Page 18 - DMGT521_PROJECT_MANAGEMENT

Unit 1: Introduction to Projects

1.8.5 Implementation Phase Notes

The project takes shape during the implementation phase. This phase involves the construction
of the actual project result. Programmers are occupied with encoding, designers are involved in
developing graphic material, contractors are building, and the actual reorganization takes place.
It is during this phase that the project becomes visible to outsiders, to whom it may appear that
the project has just begun. The implementation phase is the doing phase, and it is important to
maintain the momentum.
In one project, it had escaped the project teams’ attention that one of the most important team
members was expecting to become a father at any moment and would thereafter be completely
unavailable for about a month. When the time came, an external specialist was brought in to
take over his work, in order to keep the team from grinding to a halt. Although the team was
able to proceed, the external expertise put a considerable dent in the budget.

At the end of the implementation phase, the result is evaluated according to the list of
requirements that was created in the definition phase. It is also evaluated according to the
designs.

Example: Tests may be conducted to determine whether the web application does indeed
support Explorer 5 and Firefox 1.0 and higher. It may be determined whether the trim on the
building has been made according to the agreement, or whether the materials that were used
were indeed those that had been specified in the definition phase. This phase is complete when
all of the requirements have been met and when the result corresponds to the design.
1.8.6 Follow-up Phase

Although it is extremely important, the follow-up phase is often neglected. During this phase,
everything is arranged that is necessary to bring the project to a successful completion. Examples
of activities in the follow-up phase include writing handbooks, providing instruction and training
for users, setting up a help desk, maintaining the result, evaluating the project itself, writing the
project report, holding a party to celebrate the result that has been achieved, transferring to the
directors and dismantling the project team.

The central question in the follow-up phase concerns when and where the project ends. Project
leaders often joke among themselves that the first ninety per cent of a project proceeds quickly
and that the final ten per cent can take years. The boundaries of the project should be considered
in the beginning of a project, so that the project can be closed in the follow-up phase, once it has
reached these boundaries.
It is sometimes unclear for those concerned whether the project result is to be a prototype or a
working product. This is particularly common in innovative projects in which the outcome is
not certain. Customers may expect to receive a product, while the project team assumes that it is
building a prototype. Such situations are particularly likely to manifest themselves in the follow-
up phase. Consider the case of a software project to test a very new concept.
There was some anxiety concerning whether any results would be produced at all. The project
eventually produced good results. The team delivered a piece of software that worked well, at
least within the testing context. The customer, who did not know much about IT, thought that he
had received a working product. After all, it had worked on his office computer. The software
did indeed work, but when it was installed on the computers of fifty employees, the prototype
began to have problems, and it was sometimes instable.

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