| As a project enters the Transition phase, all the major challenges and risks on the project have been met and resolved. The project's staffing needs to begin to decline, particularly for developers. Developers are an interesting group. They often thrive on solving difficult technical challenges. As the Transition phase begins, the most challenging tasks have already been accomplished. The tasks that remain, while no less important to the project's success, are not the serious technical challenges many developers enjoy. It is not surprising that some of the development team have begun thinking about their next project by this time. As a project manager, your goal is to recognize this and to begin destaffing the project in the least-disruptive way possible. The project must still retain the resources it needs to accomplish the remaining tasks. A development team, particularly on a project that has been conducted for many months, or even years, is much like a family. Friendships often develop between team members. Even for the people who prefer to remain on the project, observing the group's dissolution is an unsettling experience. Although the team will still be hard at work, the team members planning to remain will closely monitor the placement of the people who leave. Project managers should consider the following points: Evaluate the remaining tasks, and determine the people best suited for accomplishing these tasks. Few developers, for example, enjoy writing documentation and installation scripts, but some are more amenable to it than others. Those chosen to remain should be detail-oriented and have a record of running tasks through to completion. Help reassure the team personnel remaining that they will be taken care of when it is time for them to leave the project. Do everything you can to place the earlier departures from the team in opportunities that are desirable to them. Without this extra effort, the entire team will quickly realize they are on their own when it comes to finding their next opportunity. This means everyone will quickly begin seeking other opportunities, even the people you prefer to remain to finish the various tasks. If your team has internal recruiters or a Human Resources department, work with them to find other opportunities. Be sure to follow through on any promises you made to the team members who remain. If projects at your company have a track record of "mass exodus" before completion, or if no one on the team relishes performing the remaining tasks, consider completion bonuses for the team. Team members who remain until the project manager determines that their work is complete receive a predetermined bonus. If someone leaves the project early due to events beyond her control, such as the management moving her to another project earlier than expected, she can receive a prorated bonus for the amount of time she remained. After the team is resized and the early departures take place, recognize that the remaining team members will experience a sense of loss. Remember to motivate and reassure the remaining team appropriately. One idea is to state the importance of the work in the Transition phase. Although the work remaining may not be the most technically challenging, from the user's perspective the work performed in the Transition phase plays a key role in shaping how the users view the project's success. If the customer cannot easily install the product, understand the user manual, or see their change requests reflected in the product, the work will be perceived negatively. All the technical challenges solved in the product's architecture or code are not directly visible to the users, and, therefore, the quality of that work is imperceptible. Placing the finishing touches on the product ensures that the product is well received by its end users.
After you address the staffing needs in the Transition phase, you can turn your full attention to the remaining tasks. |
