This workflow detail captures the daily, continuing, work of the Project Manager, including monitoring project status, reporting to stakeholders, and dealing with issues.

Topics

Review Record Change Request Work Order Software Development Plan Iteration Plan Work Order Problem Resolution Plan Review Record Status Assessment Project Measurements Measurement Plan Risk Management Plan Schedule and Assign Work Handle Exceptions and Problems Report Status Monitor Project Status PRA Project Review Project Manager Management Reviewer Risk List Organize Review Iteration Plan Issues List Issues List Issues List review Coordinator Review Record


Description To top of page

This workflow detail captures the daily, continuing, work of the Project Manager, covering:

  • dealing with change requests that have been sanctioned by the Change Control Manager, and scheduling these for the current or future iterations;
  • continuously monitoring the project in terms of active risks and objective measurements of progress and quality;
  • regular reporting of project status, in the Status Assessment, to the Project Review Authority (PRA), which is the organizational entity to which the Project Manager is accountable;
  • dealing with issues and problems as they are discovered, through the Activity: Monitor Project Status or otherwise, and driving these to closure according to the Artifact: Problem Resolution Plan. This may require that Change Requests be issued for work that cannot be authorized by the Project Manager alone.

Related Information To top of page

This section provides links to additional information related to this workflow detail.

Timing To top of page

Occurs in every interation of every phase. Issues can come up at any time. The timing of other activities is tailored to suit the project. For example, the project manager could decide to produce weekly metrics reports, and report to the PRA monthly.

Optionality To top of page

Some degree of monitoring and controlling the progress of the project is required for any project.

How to Staff To top of page

The Project Manager needs a mix of organizational, planning, communication, time management, triage, and analytic skills for this part of the discipline. The Management Reviewer will need a strong background in project management, will have a deep understanding of the organization's business policies and practices, and be able to make judgments about the project's financial performance and performance against contractual obligations.

Work Guidelines To top of page

The Project Manager should put in place mechanisms to automate, as far as possible, the collection and reduction of information (metrics, for example) about the project. Time should be spent in analyzing trends, not in collection and calculation. The responsibility for solution of problems that arise on a project obviously ultimately rests with the Project Manager. However, there is a class of technical problems that should be delegated to the Software Architect, for example, for solution. The Project Manager's role is then to implement the suggested solution - which may give rise to a secondary problem, say, lack of resources, which does have to be solved by the Project Manager. This demonstrates the kind of trust that must exist between the Project Manager and the technical staff - the Project Manager expects the Software Architect to devise sound technical solutions, and the Software Architect expects the Project Manager to put in place the infrastructure and resources to implement them, contractual and financial constraints permitting.



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Rational Unified Process   2003.06.13