Cagle R.B. - Blueprint for Project Recovery[c] A Project Management Guide (2003)(en)
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You can make a quick assessment of your ability to perform the task by using the Experience Window in Table 2-2. Ask yourself the customer and product questions and then compare your answers to the answers and capabilities shown in the table.
T a b l e 2 - 2 — E x p e r i e n c e W i n d o w
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Have Customer |
Have Product |
Capability to |
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Condition |
Experience |
Experience |
Perform |
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1 |
Yes |
Yes |
High |
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2 |
No |
Yes |
Moderate |
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3 |
Yes |
No |
Low |
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4 |
No |
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No |
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Unknown |
neutralize the negative effects. If you do not do this, your ability to perform (or
That’s not the end of it, however. Just havingYcustomer experience and prod-
uct experience is not enough; it must be positive experience. If you have had experience with this customer, but it wasLnot positive experience, you must
experience with a product, you are Fin the same boat. If either your customer experience or your productAexperience is negative, it is likely you will move
downward at least two conditions on the chart. In other words, if you have
win) is in doubt. The same is trueMof product experience. If you have negative
perform. Generally speaking,Enegative experience is worse than no experience. In addition to satisfying the conditions of the table and the extra conditions,
good product experience but bad customer experience, you no longer have a high ability to perform.TIt is likely you now have a low to unknown ability to
you must:
Provide the personnel required to perform the task.
Provide the facilities required by the task.
Provide the finances required by the payment schedule to support the task.
Perform the requirements of the Specification (as evaluated under Cause Description 2e).
1c The SOW was properly interpreted.
An SOW is properly interpreted when it is fully defined and when you fully understand the products or services to be delivered and the conditions surrounding the deliveries.
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B L U E P R I N T F O R P R O J E C T R E C O V E R Y |
An SOW is properly defined when it fully describes the products or services to be delivered and when and where they are to be delivered. Each product or service (sometimes called Contract Line Item Numbers or CLINs) must be separately listed. Additionally, the following documents should be referenced, but are usually not included:
Task Description
Deliverable Documents List (sometimes called Contract Data Requirements List or CDRL)
Period of Performance
Schedule
Reference Documents (referenced but not included)
Modifying Factors (for example, the number of labor hours of specific disciplines that must be provided)
Specification
Financial Information (usually referenced but not included in the SOW)
Any item in or referenced by the SOW is a legal part of the SOW in a program and an ethical part of the SOW in both a program and a project. Therefore, each of these items must be understood. It is a good idea to search the entire SOW and find all the requirements and the modifiers and group them together for your own purposes.
To ensure you fully understand the SOW, you should:
Meet with the customer and use the content listing above as a guide for your meeting. Ensure every item is covered.
Go through each paragraph of the SOW that is or might be in question.
Come to an understanding with the customer as to exactly what is wanted.
Come to an understanding with the customer on how recovery can be made.
You should have the project manager and the technical manager on the proposal team and the requirements definition (negotiation) team.
1d The SOW was properly negotiated.
A properly negotiated SOW is one that has a balance between all its elements, is complete, and for which:
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The amount of money to be paid is adequate to complete the task.
The time allowed is adequate to complete the task.
The requirements definition (negotiation) minutes are documented and signed by both parties.
Again, follow the procedure outlined under Cause Description 1c above.
It is the responsibility of the requirements definition (negotiation) team to ensure that this balance exists and that minutes are taken and confirmed. One of the best ways to ensure balance is to require that the project manager be on the requirements definition (negotiation) team. The project manager will ensure there is a balance or will suffer the consequences.
And now, to be mugged by reality! Sometimes a strategic decision is made by the company to accept a task at a price less than it will actually cost; this is commonly called ‘‘buying in’’ (see glossary). In that event you must negotiate your position with your management to understand who will take the ‘‘hit.’’ Get that understanding in writing!
1e The SOW is properly monitored.
The SOW is properly monitored when the work being performed is being monitored by lead technical and program personnel using accepted monitoring techniques such as:
Schedule Reviews
Budget Reviews
Design Reviews
Technical Interchange Meetings
Team Meetings
In-Process Reviews
Project Reviews
Customer Meetings
See the glossary for an expanded explanation of each of these meetings or reviews. Due to the variability of projects, the content of these meetings and reviews must be your own.
These interchanges must be conducted at frequent intervals. The lower the position in the hierarchy, the more frequent the interchange needs to be. In
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other words, Team Meetings should be held more often than Project Reviews, and Project Reviews should be held more often than Customer Meetings, and so forth.
Just because the SOW is being properly monitored does not necessarily mean the program is running properly; it only means that it is being monitored properly. The point is that if the program is not being monitored properly, you will not know it until it is too late.
These meetings and reviews pervade the entire process, as Table 2-3 shows.
T a b l e 2 - 3 — M e e t i n g s a n d R e v i e w s
Review or Meeting |
Cause Description Appearance |
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Schedule Reviews |
1f, 5e, 6d |
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Budget Reviews |
1f, 5e |
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Design Reviews |
11a, 51e, 52a, 53 |
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Technical Interchange Meetings |
1f, 5d, 5e, 6d |
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Subcontractor Meetings |
5d, 5e |
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In-Process Reviews |
5d |
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Customer Meetings |
5d, 5e |
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The reviews must have metrics established to indicate if each event is in tolerance or out-of-tolerance. The content of each of the reviews must be appropriate for that review.
1f The SOW is being properly performed.
The SOW is being properly performed when the Design Reviews, the InProcess Reviews, the status meetings, the schedule, and the actual production of the product is on schedule, within budget, and is being produced in accordance with the Specification. These factors should be evident in such reviews as:
Schedule Reviews
Budget Reviews
Design Reviews
Technical Interchange Meetings
Team Meetings
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In-Process Reviews
Project Reviews
See the glossary for an expanded explanation of each of these meetings or reviews. Due to the variability of projects, the content of these meetings and reviews must be your own.
The reviews must have metrics established to indicate whether each event is in tolerance or out-of-tolerance.
2 SPECIFICATION
2a The Specification was properly defined.
The proof, as they say, is in the pudding. Can you understand exactly what the customer wants? Is it testable and is it provable? If you can answer YES to both those questions, the Specification is properly defined. A well-defined Specification contains at least the following topics:
Scope of the Document
Applicable Documents
Requirements
Item Definition
Performance Characteristics
•The performance requirements related to manning, operating, maintaining, and logistically supporting the prime item to the extent these requirements define or constrain design of the prime item and include response time, throughput rates, and exclusion times
Physical Characteristics
•The design constraints and standards necessary to assure compatibility of prime item components
The electrical, mechanical, functional, and other interfaces between the principal item being specified and other items with which it must be compatible
The major components of the principal item and the primary interfaces between such major components
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Qualification Requirements (for software) or Quality Assurance Provisions (for hardware)
Process Requirements, if needed
Materials Requirements, if needed
There are several types of Specifications. MIL-STD-490 has established and defined five different Specification (Spec) types as well as a number of subtypes. The standard provides a great deal of good information regarding the content and purpose of each Specification type. The Specification types are shown in Table 2-4.
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T a b l e 2 - 4 — S p e c i f i c a t i o n T y p e s |
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Type |
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Specification |
A |
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System/Subsystem/Segment |
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B |
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Development |
B1 |
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Prime Item |
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B2 |
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Critical Item |
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B3 |
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Noncomplex Item |
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B4 |
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Facility of Ship |
B5 |
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Software |
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C |
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Product |
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C1a |
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Prime Item Function |
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C1b |
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Prime Item Fabrication |
C2a |
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Critical Item Function |
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C2b |
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Critical Item Fabrication |
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C3 |
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Noncomplex Item Fabrication |
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C4 |
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Inventory Item |
C5 |
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Software |
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D |
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Process |
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E |
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Material |
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2b |
The Specification is within our capabilities. |
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A quick assessment can be made of your capabilities to perform by using the Experience Window in Table 2-5.
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T a b l e 2 - 5 — E x p e r i e n c e W i n d o w |
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Have Customer |
Have Product |
Capability to |
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Condition |
Experience |
Experience |
Perform |
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1 |
Yes |
Yes |
High |
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2 |
No |
Yes |
Moderate |
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3 |
Yes |
No |
Low |
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4 |
No |
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No |
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Unknown |
In addition to satisfying the conditions of the table above, you must:
Provide the personnel required to perform the task.
Provide the facilities required by the task.
Provide the finances required by the payment schedule to support the task.
Perform the requirements of the Specification.
The Specification is within your capabilities if you have previously established credentials in performing each requirement.
In order to fill in the ‘‘Have Product Experience’’ column in Table 2-5 properly, you may need to construct a matrix similar to the one shown in Table 2-6. The matrix lists all the requirements or tasks along the side and the programs (including Independent Research and Development (IR&D) programs) that the company has performed across the top. Every requirement or task should have an ‘‘X’’ at the intersection between the task and at least one program.
T a b l e 2 - 6 — T a s k Q u a l i f i c a t i o n
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Project A |
Project B |
Project C |
Project D |
Project E |
Task 1 |
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X |
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Task 2 |
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X |
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X |
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Task 3 |
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X |
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Task 4 |
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X |
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Task 5 |
X |
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X |
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Task 6 |
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If you do not have the requisite qualifications and thus cannot enter an ‘‘X’’ into the intersect, continue with the process to bring your capabilities up to the requirements of the Specification. Refer to Cause Description 2b (NO) for recovery.
2c The Specification was properly interpreted.
A Specification is properly interpreted when you fully understand the products or services to be delivered. Each product or service must be fully described in the Specification.
At a minimum, the Specification should contain:
Scope of the Document
Applicable Documents
Requirements
Item Definition
Performance Characteristics
•The performance requirements related to manning, operating, maintaining, and logistically supporting the prime item to the extent these requirements define or constrain design of the prime item and include response time, throughput rates, and exclusion times
Physical Characteristics
•The design constraints and standards necessary to assure compatibility of prime item components
The electrical, mechanical, functional, and other interfaces between the principal item being specified and other items with which it must be compatible
The major components of the principal item and the primary interfaces between such major components
Qualification Requirements (for software) or Quality Assurance Provisions (for hardware)
Process Requirements, if needed
Materials Requirements, if needed
2d The Specification was properly negotiated.
The Specification was properly negotiated if there is a thorough understanding and agreement on the part of both parties as to what constitutes the scope,
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the schedule, and the budget. A well-defined Specification contains at least the following topics:
Scope of the Document
Applicable Documents
Requirements
Item Definition
Performance Characteristics
•The performance requirements related to manning, operating, maintaining, and logistically supporting the prime item to the extent these requirements define or constrain design of the prime item and include response time, throughput rates, and exclusion times
Physical Characteristics
•The design constraints and standards necessary to assure compatibility of prime item components
The electrical, mechanical, functional, and other interfaces between the principal item being specified and other items with which it must be compatible.
The major components of the principal item and the primary interfaces between such major components
Qualification Requirements (for software) or Quality Assurance Provisions (for hardware)
Process Requirements, if needed
Materials Requirements, if needed
The negotiator must keep thorough and complete minutes regarding all changes to the Specification and these changes must be covered by both schedule and budget considerations. The minutes will have been signed by both parties of the negotiation. Later these minutes will be incorporated into the Specification as changes.
2e The Specification was properly monitored.
A Specification that is properly monitored is one that is under constant and complete control and has a change process that controls all changes made to the baseline.
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B L U E P R I N T F O R P R O J E C T R E C O V E R Y |
One of the first things to be done in the Planning Phase is to develop a Requirements Traceability Matrix (RTM). You should have one RTM for the programmatics (SOW) and one for the product (Specification). Once you know where the requirement is being satisfied, it should be reasonably easy to assign a person to monitor the performance. The content of the RTM should follow a requirement from beginning to end. An example of such a document is shown in Table 2-7.
T a b l e 2 - 7 — R e q u i r e m e n t s T r a c e a b i l i t y M a t r i x ( R T M )
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Unit |
System |
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SOW/ |
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WBS |
S/C SOW/ |
Test |
Test |
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Spec Para |
Requirement |
Number |
Spec Para |
Number |
Para |
Monitor |
SOW |
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4.3.1 |
Security |
06-03-02 |
N/A |
T-0304 |
4.4.1 |
Smith |
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Spec |
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3.2.1 |
System weight |
02-04-03 |
3.4.6 |
T-0045 |
3.4.1 |
Jones |
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shall be less |
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than 10,000 |
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pounds |
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In this case, an additional column should be added for the name of the monitor.
For additional information, see Attachment 7.
2f The Specification is being properly performed.
The Specification is being properly performed when the Design Reviews or Milestone Reviews are properly passed and accepted by the customer and the product is fabricated or produced in accordance with the design and accepted by the customer.
You can only answer YES to this assertion if you answered YES to assertions 2a, 2b, 2c, 2d, and 2e. If you answered NO to any of those assertions, you must rectify the situation before proceeding.
Ensure that every major milestone, such as the Preliminary Design Review (PDR) has inch stones leading up to it. Performance must be evaluated at every inch stone. Evaluate performance using the requirements of the major mile-