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OVERVIEW
General guidelines Software Developers when managing projects and the related expectations to insure client satisfaction, quality and financial viability.
OBJECTIVES
- Provide clear understanding of Software Engineer responsibilities
- Establish specific methods to insure successful project deliverables
PROCEDURES
Weekly Plan
- Update Trello “BLC – Project Overview” board weekly/Daily
- Create cards that indicate the project/item being worked on
- There are THREE areas of the “Project Overview” board that should be kept current:
- Engineer’s “Lane” that indicates the client and client projects scheduled for the week for each Engineer.
- “Shelf” lane: Indicates items that are waiting to be worked on when time allows.
- “Outstanding Proposals” lane: Those projects or mini-projects waiting approval
- It is the Engineer’s responsibility to keep their Lane updated and accurate at all times.
- Card Description
- Client Name
- Project Name and/or Task Name
- Project Name
- Include if there are multiple tasks being performed
- Additional tasks are properly organized using the guidelines below.
- Task Name
- Include if a major milestone (i.e. rollout, new project , user approval of requirements, etc)
- Objective is to provide adequate information to explain the major task to be completed
- IN GENERAL, ONLY INDICATE THE PROJECT, NOT INDIVIDUAL TASKS TO BE PERFORMED
- Individual tasks should be in the Client Project’s board with associated status
Weekly Plan Maintenance
- Engineer’s Lane
- General description of the task, deliverable and dates, for example:
- The “Week of” date should be changed each Monday before 9am to appropriate week.
- If you have a project, where items are in UAT awaiting approval by the customer, then a card should be on your overview board that reflects there needs to be communication and its status. It should stay there as a reminder each week to communicate with the client until the items waiting their approval are complete.
- Aged Cards: Cards in your lane should not be “Aged”, for example:
- If cards are aging, and not being worked on during the target week, the move them to the “Shelf”
- If cards are being worked on and begin to age
- Create a comment with progress or status
- Update the target date
- Card Status:
- Green: The client/task is currently being worked on
- Yellow: The card is temporarily suspended waiting client confirmation, feedback or request for information.
- Target Date:
- Provide a date the milestone is to be completed
- Include even if it spans beyond the current week.
- If there is a target rollout of a system, in the current week, indicate the date of the targeted rollout
- If WAITING for a client response, indicate when the response is due before contacting again.
- Percentage of week
- For each “IN PROCESS” task
- Include the % that it will consume of your week.
- Doesn’t have to add up to 100%
Shelf Lane
- Lists those tasks that are temporarily not being worked on but waiting an engineer’s availability.
- The card should be assigned to the intended Engineer, and if known, the target date the task should be complete.
- Cards that begin to age should be commented or given a new target date to keep fresh.
- Cards should be moved from the Engineer’s lane if determined that it cannot be completed in the weekly time period indicated in their card.
Outstanding Proposals
- Used to keep track of proposals given to clients that still require approval before work can be commenced.
- Provide target date which indicates either the projected time the client will approve or when its needed by the client
- If cards age, provide a comment indicating the last contact to ask for approval
- Update with new target date.
- If approved, move to the “Shelf” to be distributed into the Engineer lane for production.
New Projects
- When given new project assignments, it is the Engineer’s responsibility to gain the appropriate amount of clarification in order to accomplish the task
- If the objective of the task is not fully understood, the Engineer must take the steps to understand to the level work can be completed in time and budget.
- If not provided, establish target deadlines for all assigned tasks. This may be given to you by your manager, part of the client expectations or combination of both. The most important thing to understand is that it is the Engineer’s responsibility to identify the expectations related to task completion.
- Each Trello board will indicate the “Project Manager” and the “Project Lead” as applicable.
- This establishes the responsibility of the board and all of its contents and project or progress of the effort. They are responsible for the tasks defined in the “Trello Updates” sections below. The following is an example of PM and Lead assigned to a board:
General Trello updates
- It is the Engineer’s responsibility to keep the Trello system updated with progress on assigned tasks.
- Cards are to be in the proper lane representing their current progress
- Design Tasks
- Mark cards as “design” or “requirements” and include in development when being worked on, or in process
- Move to “BLC Testing” when internal review is necessary
- Move to “UAT” when waiting for customer approval
- Bugs
- If the user indicates a bug, it should be verified
- If verified, it should be included in the backlog of the project
- If not verified, and confirmed with the user, it should be moved to the UAT for further testing before roll-out.
- General Development Tasks
- Be sure that if tasks are being worked on they are in the “Development” lane
- Tasks completed should be moved to “BLC testing” to indicate completion
- This step is important as Project Managers combine the status from the “Project Overview” to the tasks listed in each project board to see progress.
- Design Tasks
- Cards are to updated with comments or clarifications as necessary
- Not all tasks will be identified in Trello, but as progress is made or more understanding is known about each task then it is the Engineer’s responsibility to update Trello accordingly. The Trello system is leveraged by both internal and external resources and its accuracy is paramount to the level of transparency that maintains high levels of client trust.
- Boards that are complete or inactive should be archived accordingly by the Project manager.
Client Communication
- The Trello board “BLC – Software Clients” each Engineer is provided with “Primary” and “Secondary” assignment for each client.
- The Engineer with “Primary” responsibility should communicate, contact or otherwise reach-out to their client contacts and either:
- Provide status
- Ask for status on outstanding items
- Ask how are things going
Budget Impact
- Every task being executed by BLC Software Engineers is directly related to commitments made by BLC, client expectations and the associated budget impact
- It is the responsibility of the Software Engineer to be aware of the budget impact of the tasks that they are assigned.
- If there is any lack of clarity related to the established budget for a task or project, it is the Engineer’s responsibility to obtain clarification.
- It is also the Engineer’s responsibility to notify the project manager or other manager if tasks cannot be performed inside the established budget.
Measurements
Manager weekly review of Engineer status reports and associated Trello updates to coincide with project deliverables.
Weekly budget review to insure adherence to established budgets.
Regular client communication to insure satisfaction with project and support progress[/fusion_text][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]