Project Management for Non-Project Managers

CHAPTER EIGHTUnderstanding Key Project Dependencies

Once you have mastered defining the work of the project in a deliverable structure—the portrait of the project—you must enhance this by developing the high-level dependencies between these deliverables. I refer to this as telling the story of the work—how it plays out, what work must be done before other work can start, and what are the critical relationships between deliverables. Your deliverable structure is an input to this story of the work. The story of the work illustrates critical decision points for primary and secondary stakeholders and shows where customer acceptance—sign-off—occurs. It also provides insight to risks: if this deliverable is not done properly, it will impact the quality ...