They couldn't have done it without me
This pilot fish's applications support group has been working with the business users for six months on a big conversion project, and it's going well. "The project is to plan and test a reorganization that requires major changes to data and modifications to many applications," fish says.
"Everything is progressing smoothly and we are on schedule."
That schedule -- and the project plan -- are being maintained in a spreadsheet. Fish keeps it current and sends updated versions to his own team and key people on the business side.
Three weeks before the go-live date, the project is in the middle of testing when a new senior IT manager starts attending the daily status meetings. And he decides the project should be using full-scale project planning software for tracking resources, dependencies and all other project elements.
"We explain that we are almost done with the project and our deadline is hard regardless of what a project plan says," fish reports. "So he has one of his analysts create the plan."
That takes a week. And for the last two weeks of the project, fish sends his daily spreadsheet updates to all the involved parties as well as the new boss's analyst. The analyst copies fish's updates into the project plan and presents the plan to the boss.
"After the conversion is successfully completed, we attend a joint meeting with business users where they are singing my group's praises for a job well done," fish says.
"This senior manager responds by saying, 'Yes, we were successful thanks to the detailed project plan my analyst put together, and his keeping on top of the developers during the implementation.' "
