BradEgeland.com #PMP #PPM #project #Agile #cybersecurity #planning #ai #SAFe #coronavirus #virtual #mindmap #remote #COVID19 #scaledagile #fintech #webdesign
  • Welcome
  • Contact
  • Mentoring Contact Form
  • Expertise
  • Blog
  • Find Local PM Jobs
  • Books / White Papers
  • Software / Service Reviews
  • This Week in PM
  • PM Video Series
  • Awards/Recognition
  • Templates & Downloads
  • Clients
  • Professional Services
  • Past Survey Results

Managing the Delivery Team

9/4/2010

0 Comments

 
I originally authored this article for the PM Tips website.  You can view the original article here.

To some degree, this has been covered in a few of my other articles, but I wanted to dedicate one article specifically to managing the delivery team while acting in the role of Project Manager.

Resource Assignments

Let’s assume the team is assembled by leadership within your organization.  I’ve been in organizations where one person managed the PMO and assigned PMs to projects based on availability, geographic location, and expertise, and another managed the Business Analysts and made assignments to projects based on those same considerations. 

The technical staff is usually managed by a development manager or CIO (or both) and the technical resource assignments are made based on availability and expertise and they are often not full project timeline assignments like the PM and the BA are.  Those technical resources are assigned as needed and as determined by the project schedule and resource forecast maintained by the Project Manager.


Kickoff

Prior to the Kickoff of the project, the PM distributes all relevant project and contract information to all assigned delivery team members.  This would usually include, at a minimum:

  • Statement of Work
  • Original resource hours forecast/budget as finalized by Sales
  • Initial project schedule as created by Sales for the customer
  • Contact information for project team members on both sides
  • Any relevant travel and expense requirements as mandated by the customer
Prior to Kickoff, the Project Manager and the Business Analyst are preparing heavily for the Kickoff meeting with the customer and planning for the move into Exploration.  Frequent, adhoc communication is happening at this point to coordinate efforts and ensure that both are on the same page.

Onboarding

Once Kickoff is over, technical resources will begin being assigned – as needed – to the project and the effort of managing the delivery team resources and forecasting for their usage becomes a more important task for the Project Manager.

As new resources are engaged on the delivery team side, four things must always happen…

  • Provide the relevant project/contract docs for review
  • Provide recent status reports and the project schedule for review
  • Provide the resource forecast for review
  • Hold a formal delivery team meeting to go over current status, key project info, and answer questions
Status Quo

Once the project is fully staffed and is moving from Exploration to Design beyond, then the effort of overseeing the work of the delivery team members should be fairly straightforward.  Maintaining proper communication and the structure that should already be set in place will help ensure that each team member is up-to-speed at any given time on project status and what is expected of them at that moment and for the upcoming weeks.  Just to review, this proper communication/structure should be in the form of:

  • Weekly delivery team meetings
  • Adhoc delivery team communication
  • Weekly formal status meetings with the customer
  • Weekly delivery of and review of the revised project schedule
  • Weekly delivery of and review of the project resource/budget expenses and forecast
Summary

If all of these items are well maintained and delivered to team members in a timely fashion, then everyone will be on the same page.  The Project Manager must be well organized because usually the PM is dealing with delivery team members who have other projects to work on that are in various stages of implementation. 

Your delivery team members must always be made aware that this project is critical and that you have a solid structure in place or you’ll lose them to other activities and you’ll have more difficulty re-directing their efforts back to your project tasks.  It’s much easier to lose resources to their other critical activities on other projects than it is to reign them back in…so stay organized and fight to not lose their focus in the first place.

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author:

    Picture

    Brad Egeland


    Named the "#1 Provider of Project Management Content in the World," Brad Egeland has over 25 years of professional IT experience as a developer, manager, project manager, consultant and author.  He has written more than 7,000 expert online articles, eBooks, white papers and video articles for clients worldwide.  If you want Brad to write for your site, contact him. Want your content on this blog and promoted? Contact him. Looking for advice/menoring? Contact him.

    RSS Feed

    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture

    Archives

    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    March 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010
    March 2010
    November 2009

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.