Project Phase 2 – Exploration
Posted by Brad EgelandIn my previous post I discussed The Project Kickoff. I should have referred to it as Project Phase 1 – Project Kickoff in order to be consistent with my followup posts on the general phases of a project in the hybrid PM methodology I try to follow.
I refer to Phase 2 as the Exploration phase. Ideally, the customer has performed some process analysis and requirements analysis on their own prior to the kickoff of this phase of the project. The customer should aspire to head into the Exploration phase with a decent – and hopefully documented – concept of their current business processes as well as what their future state (ie, post-implementation) processes need to be. The primary goal of the Exploration phase is to nail down the overall business requirements for the project so that both teams leave the Exploration phase with a common understanding of the requirements that the system or software will be developed against.
The primary deliverable of the Exploration phase is the Business Requirements Document (BRD) and it should require a formal customer signoff. Without that signoff, the Project Manager could be chasing scope issues for the duration of the engagement. In my opinion, and usually general practice for external customer projects, every one-time deliverable on every project should receive a formal customer signoff. The BRD deliverable from this phase is the document that lays the groundwork for the creation of the Functional Design Document (FDD) or Functional Requirements Document (FRD) – depending on what you want to call it – which is your primary deliverable for the next phase of the project – the Design phase.
It’s worth noting here that on projects that are smaller or with very tight timeframes, the Exploration phase and the Design phase can be compacted into one combined phase. I usually refer to this combined phase as the Design phase. I don’t recommend it if it can be avoided as separating the phases allows a deeper dive into the business requirements and provides you with a better chance to go into Design with a common understanding of the requirements you will be developing the system to meet. However, it’s not always possible so this is a good chance to gain some time back for the critical Development and Testing phases if the timeframe is tight.
The Exploration phase should kickoff with a meeting of both project teams. At this point, the delivery team really still only needs to be comprised of the Project Manager and the Business Analyst – at least that’s all that absolutely needs to be in front of the customer during this phase. The customer team should be represented by the project sponsor and the SMEs (Subject Matter Experts) from the relevant business areas or units affected by the project so that the business processes and requirements can be discussed in detail and finalized.
Weekly status reports and formal weekly project status meetings – usually held remotely – begin with the Exploration phase and continue throughout the rest of the project. Issues and risks are revisited and re-assessed throughout the Exploration phase and documented as part of the weekly status report or as an addendum to the weekly status report in the form of a risk register or issues list.
Exploration Phase Deliverables:
- Business Requirements Document (BRD)
- Revised Project Schedule
- Revised Risk/Issues List
- Project Status Reports
- Weekly Project Status Meetings
Next up: Project Phase 3 – Design
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Arjun Thomas says:
There posts have been very informative Brad, I look forward to more of the same.
The Responsibility of Defining Requirements | Project Management Tips says:
[...] as the springboard to further requirements definition and refinement and gap analysis during the Exploration Phase before heading into the Design [...]
Managing the Delivery Team | Project Management Tips says:
[...] 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 [...]
What if…There was No Project Management? - Revisited | Project Management Tips says:
[...] It’s my belief that the most successful projects begin with a solid set of requirements provided by the customer. After all, it is their system we’re developing and a good set of customer requirements is a tremendous help during the Exploration Phase. [...]
The Art of Negotiation - Part 1 | Project Management Tips says:
[...] of previously defined customer business processes or poorly defined customer requirements. As the Exploration Phase gets underway, this issue really can come to light – if it hasn’t already. As the PM, this is [...]
When the Customer Doesn’t Know What They Want | Project Management Tips || Project Management, Collaboration and Knowledge Management Blog says:
[...] Longer than anticipate Exploration phase [...]
Never Say No to the Customer | Project Management Tips || Project Management, Collaboration and Knowledge Management Blog says:
[...] beyond what the SOW called for? New or additional functionality that wasn’t mapped out during Exploration? There are a million different things that the customer can be asking for and all can mean [...]
Kickoff and Exploration: VIP Admission Only | Project Management Tips || Project Management, Collaboration and Knowledge Management Blog says:
[...] written a lot of words about the need to keep the Kickoff and Exploration sessions streamlined. Too many cooks in the kitchen during these two phases can almost kill a [...]
Should We Give the Customer What They Want? | Project Management Tips || Project Management, Collaboration and Knowledge Management Blog says:
[...] correct – and we meet with the customer to build on them. We come out of what I like to call the Exploration phase with detailed requirements nailed down – or so we think. At the completion of the [...]
Requirements are the Lifeblood of the Project | Project Management Tips || Project Management, Collaboration and Knowledge Management Blog says:
[...] The customer ‘expects’ you to help them extract the necessary requirements. It’s happened to all of us, right. The customer is paying the price for the project so they naturally think they can go into the engagement with just some high-level requirements drawn up by a few SMEs and the rest will just get extracted during Exploration. [...]
Project Success Series: Delivering a Workable Solution | Project Management Tips || Project Management, Collaboration and Knowledge Management Blog says:
[...] Exploration and Design, map out the customer requirements well using a Requirements Traceability Matrix [...]
Managing Multiple Projects - Stagger the Lifecycles | Project Management Tips || Project Management, Collaboration and Knowledge Management Blog says:
[...] nearly two years ago is that I kicked off two projects a week apart and then took both of them into Exploration (that’s where the breakdown occurred). Kickoff and Exploration are both [...]