The project manager needs to regularly assess the results as planned. For example, in iterative development, this will
be done at the end of each iteration. Even if he or she is not using iterative development, the manager
should define quantifiable goals for a given period to facilitate regular assessment of the project's progress.
Below are questions that project managers can ask themselves and the rest of the team to help know the project
status:
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Were the defined goals and objectives met?
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Were risks reduced or eliminated?
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Did the release meet its functionality and quality goals? Did the release meet performance and capacity
goals?
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Are changes to the project plan required?
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What portion of the current release will be baselined? What portion will need to be reworked?
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Have new risks been identified?
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Have there been external changes such as changes in the marketplace, in the user community, or in the
requirements?
One very important aspect of project assessment is to base the assessments on objective measures, as much as it is
possible to do so. For example, to assess that a given requirement is developed, the project manager must check that
the corresponding test cases were successfully run against it, rather than considering it done when the implementation
is done.
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