Effective Project Management: Traditional, Adaptive, Extreme, Fourth Edition

Chapter 18. Post-Version Review

The only thing we know about the future is that it is going to be different.

—Peter F. Drucker

Just as the traditionalist conducts a post-implementation audit at the end of the project, so also does the APFist conduct a Post-Version Review at the end of the current version (see Figure 18-1). There are a number of similarities between a post-implementation audit and a Post-Version Review, but there are differences, too. The traditionalist is looking for final closure on the project, whereas the APFist is looking for ways to further increase the business value of the solution. In other words, the APFist is never looking for final closure; instead, he or she is always looking for more business value. The version just completed is just another step toward increasing business value. In that sense, the APF is quite like the production prototype because it consists of a never-ending cycle of repeated solution improvements. The only ending that is ever encountered is to retire the solution altogether.

Figure 18-1. Post-Version Review Phase

This chapter describes the series of actions that take place in the APF Post-Version Review.

Checking Explicit Business Outcomes

The only true measure of success of an APF project is the delivered business value. Meeting a schedule or a cost figure or some specification written at the beginning of the project is only incidental ...