Transitioning Yourself out of an Ongoing Project

We have all been on projects where team members have transitioned in and out during the life of the project, ramping up for a critical development cycle and then subsequently trimming down once that is complete. We all know the basics about what needs to be done when one of the developers or testers are rolling off the project. But what do you do when it is the Project Manager or Project Lead that is to roll off?

During the life of my current (soon to be former) project, I have had the role of Architect and Project Manager for a large application modernization effort - the client has a very large, home-grown application that is the core of their business. Unfortunately, it is hosted on a platform and technology that has been deemed no longer a viable solution due to upgrade paths and licensing fees. For the first two years my team has implemented the core architecture and development pattern for the client to move the entire application into a true N-Tiered, Microsoft .NET, SQL Server environment.

In addition to developing the architecture and teaching the client the correct way to do software, I was also involved in helping the client find talented developers and architects to be our corporate counterparts. These counterparts have now demonstrated to their management they have enough prowess and business knowledge that my role is now deemed obsolute as an architect - one of the downsides of doing our jobs too well, training our replacements so well that they actually do replace us.

So what are you supposed to do when you, the Lead or Manager is the one being rolled off? In this case, the project team is becoming even more of a staff augmentation delivery arm of the client - with the client performing all the architectural decisions and management. You, as project manager, have different responsibilities to the client as well as your team - which sometimes conflict.

For your client

• Determine the rigor that the ongoing project reporting and tracking should take on now that the management control is transitioned. Do we do status reports the same way? Who is on the distribution list?


• Determine the client personnel who will be taking on your tasks? Do they know what all the tasks are that you perform on a day to day or week to week basis?


• Determine how the client should communicate to your team and resolve issues.

For your team

• Determine the chain of command. Who does your team report to? Who assigns tasks and resolves issues?


• Determine how issues get raised back to your management team when necessary.


• Should your team still supply some sort of project reporting back to managemet? If so, what is the rigor and method?

There are a lot of other house keeping tasks that should be taken care of - almost as if the project is just getting kicked off - determining all the logistics of the project administration and day to day dealings now that the point of contact is no longer involved.