Simon G's Blog

I have been using a spreadsheet that I have been slowly extending over the years for recording and monitoring Issues, Risks, Assumptions, Questions and Decisions . I tend to store this in a central repository and encourage team members to add and update entries. I also encourage the recording of entries to be in terms that somebody in another team (business or technically-oriented) could read and understand. We then review this regularly, particularly with how we are tracking with closing out issues.  Below is a link to the template that you are welcome to use and customise as you need. The template can be downloaded at  http://www.scribd.com/doc/32966336/Issues-Risks-Assumptions-Questions-Decisions-template <p><p>Issues, Risks, Assumptions, Questions and Decisions Register Template</p></p>

I was recently in an excellent session with key stakeholders for a project, the aim being for the key stakeholders to jointly agree the importance of each of Scope, Cost, Time, Quality, Users and Team and how fixed or flexible each of these is.  Represented by Sliders that cannot be at the same level, this aids in providing a basis for the rest of the project to aid in decision making when trade-offs are required. Source: Rob Thomsett, Agile Academy http://www.agileacademy.com.au/agile/sites/default/files/aboutpdfs/AgilePracticesSlidersAgile%20Academy.pdf Getting agreement by all key stakeholders as to what is important for the project should be achieved in a single session, but what is interesting is the discussion required to get agreement and the information that all parties glean from the process.

I have observed numerous times that a number of the key challenges encountered by many projects often boil down to one key root issue: Lack of Clarity around Roles & Responsibilities. There are many facets of Roles & Responsibilities, each of which need to be clearly communicated, including: People - who is responsible for what, and what deliverables are they tasked with. This may be an individual, group or project. Technology - what is the responsibility of a particular technology component (or sub component) that is to be delivered as part of the solution. This needs to be addressed from a logical component (e.g. CRM) and a system perspective (e.g. Siebel). Process - From a project delivery perspective, who is doing what tasks and what are the dependencies and constraints. In terms of implementing business processes or activities, what technology component(s) will be realising this. Of the above, I have found that People and Technology are the key areas that need to be foc...