Effective Software Project Management

Chapter 6. The Linear SDPM Launching Phase

When a team outgrows individual performance and learns team confidence, excellence becomes reality.

—Joe Paterno, Football Coach Penn State University

Chapter Learning Objectives

After reading this chapter, you will be able to: Choose between the Hierarchical and Team Leader models for your Linear SDPM strategy Apply the RASCI Matrix to the Linear SDPM strategy Establish the appropriate team meeting rules Manage concurrent swim lanes

Linear SDPM strategy projects are by-the-book projects. That is, most if not all of the processes and templates will be established and will have been used many times over. These projects have little to offer in the way of surprise, at least until you discover that you really should have chosen another strategy.

The Launching Phase gets the full project team identified. Rules are established for how they will operate. There are two major tasks in this phase.

• The first is to line up the skills and competencies of the team with the specific needs of the project.

• The second is to align the project schedule with the team members’ availabilities.

In the Linear and Incremental SDPM strategies, teams might not be co-located, so the scheduling aspect is not all that straightforward. The details for the Linear SDPM strategy will be discussed in this chapter.