'on the fly' based on general, high level requirements stemming from the project proposal.
The implementors are getting a little upset with this apparent lack of direction and structure (I don't blame them). I spoke with the project sponsor and relayed to him the general feeling of the implementations group, but I don't know if he feels like there is a need for a PM so long as I and the engineers can muddle through the requirements.
I want to establish a correct project structure for both current function and future credibility. What do you suggest my next step should be?
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Anonymous
Gary, I dont know what is the size of your team but I think its high time you should consider procuring a web based tool to seamlessly collaborate on your day to day activity of Project management, Software LifeCycle Management, IT business processes management within a globally distributed team environment.
No matter how well you manage these using spreadsheets, documents, presentations etc. -- unknowingly everyone is pushing the organization towards a stage where information would get locked in silos and visibility would always be a challenge.
Your organization would grow (thats the business imperative, right?) so this situation would get real challenging for the organization then. Talk to your project sponsor about procuring such tool. Infrastructure budgets in IT emphasize hardware so the kind of tool that I am talking about probably is never thought of. Traditionally, IT executives never ask for such tools, they ask for a piece here or a piece there. Food for thought?
Try surfing www.digite.com and there are many alternatives available of Digite genre. Pick the one that solves your need.
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Gary,
From what you described, it sounds as if you need a Business Analyst to gather and document requirements. Host a meeting to remind the team of the business objectives, set goals, and to brainstorm any missing requirements. You mentioned a project proposal, so there must be a legitimate business need to measure the requirements against. During the meeting, establish the process which new requirements will be submitted and approved. Document your process in a scope management plan immediately followed by a change management plan. Bringing discipline to where there was none before will be a challenge, don’t expect to win every argument, just enough to put your control process in place, show the value, and have a framework for the next time. Even if you don’t get a project manager, you need someone to fill the role and to get control. Let us know how it turns out. Saving Changes...
