39 Questions For Effective Project Management

Other than making sure that the scope is defined and high level risks are identified, documented and communicated; ask these execution level questions before you commence an IT Software Development Project:

Effort Estimation	What is the basis of effort estimation? Do we have enough information to estimate the efforts?
Communication	How will we communicate? How many mailer aliases do we need? How many meetings do we need? - Meeting frequency What is the best timings for global meetings? - Meeting timings Who will record and publish the Minutes of meeting? Who is going to attend which meeting? - Role and responsibility driven What is the format and frequency for Senior management status update ?- E-mail and/or meetings What is the format and frequency for Client/ Customer status updates ?– Format and frequency. Email and/or meetings. Do we need One on one meetings? If yes then at what levels? Do we have the required access to tools/ applications?
Stakeholders	Have we identified all IT Stakeholders? Have we identified all Business Stakeholders? Have we identified all End Customer Stakeholders? Who are the key stakeholders? - the decision makers
Team composition	Have we identified all the skill sets required? What are the special skills needed? What experience level is required for all skill sets identified above? What is the best Onsite offshore team composition – rotation? Do we have visa ready candidates available to travel?
Coverage and budget	Is weekend coverage required? Do we need to provide Onsite coverage from offshore? is Extended support coverage required post Go-Live? Is this accounted for/ budgeted?
Awards, Rewards and Appreciation	How do we recognize and appreciate the talent? How to we keep the team motivated? Do we have Organizational awards, project level awards?
Knowledge Center	Do we have the required domain knowledge? Do we have the required technical knowledge and skills? Is training required? How much documentation is available? Where will the documentation be stored?
Infrastructure	Do we have the list of required hardware and software available? Do we need approvals for any specific software needs? Is the client going to provide the software/ hardware required? Which tools will be used to for project management, defect management and support ticket management?
Implicit Requirements	Have we identified the implicit requirements like Performance of the application, Internationalization, SOX compliance, Alignment to UE standards , integration with the boundary systems etc?
Impact of Global Initiatives	Is there any initiative or program at the global level which impacts our delivery timelines? or efforts?

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