Better Software - November 2008 - (Page 37) or variance from current plans. This requires up-front planning from the project manager to describe the work approach and ongoing effort to track progress against those plans. It also requires effort on the part of the people receiving status to take the time to understand the meaning and implications of status. Let’s examine a hypothetical project beginning with resources and working through to scope. Resources Pictures can show how the budget (resource) plan and progress against it are related, as shown in table 2. Imagine a four-month project expected to consume $200,000. We arrived at this figure from estimates of labor as well as hardware and software purchasing allocated across the life of the project. When the project is approved, these estimates become the “baseline” plan, the basis for future comparisons of progress and performance. Let’s create a status report for this project in late September. Actual expense information (hours spent and hardware and software purchased) is known for the month of August and for the first half of September. First, let’s focus on what we know about September. We had originally budgeted $45,000 for September, as shown in figure 1. As of September 15, we had spent only $20,000; however, we anticipate spending an additional $40,000 this month. Yikes! This information says we expect to be $15,000 (33 percent) over budget in September. That is the danger of looking at a point in time out of context. Figure 1 shows what we believe is happening in September, but it doesn’t explain why or provide much context for the information. What might be helpful would be to show September in the context of the entire project budget, as shown in figure 2. We now see that in September we expect to spend $15,000 more than initially planned, but October is now expected to cost $12,000 less than originally planned. The rationale for the expense shift (or whatever is going on) should be presented in the status report, but this bigger picture supports that explanation. It might be something as simple as the Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 www.StickyMinds.com NOVEMBER 2008 BETTER SOFTWARE 37 http://www.StickyMinds.com
Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Better Software - November 2008 Better Software - November 2008 Contents Mark Your Calendar Contributors eLightenment Technically Speaking Code Craft Test Connection Management Chronicles Getting Agile with User-Centered Design Google Web Toolkit Simple Summaries of Complex Projects Product Announcements 10 Things You Might Not Know About … The Last Word Ad Index Better Software - November 2008 Better Software - November 2008 - (Page Intro) Better Software - November 2008 - (Page bellyband1) Better Software - November 2008 - (Page bellyband2) Better Software - November 2008 - Better Software - November 2008 (Page Cover1) Better Software - November 2008 - Better Software - November 2008 (Page Cover2) Better Software - November 2008 - Better Software - November 2008 (Page 1) Better Software - November 2008 - Better Software - November 2008 (Page 2) Better Software - November 2008 - Contents (Page 3) Better Software - November 2008 - Mark Your Calendar (Page 4) Better Software - November 2008 - Mark Your Calendar (Page 5) Better Software - November 2008 - Contributors (Page 6) Better Software - November 2008 - Contributors (Page 7) Better Software - November 2008 - eLightenment (Page 8) Better Software - November 2008 - eLightenment (Page QA1) Better Software - November 2008 - eLightenment (Page QA2) Better Software - November 2008 - eLightenment (Page 9) Better Software - November 2008 - eLightenment (Page 10) Better Software - November 2008 - eLightenment (Page 11) Better Software - November 2008 - eLightenment (Page 12) Better Software - November 2008 - Technically Speaking (Page 13) Better Software - November 2008 - Code Craft (Page 14) Better Software - November 2008 - Code Craft (Page 15) Better Software - November 2008 - Code Craft (Page 16) Better Software - November 2008 - Code Craft (Page 17) Better Software - November 2008 - Test Connection (Page 18) Better Software - November 2008 - Test Connection (Page 19) Better Software - November 2008 - Management Chronicles (Page 20) Better Software - November 2008 - Management Chronicles (Page 21) Better Software - November 2008 - Getting Agile with User-Centered Design (Page 22) Better Software - November 2008 - Getting Agile with User-Centered Design (Page 23) Better Software - November 2008 - Getting Agile with User-Centered Design (Page 24) Better Software - November 2008 - Getting Agile with User-Centered Design (Page 25) Better Software - November 2008 - Google Web Toolkit (Page 26) Better Software - November 2008 - Google Web Toolkit (Page 27) Better Software - November 2008 - Google Web Toolkit (Page 28) Better Software - November 2008 - Google Web Toolkit (Page 29) Better Software - November 2008 - Google Web Toolkit (Page 30) Better Software - November 2008 - Google Web Toolkit (Page 31) Better Software - November 2008 - Google Web Toolkit (Page 32) Better Software - November 2008 - Google Web Toolkit (Page 33) Better Software - November 2008 - Simple Summaries of Complex Projects (Page 34) Better Software - November 2008 - Simple Summaries of Complex Projects (Page 35) Better Software - November 2008 - Simple Summaries of Complex Projects (Page 36) Better Software - November 2008 - Simple Summaries of Complex Projects (Page 37) Better Software - November 2008 - Simple Summaries of Complex Projects (Page 38) Better Software - November 2008 - Simple Summaries of Complex Projects (Page 39) Better Software - November 2008 - Simple Summaries of Complex Projects (Page 40) Better Software - November 2008 - Simple Summaries of Complex Projects (Page 41) Better Software - November 2008 - Product Announcements (Page 42) Better Software - November 2008 - Product Announcements (Page 43) Better Software - November 2008 - Product Announcements (Page 44) Better Software - November 2008 - Product Announcements (Page 45) Better Software - November 2008 - 10 Things You Might Not Know About … (Page 46) Better Software - November 2008 - The Last Word (Page 47) Better Software - November 2008 - Ad Index (Page 48) Better Software - November 2008 - Ad Index (Page Cover3) Better Software - November 2008 - Ad Index (Page Cover4)
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