Questions IT Project Managers Ask
One question per page, answered in the first paragraph.
How do you hand a project over to support?
What a support handover covers: documentation, known errors, access, monitoring, the support model, training and a signed service
How do you plan a deployment window?
Planning a deployment window: constraints and freeze periods, duration from a rehearsal, resourcing, change approval, comms and th
How do you track dependencies between workstreams?
Recording a dependency with two parties and two dates, running a dependency clinic, and spotting the commitments that are going to
How long should a cutover window be?
A cutover window is set by the longest chain of dependent tasks plus verification and rollback time, bounded by how long the busin
How long should a project status report be?
One page for a weekly report, ten to fifteen slides for a monthly steering pack. Why the constraint does the work, and where the d
How long should hypercare last?
Hypercare ends when its exit criteria are met, not on a fixed date. What drives the length: business cycles, defect trend and supp
How many slides should a steering committee deck have?
Ten to fifteen slides in the main pack, with an appendix behind it. What each slide covers, why decks grow, and the rule that keep
How often should a RAID log be reviewed?
Weekly for the working review, monthly for the deeper pass, and event-driven when something changes. What each review covers and w
What are hypercare exit criteria?
Hypercare exit criteria are the written conditions that end elevated support: defect levels, incident trend, business cycles and s
What columns should a RAID log have?
The eleven columns a RAID log needs, the extra fields each record type wants, and the columns that get added and then quietly aban
What do you put in a project charter?
The sections a project charter needs — objectives, scope, out of scope, roles, milestones, budget, assumptions, tolerances — and w
What goes in a data migration plan?
Scope, mapping, cleansing, load sequence, dry runs at full volume, reconciliation tolerances, defect handling, sign-off and fallba
What goes in a go/no-go checklist?
A go/no-go checklist lists agreed readiness criteria with an owner, evidence, a yes/no answer and whether each can be waived. What
What goes in a weekly project status report?
The seven blocks of a weekly project status report, what each one holds, what belongs in the appendix, and what to leave out entir
What is a RAG status and how do you decide the colour?
What red, amber and green mean on a project report, how thresholds get defined, and why a colour without a written rule stops carr
What is a cutover plan and when do you write one?
A cutover plan sets out how a system moves to live: sequence, window, roles, go/no-go criteria and fallback. What it contains and
What is included in a project closure report?
What a project closure report contains: delivery against scope, final cost and schedule, open items and owners, benefits, lessons
What is the difference between a cutover plan and a runbook?
A cutover plan sets out the approach, scope and criteria. A runbook is the timed, numbered task list executed inside the window. W
What is the difference between a project board and a steering committee?
Mostly the same body under two names. A project board has defined roles from a method; a steering committee is shaped by the organ
What is the difference between a risk and an issue?
A risk might happen; an issue already has. What changes when one becomes the other, which fields differ, and why the distinction m
What should be on a steering committee agenda?
A steering committee agenda built around decisions rather than updates, with timings, pre-reads, standing items and what belongs s
When do you trigger a rollback?
Rollback triggers: failed verification, reconciliation outside tolerance, elapsed time past a checkpoint, and the point of no retu
Who attends the go/no-go meeting?
Who belongs in a go/no-go meeting: the decision-maker, the criterion owners, business, support and vendor leads, and who only need
Who owns the RAID log on a project?
The project manager owns the log; each row has its own named owner. What ownership means in practice, and how it works across prog