(Or; how to keep unpleasant surprises from derailing a
project)
Keeping information technology projects on time and on budget is
a task of Herculean proportions. According to a study by The
Standish Group, only 29 percent of IT projects in 2004 were
completed successfully. That means that 71 percent of projects were
completed over budget, past deadline, or without the functionality
needed.
Information technology project management success or failure
depends on one major thing: initial planning. Without a good
strategy, a project starts out on shaky ground before it ever gains
momentum.
One of the best planning tools available for information
technology project management is Function Point Analysis. Rather
than just looking at hours worked, Function Point Analysis analyzes
functionality, environment, and difficulty for more accurate
project scope. This improves the development process for
developers, managers, and clients alike.
Function Point Analysis was developed in the mid '70s by Allan
Albrecht at IBM, and has since become a respected standard within
the IT community, used by companies such as AT&T.
In this post, we'll cover some common problems with information
technology project management and how Function Point Analysis
eliminates them.
Information technology project management
Function Point Analysis balances the traditional input-based
metric of time spent on a project with an output-based metric of
function points throughout the project life cycle.
This takes information technology project management beyond
hours tracking. Project scope and progress are evaluated based on
what has physically been delivered to the client. Routine function
point analysis checks keep the project on track.
Eliminating surprises
When project managers only look at the amount of hours spent on
a project, it doesn't take long for those hours to fall out of sync
with functionality executed.
Project timelines begin to drift. The team runs into unexpected
problems, so they decide to put in a few extra hours to find a
solution. They think they'll be able to pull things back on track,
so there's no need to alarm the information technology project
management steering committee.
Without the well-rounded project view that Function Point
Analysis delivers, these issues can go a long time before they're
brought to the management's attention. And by that time, the
project is hopelessly off-track.
With Function Point Analysis, the project's life cycle comes
under much tighter scrutiny. Problems that might slide along for
months under the radar are brought to light quickly. This
eliminates nasty surprises in the final hours of an information
technology project management timeline.
FPA is a key component the Nimble Methodsm, StoneHenge
Partners unique collection of practices that allows us to promise,
with confidence, to deliver projects on time, on budget and on
target.