[Sigia-l] RE: Project Management Issue

[Sanchez, Mario]

casey at malcolmfroio.com asked:

> An initial "discovery" phase that uncovers project 
> requirements and scope will undoubtedly enable one to
> develop a more realistic project schedule and budget.
> [snip]
> I'm sure that many of you have been at one time or another 
> been pressured by
> a client to give a fixed project cost prior to any meaningful project
> scoping.  How are you handing this type of situation and how do you
> structure project billing?  Are you giving clients a 
> preliminary project schedule and budget with the caveat that 
> it will be adjusted after your discovery activities or do you 
> provide a project schedule and budget only
> after you've had a chance to explore requirements?  

Although I'm not coming from an outsourced or consultant's perspective, I'd
be intererested in the responses you get back, too. The situtaion we always
get in is having a project scoped, planned and committed (to a specific
delivery date) way too early in the process. We frequently find ourselves
discovering important requirements (and expanding the initial scope) at a
point where time, resources and money are already fixed. 

I've thought of taking the following apporach, and would appreciate feedback
if anyone else has tried it: Have 2 separate "projects" - 
* One is a project based on discovery of requirements, leading up to the
initial functional and architecural design, and final scoping of the final
implementation. This could be called "Analyze Requirements and Develop
Design for X."
* The second is the detailed design, development/implementation, testing,
and deployment. The scope (and therefore schedule, resources, etc) are not
finalized until after the "design" project is complete, and could be called
"Implement X."

Any thoughts?

Mario Sanchez