scope:

Abstract:

A number of times, the AATT Project was directed to add, delete, and/or change the project»s focus of research, not only on existing agreed-to ATM products (tools and concepts), but in some cases, change of direction to develop totally new tools. It is understood that flexibility in research must be maintained in order that concepts that do not prove worthwhile can be dropped allowing for focus and priority shifts to more promising ones. However, both realistic and reasonable controls on project scope and priority setting must be maintained to assure prudent management planning and decision-making. Excessive control and redirection of focus/priorities late into a project»s life leads to wasteful use of resources and hampers the project»s ability to manage and deliver effectively. Significant changes well into the implementation phase can be very costly as contractual planning and funds obligations limit the scope and/or task requirement changes that can be made after the fact.

Directly related to the above is what we refer to as "milestone creep". Project management shifts, along with changing (sometimes mandated) project priorities, resulted in too many milestones that grew in number all the way into the last trimester of the project. This also made it difficult to adhere to a uniform, consistent milestone organization and management system, resulting in some subprojects with many more milestones and resultant work than others and the milestones becoming somewhat jumbled and not following the most logical sequencing. This caused a significant amount of work to support programmatic/administrative management, documentation and configuration control, tracking, etc. across organizations (including 3 centers and multiple directorates and divisions).