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

By Morgan

CBAP and PMI-ACP with over 20 years of Project management and Business Analysis experience.