APPENDIX
VIRTUAL PROJECT READINESS ASSESSMENT

Throughout this book we have discussed the numerous and complex challenges that virtual project teams face. As a virtual project team leader who is assuming a new virtual project assignment, you will need time and opportunities to periodically assess your team's readiness and ability to succeed. Many managers will view this ability to assess virtual project readiness as a part of their risk mitigation strategy.

The depth and breadth of the readiness assessment needs to be based on the size, complexity, and type of virtual project. Therefore, virtual project managers should utilize those portions of this broad-based readiness assessment that fit their unique organizational and project needs.

Virtual Project Readiness Assessment

Project Readiness No In Process Yes
The virtual project mission and vision are documented and have been approved by the senior sponsors.
The project goals and objectives are defined, documented, and have been approved by the senior sponsors.
The project statements of work and scope are clear and documented.
The project success factors and key performance indicators are defined, documented, and approved by the senior sponsors.
The project requirements are clear and documented.
The project requirements are under change management.
The project business case has been approved by the senior sponsors.
The project charter has been documented.
The virtual project team charter has been documented.
A project complexity assessment has been performed, and associated risks have been identified and documented.
The project assumptions have been documented.
All project assumptions have been reviewed, validated, or modified.
Risk events associated with project assumptions have been documented.
A project budget has been developed and approved by the senior sponsors.
Adequate funding is available for the project.
A project schedule has been developed and approved.
The project schedule had few imposed dates and did not serve as constraints.
The project schedule has been reviewed and determined to be achievable.
The project deliverables and key milestones have been mapped.
Each distributed team or member has a baseline schedule.
Each distributed project team or member has completed its task plan.
Each distributed team or member has an estimated budget.
Each distributed team has a resource plan commitment from functional managers.
The project risk analysis has been conducted as part of the project plan.
Project risk identification and management is an ongoing process on the project.
The integrated project plan is complete.
The integrated project plan supports attainment of the project goals.
The integrated project plan has been approved and organizational commitment has been received by the senior sponsors.
A project communication plan has been developed.
A comprehensive stakeholder analysis has been completed.
There are clear decision making processes in place to support the project.
There are processes in place for identifying issues and escalating them to senior managers if they are outside the control of the project team.
A governance system is in place that accounts for reviewing distributed work progress.
Common status reporting format and content has been established for the distributed project team.
The project manager and team use dashboards to track and communicate project progress.
Project reviews are or will be scheduled on a regular basis.
All project team meetings are recorded in note form (and immediately posted for review) and in audio recorded form if required.
No more than two or three weeks separate project team deliverables and outcomes.
Project Team Readiness No In Process Yes
A project team structure has been established that promotes cross-team collaboration.
All distributed team sites have been identified.
All external partners have been identified and are participating in the project planning as required.
The project mission, vision, and goals have been communicated to the project team.
The team has a common sense of purpose.
Team norms have been documented and communicated.
All tasks have been distributed to the various team locations.
The experience level of the team is consistent with the complexity level of the project.
There is low cultural variation within the team.
Project team members encourage diverse perspectives as a way of performing their project work.
Cost estimates for team face-to-face meetings have been included in the project budget.
An initial face-to-face meeting has been scheduled.
There is team-building training specific to virtual environments and work.
There is training on time management and self-management for virtual team workers.
There is training on asynchronous communication and cross-cultural communication.
There is a sense of community among virtual project team members.
Team member profiles are available on the team site or another easily accessible platform.
A stakeholder influencing strategy has been created for the project.
Distributed teams or team members use project indicators to track and communicate work progress.
The team has a dedicated team site to support communication and collaboration.
Team member roles and responsibilities have been documented.
The team has the right composition of skills needed to complete the project work.
Team members are sufficiently proficient in the primary language of the project.
The project manager has a minimum of two years of experience managing virtual projects.
The project manager has proven ability to manage cross-team deliverables.
The project manager has proven to be accountable and meets his or her commitments.
The project manager has proven ability to make tough decisions.
The project manager has proven ability to create team chemistry in a virtual project environment.
The project manager promotes cross-cultural awareness.
The project manager has proven ability to create project network connections.
The project manager has proven ability to manage stakeholders from a distance.
Team members with delegated stakeholder management responsibility have been identified and trained.
Conflicts are successfully managed on the project.
Distributed project team members feel empowered to make decisions and manage work at the local level.
Team members provide input on fellow team member performance.
Team members provide input on the project manager's performance.
A recognition and reward system is in place that promotes team achievement over individual achievements.
Technology Readiness No In Process Yes
A technology strategy has been completed for the project.
Virtual communication and collaboration tools have been selected.
The virtual communication tools selected support the communication usage needs of the project team.
The collaboration tools selected support the collaboration usage needs of the project team.
Local infrastructures at the team locations will support data bandwidth and performance requirements for the selected technologies.
Virtual communication and collaboration tools have been successfully implemented at all team locations.
All team members have access to the communication and collaboration technology platforms.
Web-based project management software (or the like) is accessible to all team members at all times to track, post, record, and share project materials.
All project team members have been trained in use of the technology selected.
Technology is in place to assist in language translation if applicable.
All major sites have video conferencing capabilities that the project team can access.
Project tools promote social connection and interaction among team members.
Organizational Readiness No In Process Yes
The organizational structure enables cross-organization collaboration.
The organization has a history of completing projects successfully.
There is a high level of trust and support among the stakeholders involved with this project.
There is a high level of change acceptance (low level of change resistance) in the organization.
There is a high level of leader credibility (of the sponsor and project manager) in the organization.
The organizational decision making process is participative and collective.
The virtual project manager is no more than two organizational levels below the senior sponsor of the project.
The virtual project team members are no more than two levels below the virtual project manager in the team structure.
The virtual project manager is empowered to make decisions within his or her decision boundaries.
Virtual team members are empowered to make decisions at the local level.
The company embraces cultural diversity.
A core competency and skills model exists for the firm's virtual project managers.
Virtual project managers have individual development plans that are actively used to increase skills development.
..................Content has been hidden....................

You can't read the all page of ebook, please click here login for view all page.
Reset
18.222.186.224