Project Phases—Avoiding Phase Overlap

There is much to be said about Project Phases - we all know that these are typically PLAN, DESIGN, BUILD, TEST, TRAIN, ACTIVATE. There are many variations to these phases and each of us is free to insert more phases to our plans if it makes sense.

Without getting into great detail about what goes into these phases, I want to touch on something more simple - "Phase Overlap." Have you ever been in a project where one of your phases begins before you have finished the prior phase? Despite your efforts to build a great project plan, unexpected things resulted in your team not being able to stay on track. No slack time, vendor delays in delivery, more issues than expected, or a team member that isn't able to deliver - these are all common events that can cause "phase overlap." Sound familiar?

There are a few things that can be done to avoid this:

1. AVOID ANNOUNCING THE ACTIVATION DATE TOO EARLY. Don't publicize your go-live date to the entire community when you kickoff the project. Instead, announce that you'll go live in the Summer of 2008 or the fourth quarter of 2009. You and your executive team can know what your target date is, but avoid announcing an exact date until you absolutely have to.

2. BUFFER and PRODUCTIVE TIME. Build in a time buffer to each phase by budgeting people at 32 hours of productive work per week. Don't expect a pace of 40-50 to last very long. Priorities change, vacations arise, roadblocks are encountered, etc.

3. DEFINE PHASE COMPLETIONS. Clearly define what constitutes the end of each particular phase and don't deviate from that. For example, it isn't good enough to simply say that the DESIGN phase ends on Nov 15. You have to clarify that the Design phase is over when 100% of all design documents have been signed off by the user champions, and that is to occur no later than Nov 15. Also, set mock signoff deadlines prior to each phase completion date to pinpoint potential trouble areas.

4. PHASE CELEBRATIONS. Schedule a MILESTONE celebration at the end of each phase - this lets your entire team know that they have accomplished something major. No one wants to be the one person that delays the end of a phase.

 5. THINK TWICE ABOUT OVERLAP. Think very carefully before you decide to start a phase when the prior one has not been completed. Why would anyone want to start building when design hasn't finished? Or start testing when building is still going on? The answer is that you don't want to - but even the best-intentioned leaders will convince themselves that they have no choice but to overlap phases in order to stay on target.  Don’t fall into this trap.

I know these seem like simple suggestions, and they are. However, many projects do get away from the best PMs. Atlanticon tries to approach each client and each project as unique - and we try to build in safeguards to help keep projects on track. While nothing ever guarantees perfect success, these simple tips can make a big difference.

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