6 ● IN THE HEAT OF THE PROJECTAT THE OUTSET OF A PROJECT, THE REQUI...

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In the heat of the project

At the outset of a project, the requirements for the system are usually vague and ill-defined. In consequence, any planning is at best tentative. As the requirements becomeclearer, more meaningful and accurate plans can be made. Replanning – reestimatingand rescheduling – is needed to adjust previous estimates as more accurate informationemerges as the project proceeds.People will leave the project because of new jobs, maternity leave and illness. Taskswill often overrun their schedule. Additional or changed requirements will be request-ed. These all require adjustments to the plan.All of the above present enormous challenges. It is not uncommon to see panic set inas deadlines are missed and the project seems to be off course. The trick is to recognizeat the outset that these things are going to happen – and plan for them. And it is vital toremember Brooks’s famous advice, “Adding people to a late project will make it later.”If an initial plan is inflexible, it is difficult to adapt when something unexpected hap-pens. Conversely, if the plan is flexible, change can be easily accommodated. This iswhere cumbersome approaches reveal their limits, while agile methods are deliberatelydesigned to be adaptive. Incremental methods are also good at coping with risk becausedevelopment takes place in small steps.Let us consider some likely and realistic scenarios.First scenario: someone quits the project. If there is someone else available within theorganization (a big assumption), they can take over. They will need to learn about theproject and their particular role. So, even if things go smoothly, time is lost. But it couldbe that no one is available to take the vacant position. The choice is then between aban-doning the work, switching someone or delaying deadlines. If someone is switched,something else gets abandoned, so the problem is merely passed around. Thus somehard decisions have to be made.