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Time to wrap up this project case study. Needless to say, the system successfully past the extensive QA process of Factory Acceptance Test, Installation Qualification Test, and Operational Qualification Test. Our voluminous documentation passed muster, too. The system was installed in good time, and for a fixed price. We used up our project contingency, but didn’t need much more than that.

Let’s review the lessons learned from this project.

First, keep asking Why? Why are we doing this system? Tell me again? This goes back to an early post this year, about using Benefits to plot the project path. Had I focused more on the Why of the system, I might have detected the reporting requirements gap, and moved more quickly to close it.

Second, Itemize as much as possible in your estimates. Don’t just estimate an effort for report development, quote the number of reports. Estimate the number of UI screens. Estimate the number of tables in the data design. It will give you a scope metric that you might need later on.

Third, keep your Client close, and your Data Design closer. For data-bound projects (most of what you encounter in business), the stability of the data design is a strong predictor of success. The key question I ask when performing QA on someone else’s project is "When did the Data Design last change?"

Third, you can, if you are flexible and nimble, do modestly-sized, ill-defined systems on a fixed-price basis. Don’t underestimate the effort required in testing and “fitting”, though. I have some specific techniques I’ve developed that I’ll share in subsequent visits to my Toolbox.

Fourth, even the most demanding clients can be satisfied by relentless attention to detail, by documenting, reviewing and checking things off. The Punchlist is your tool to manage scope and expectations in the late going.

I’d like to thank my implementation team, the Designer, Developers, and Technical Writer who made the project a success. I’d like to thank the Client Project Manager for managing her Users and her Vendor firmly, but with integrity. And I’d like to thank the Client for having the confidence in me to put this critical path project in my hands.

I learned a lot from doing this project, and I hope you have benefited from my play-by-play analysis.