Technical and Programmatic Controls

Is there a credible activity network supported by a Work Breakdown Structure?

• Have you identified your critical path items?
• Is any work performed off the WBS, in a Control Account, or has a Work Package?
• Does the activity network clearly organize, define, and graphically display the work to be accomplished?
• Does the Top–level activity network graphically define the project from start to finish, including all the dependencies?
• Does the lowest–level WBS show the Work Package's measurable tasks and duration?
• Does each activity on the network have a well–defined deliverable, a measure of completion, or a stated outcome?
• Is each Work Package or task set under budget control, expressed in labor hours, dollars, or other numerical units?

Is there a current, credible schedule and budget?

• Is the schedule based on a project/activity network supported with a WBS?
• Is the schedule based on realistic, historical, and quantitative performance estimates?
• Does the schedule provide time for holidays, vacations, sick days, etc.?
• Does the schedule shows all the necessary quality assurance activities?
• Does the schedule account for resource overlaps?
• Is the next three to six months' schedule as detailed as possible?
• Is the schedule consistently updated at all levels in the Gantt, PERT, and Critical Paths views?
• Can you perform to the schedule and budget?

What deliverables are being produced?

• Are the program's operational requirements, outcomes, and deliverables clearly specified?
• Are definitions of what the products or services must do to support the program capabilities clearly specified?
• Do you know if the program interfaces with suppliers and sourced materials are specified and, if appropriate, prototyped?
• Are descriptions of the technical environment and relationships of technical processes clearly specified?
• Do you happen to know if specific development requirements are explicitly defined?
• Do you know if specific acceptance and delivery requirements are explicitly defined?
• Are customer requirements agreed to by joint teams of producers and consumers of the products, services, or capabilities?
• Are all requirements traceable to each Work Package, Control Account, and deliverable?

Is there a list of the current Top Ten project risks?

• Has a Risk Management role been assigned to the project?
• Are risks determined through established risk identification, assessment, and mitigation processes?
• Is there a database that includes all non–negligible risks in terms of probability, earliest expected visible symptom, estimated and actual schedule, and cost effects?
• Are all project personnel encouraged to become risk identifiers?
• Do you know if the database of Top Ten risks is updated regularly?
• Are user requirements reasonably stable?
• Do you know how the risks are changing over time?

What is the schedule compression percentage?

• Has the schedule been constructed bottom-up from quantitative estimates rather than predetermined dates?
• Has the schedule been updated when major modifications in the requirements have taken place?
• Have technical and programmatic controls received training in the tools and processes needed to manage the program?
• Does the project avoid extreme dependencies on specific individuals?
• Are people working abnormal hours?
• Do you know the historical schedule compression percentage on similar projects and the results of those projects?
• Is any part of the schedule compression based on new technologies?
• Has the percentage of program functionality been decreased in proportion to the percentage of schedule compression?

What is the estimated size of your deliverables in cost and work effort?

• Do you know if the project scope has been established?
• Were measurements from the previous projects used as a basis for size estimates?
• Is the Basis of?Estimate been calibrated
• Are the technical and programmatic staff estimating experience in the domain area?
• Are estimates regularly updated to reflect technical realities?

What percentage of external interfaces are not under control?

• Has each external interface been identified?
• Have critical dependencies of each external interface been documented?
• Has each external interface been ranked based on potential project impact?
• Have procedures been established to monitor external interfaces until the risk is eliminated or substantially reduced?
• Have agreements with the external interface controlling organizations been reached and documented?

Does the staff have enough expertise in the project domain?

• Do you know what the user needs, wants, and expects?
• Do you know if the staffing plan includes a list of the key expertise areas and the estimated personnel needed?
• Do most of the project staff have experience with the specific type of product or service being developed?
• Do most project staff have extensive experience in the tools and processes?
• Could you let me know if the technical and programmatic staff can proceed without undue request for additional time and cost to help resolve technical problems?
• Does the technical and programmatic staff understand their project role, and are they committed to its success?
• Is there a domain area expert assigned to each domain?

Is there identified adequate staff for the scheduled tasks at the right time?

• Do you have enough staff to support the tasks identified in the activity network?
• Is the staffing plan based on historical data on the level of effort to staff months for similar projects?
• Do you have adequate staffing for the current and scheduled tasks in the next two months?
• Have alternative staff buildup approaches been planned?
• Does the staff buildup rate match the rate at which the project leaders identify unsolved problems?
• Is there sufficient range and coverage of skills on the project?
• Is adequate time allocated for staff vacations, sick leave, training, and education?
• Are staffing plans regularly updated to reflect reality?