204 Part II: Planning Your Software Project (Web design portfolio)
204 Part II: Planning Your Software Project Inadequate scope definition Performance issues during testing Risks and threats that have affected the project Causal factor charting Causal factor charting, as explained in Chapter 14, is a flowchart of activity sequences leading up to an identified issue and identified circumstances that affected the problem. This process is about more than finding a single, major blunder. You need to identify all the circumstances that led to the problem: competency levels, communication breakdown, lack of testing, and so on. You begin causal factor charting in tandem with your data collection. It helps you and the project team identify the problems and how the problems have caused the project budget to be consumed faster than what was anticipated. Identifying the root cause Now that you and the project team have completed the causal factor charting, you need to identify why each causal factor existed. The answer to the question Why did this problem happen? tells you the root cause and where the project began to erode. Yes, you have to do root cause identification with every single causal factor you ve identified, and no, this is not an easy process. The point of the process, however, is to identify where the problems started, what trends may be running through your project, and how you ll prevent the problems from recurring. (Of course, you may also identify some positive trends in your project and use them to your advantage in the problem resolution stage of this process.) Reacting to the causes What good is root cause analysis if there is no response? You must react to the causes in the project or your project is bound to repeat the same mistakes over and over. Not addressing issues can cause your project to go deeper and deeper into the red. The outcome of root cause analysis will help you, and management, determine what the best route for your project is. And that s what the rest of this chapter is all about. You cannot, must not, go to management with a problem unless you can clearly identify the problem. And then, of course, you must propose a solution. If your problem is simply I m out of cash, and your solution is, Gimme some more money, you re setting yourself up for failure, dismissal, or, at the very least, a shake in management s confidence in your abilities. You may identify some surprising positive trends (Lucy is always ahead of schedule and her work is always perfect; your team has really picked up the slack since Ralph was out sick; or Mary is chronically overworked, but Jon isn t) that can help you toward a solution.
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