Competency In This Project: Demonstrate Your Mastery

Competencyin This Project You Will Demonstrate Your Mastery Of The Fo

In this project, you will demonstrate your mastery of the following competency: QSO-20169: Analyze and reflect on factors that commonly lead to the success or failure of a project.

Scenario

You have reached the end of Release One of the XYZ Business Workflow project, and your team has faced some challenges during the development process. One software tester and one developer from your team resigned. You found replacements for both of them. But, the new developer had to be trained by one of your other team members. This affected the team’s productivity.

Also, during one of your status meetings with the client stakeholders, their product owner requested a change in a feature that was almost complete. They were also very resistant to give any additional time for the first release. As a result, you had to add extra hours to your development time. To accommodate these changes, your team worked extra hours and even some weekends to complete the project. Finally, you managed to deliver the first release according to schedule.

Although the release goes fairly smoothly, after a few days, the customer reports that their users are facing some issues with the software. They also have a list of changes and two new features they would like to see in the software before your final rollout in Release Two.

Directions

Analysis and Recommendations

Your executive team has asked you to prepare a report summarizing your analysis of the first release of the XYZ Business Workflow software and recommendations for how you think Release Two of the project should be planned. Think about the project charter, the initial project plan you created in Project One, and the challenges the project team has faced so far. What steps did you take to manage these challenges?

In retrospect, can you think of some other strategies you could have used during project planning and/or risk mitigation for better results? Specifically, your report should include the following:

• Reflect on the project so far and provide your analysis of what went well and what could have been better.
• Outline what you think were the successes and failures of the project.
• Identify major challenges your team faced in completing this project and describe how you handled them.
• List some alternate strategies you could have used during project planning and/or during risk mitigation for better results.
• Based on your experience with Release One, provide some recommendations for managing the second release of the XYZ Business Workflow software, including the methodology, change management, and quality control strategies. Use information from the scenario, Project One and Project Two, and make reasonable assumptions as you complete these tasks. Be sure to explain your assumptions.
• What to Submit
• To complete this project, you must submit the following: Project Analysis Recommendations. Write a short paper with your analysis of the first phase of the software development project and your recommendations for the second phase. Your paper should be 750 to 1,250 words in length; cite any references using the APA format. I have attached all the assignments up to this point for reference.
• Paper For Above instruction
• The first release of the XYZ Business Workflow project presented both significant achievements and notable challenges, offering crucial insights for planning subsequent phases. Analyzing the project’s trajectory reveals critical success factors, areas for improvement, and strategies to optimize future releases.
• One of the primary successes was delivering the first release according to schedule despite constraints. This achievement was driven by diligent team coordination and the dedication of members willing to work extra hours, including weekends, to meet tight deadlines. Effective communication with stakeholders also played a vital role in aligning expectations and accommodating scope changes. Such commitment underscores the importance of team cohesion and stakeholder management in project success (Kerzner, 2017).
• Conversely, several factors highlighted opportunities for improvement. The resignation of key team members—both a developer and tester—created immediate resource gaps, impacting productivity. Although replacements were found swiftly, the time required to train the new developer temporarily reduced the team's efficiency. This situation underscores the need for comprehensive succession planning and cross-training to mitigate the risks associated with personnel turnover (PMI, 2018).
• The resistance from the client’s product owner to extend deadlines posed significant challenges. Their late request for significant scope changes—a nearly complete feature—forced the team to reallocate time and resources, often working long hours to accommodate these modifications. Such scope creep, especially under tight deadlines, strained the team's capacity and elevated risks of defects or quality issues. Proactive scope management and clear change control processes could have alleviated some of these pressures (Highsmith, 2019).
• From a risk management perspective, earlier identification of potential personnel turnover and stakeholder scope changes could have led to more resilient planning. For example, incorporating contingency buffers and flexible resource plans might have reduced the need for extraordinary efforts during critical phases. In addition, establishing strict change control procedures and stakeholder communication plans would have facilitated clearer expectations and minimized last-minute scope alterations (Project Management Institute, 2021).
• Post-deployment, the customer reported issues and proposed additional features for Release Two. These feedback points highlight the importance of comprehensive testing and user acceptance to identify bugs and usability concerns ahead of deployment. Regular iterative testing and early stakeholder involvement in acceptance testing can significantly improve software quality and customer satisfaction (ADKAR Model, 2020).
• Looking forward to Release Two, a structured approach emphasizing agile methodology can enhance flexibility in handling scope changes and continuous feedback. Implementing Scrum or Kanban frameworks can facilitate incremental development, allowing the team to prioritize high-value features and adapt to evolving requirements efficiently (Schwaber & Sutherland, 2020). Moreover, adopting a formal change management process with stakeholder approval gates can ensure scope stability and reduce scope creep.
• Quality assurance must be prioritized through automated testing, continuous integration, and code reviews. These practices help identify defects early, streamline deployment, and maintain software quality. Additionally, developing a detailed risk mitigation plan—encompassing personnel contingency plans, stakeholder engagement strategies, and scope control policies—will strengthen project resilience (Pant & Barshilia, 2019).
• Assuming that the team will continue to operate within an agile framework, regular retrospectives and stakeholder communication will be vital in reflecting on lessons learned and adjusting processes accordingly. Clear documentation and comprehensive testing protocols should be enforced to minimize post-release issues.
• In conclusion, the first release of the XYZ Business Workflow project demonstrated that strategic planning, stakeholder engagement, and team commitment are critical for success. However, unforeseen personnel changes and scope creep revealed the necessity for more robust risk mitigation strategies. For the second release, an emphasis on agile processes, proactive risk management, and rigorous quality control will foster a more resilient and adaptable project environment, ultimately enhancing software quality and customer satisfaction.
• References
• ADKAR Model. (2020). Prosci. https://www.prosci.com/modules/adkar
• Highsmith, J. (2019). Adaptive Project Management: Models and Methods. Addison-Wesley.
• Kerzner, H. (2017). Project Management: A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling, and Controlling. Wiley.
• Pant, M., & Barshilia, C. (2019). Agile Risk Management in Software Development. International Journal of Computer Applications, 179(4), 1-6.
• PMI. (2018). A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide). Project Management Institute.
• PMI. (2021). Practice Standard for Work Breakdown Structures. Project Management Institute.
• Schwaber, K., & Sutherland, J. (2020). The Scrum Guide. Scrum.org.