The famous Gantt chart, probably the biggest, silent enemy of any software project manager. So many times you see a project manager taking valuable resource time to plan, replan and replan again just to get a project plan (aka Gantt chart) that is 100's of tasks in depth all nicely linked with dates out over 12 months and a finish date that everyone in the room agrees to. After spending all that time the plan is published and it is already out of date as assumptions made days ago are no longer valid. The project manager scrambles daily to find out status of the tasks and religiously updates the plan with % complete and then spends more hours moving the tasks around and trying to level the plan, all for?
While the act of planning is crucial for the success of the project, most project managers mistakenly equate project planning to Gantt chart development. So what are the principles of Project Planning:
1. Understand the goal and document a vision
2. Identify the risks and plan mitigation strategies
3. Split the project into time phased iterations
4. Define a communications plan to keep stakeholder involved
The project plan is never an end unto itself and ultimately the execution of the plan is what matters. Execution is key and to make this happen the project manager needs to
1. Build a team that can execute
2. Create an environment to allow the team to execute
Tracking progress is interesting but the key is delivering on the iteration. The best way for a project manager to keep track is to have the developers track their own deliverables and update everyone in quick daily or weekly stand up meetings. The project manager then takes these updates and executes on the communication plan to the stakeholders. The project manager becomes the leader /facilitator rather than a project planner / Gantt chart developer which leads to more time spent on deliverables and less time on a grand plan.
