Project Management Basics by Melanie McBride

Author:Melanie McBride
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Apress, Berkeley, CA

Assessing the Release Readiness

Now it’s time to get into the nuts and bolts of that “carefully executed” release plan, and we start with an old friend, the Release Readiness Checklist . If you will recall, you developed this checklist during the Planning Phase, back in Chapter 3. This checklist consists of those items deemed to be absolutely required. It represents the due diligence your team has done to ensure that the deliverable is safe, legal, and compliant. Basically what you will do now is go through the checklist and ensure that each item has been completed, but there are a few nuances with respect to how you actually do this, so that’s what we’ll talk about next.

You want to review your Release Readiness Checklist early enough to have time to go back and complete anything that has slipped through the cracks but late enough in the Execution Phase that the majority of the work is completed. Exactly when this should be done is a bit tricky, and you will get a better feel for it as you gain experience. For now, since you baked each of these items into your project schedule, aim to do a first-pass review of the checklist 3 to 4 weeks prior to the release activity. One week before you plan to do the review, send the Release Readiness Checklist out to your team and assign them the task to complete their sections prior to the team meeting in the following week. Sure, not everyone will actually do this task, but it’s a good policy to give them the opportunity to excel. Use that block of time in your weekly team meeting agenda reserved for special topics to review the Release Readiness Checklist and tick off any items that have been completed. Specifically note when any open items will be closed and who owns that work in the checklist. It’s common for there to be a few open items when you do this first review, so don’t worry, just continue to review this checklist in your standing team meetings until all items are closed. Note that any item that cannot be completed should be considered a “show-stopper” and its resolution should be your top priority at this point in the project. Explicit stakeholder approval that the release can go forward without all items on the checklist completed is needed before the actual release activity kicks off. If you can’t get this approval, then it’s your responsibility as the project manager to postpone the release until this matter can be resolved. Since these items are considered to be the bare minimum due diligence requirements, it’s a matter of professional integrity that you not allow the release to go forward until each item is completed or appropriate waivers have been obtained.

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