Checklists are important
It is important to create a great set of checklists. One checklist that I created will allow a team to check off high-level activities throughout the life cycle of a project. Here is a sample list of activities for a project. You can customize your own checklists as needed.
1.0 Study Phase
1.1 Strategic Planning
- Strategic Plan
- Strategic Goals
1.2 Enterprise Analysis
- Business Case
- High-Level Description
- Project Charter
- Statement of Work (SOW)
- Request for Proposal (RFP)
- Outsource Development Decision
1.3 Project Management
- Status Meetings
- Status Reports
- Project Plans
- Project Budgets
- Project Timelines
- Manage Resources
- Change Management Plan
- Risk Management Plan
2.0 Implementation Period
2.1 Requirements
- Approval to start Requirements Gathering
- Project Sponsor Meeting
- Requirements Brainstorming session
- Requirements Elicitation
- Requirements Management Plan (RMP)
- Requirements Analysis
- Business Requirements Document (BRD)
- Requirements Traceability Matrix (RTM)
- Use Case Analysis
- BRD Review Meeting
- BRD Signoff
- BRD Baseline
- Handover to Design
- Meeting Minutes documented
2.2 Design
- Create System and Technical Design Requirements (SDD)
- Design Review
- SDD Signoff
- SDD Baseline
- Design to Development Handover
- Project Kickoff Meeting
- Assign Roles
- Set work and time schedules
2.3 Development
- Develop Code
- Code Review
- Gate Review
- JUnits and Smoke testing
- Milestone Build
- Milestone Review
- Handover to QA
- Create a final release of the product (after QA is complete)
- Meeting Minutes Documented
- Knowledge transfer
2.4 QA
- Create Test Plan
- Create Test Cases
- Test Scenarios
- Run Automated Tests
- Run Manual Tests
- Verification and Validation of Tests
- Signoff
- Handover to Delivery
2.5 Delivery
- Make product available to customers
- Provide support for Operations and Maintenance
3.0 Operations Period
3.1 Operations & Maintenance
- System Maintenance and Enhancements
- Obtain feedback from clients
3.2 Deactivate
- Retire Version Number
- Implement a new Version Number