Today, we continue our project management series. Read the first part about project management methodologies here:
Project Management Methodologies in IT: Making the Right Choice Amidst Uncertainty
Now, let’s talk about different phases of project management in IT.
Step 1. Concept
Every project begins with a concept. Although we said in the previous article that all projects involve uncertainties of some kind, at the beginning you still need to establish the desired outcome. The project manager and the client must come to the same vision of the end product, as the former can potentially suggest a better solution than the one proposed by the latter. This is why it is absolutely essential that the manager have well-honed communication skills, a good understanding of IT processes and solid experience.
Step 2. Roadmap and decomposition
When all agreements have been reached, it’s time to draw up the roadmap and the terms of reference. When creating the plan, the manager decomposes each block into individual tasks, specifying the deadlines and persons responsible.
Step 3. Task assignment
So, the roadmap is ready and can now be passed on to the team. It is very important that each of these tasks be clear to the staff, as proper target-setting has a direct impact on the result. The project manager must act as an intermediary between the client and the contractor, translating the client’s requirements into a format that the team can understand. In other words, the project manager should make it easier for the team to understand the tasks and avoid the broken telephone effect, where the client wants one thing, the manager hears another, and the developer does something entirely different.
Task assignment can be done in any format: voice, text, task manager program, or Telegram — whatever your company prefers. When it comes to large projects, you most definitely want to keep all your information in one place to avoid chaos. At Toimi, for example, we accompany each task with a description or attach a link to the document where it can be found.
Naturally, assigning tasks also involves appointing a responsible specialist.. Smart allocation of responsibility is an integral part of effective project management. If the bulk of your backend is written by a middle developer who gets little to no assistance from his junior and senior colleagues, there may be something wrong at the organisational level.
Step 4. Implementation control
Once all the tasks have been assigned, it is time for implementation. And it’s up to the project manager to control the entire process. Tasks can be monitored over the course of their implementation or against milestones, whichever is most appropriate for your organisation. Regular meetings and conference calls are the most traditional means of control. They can be daily, weekly, or bi-weekly, depending on the project and established procedures within your company. Meetings help the project manager understand the current status of the task and improve communication within the team. This way, the developer won’t have to constantly bother the manager with questions about when they are going to get the layout from the designer – all of these things are discussed during meetings.
Step 5. Verification
Once the task has been completed, the manager checks that the results are in line with the original objective. Many teams then move on to the next task, skipping another important stage – verification. After each stage, the project manager must check whether the result is consistent with the initial concept, the original idea at the core of the project.
So what happens if you decide to skip this part? Let’s say you’ve developed a prototype of a homepage, and, at first glance, everything looks pretty good. But if it doesn’t match the original concept, it will still be designed, developed and eventually released; as a result, you’ll end up with something that doesn’t meet the client’s requirements. And it's no longer just the prototype, but the whole page that will need to be remade. That’s why in project management you constantly need to backtrack to ensure you’re still on the right path.