Total Number Of
Issues Over Time
Here you only use the date of discovery of the issue. The x axis is time. On the y axis is the
number of issues that have been found as of that point in time. You can also do
this chart by type of issue. Figure
10.7 gives an example chart with two international projects. The solid line
represents a project that is going well. As time progresses, there are few new
issues found. There is a spike toward the end to accommodate the seemingly
inevitable hidden issues that surface late in the project. The dotted line is
another matter entirely. This is a project in trouble where new issues keep
surfacing. Note that this chart says nothing about solving the issues.
Nevertheless, it is another indicator of the project state.
Open Issues over Time
Let’s add the status to
the data in the previous chart. You will chart the number of open issues that
exist at a particular point in time versus time. Again, you could do this by
type of issue as well. Figure
10.8 contains two examples. The solid line for Project A represents a
project in which the issues are under control. The dashed line represents a
problem project. Note that the number of issues that are open tends to rise and
then drop off. It may temporarily pick up and then drop again.
This chart is useful in tracking how the project is doing in
resolving issues. It also serves as an early indicator of a project in trouble.
If the number of open issues is not declining toward the end of the project, it
is possible that the project will fail.
Aging Analysis of Open Issues
Every issue has a discovery date and status. You can
determine the percentage of issues that are open by the date of discovery. That
is, for issues that were discovered in the past week, the percentage is almost
100%. Meanwhile, the issues that were discovered long ago should be
solved—leaving a very small percentage. This is the solid chart in Fig. 10.9. A more difficult
situation appears in the dashed graph for Project B. Here there is a bump or
jump far back in the project. This means that there are a number of issues that
have remained unresolved for some time. This will either cause major problems to
the project or even cause the project to fail.
Average Elapsed Time to Resolve Issues
This chart plots the
average elapsed time it takes to resolve an issue for all issues discovered up
to a specific point in time. Figure
10.10 is an example of this chart. The solid line corresponds to a
well-behaved project in which the elapsed time increases as the team, leader,
and managers get familiar with solving issues. Then the elapsed time declines
until at the end you almost will solve an issue the minute it appears.
Analysis of Open Issues by Impact and Time Urgency
Two factors have not been considered—impact and time
urgency. These are subjective, depending on the person who is viewing the
issues. Nevertheless, their analysis is useful. Figure 10.11 presents a general chart in which time
pressure is the horizontal axis and impact on the project is on the vertical
axis. Issue 5 is time urgent, but of low impact. Issue 12 is both time urgent
and high impact. It is important. So you should pay attention to the issues in
the upper right quadrant.
However, you cannot stop there. While you cannot address all open
issues, you can consider those that have less impact, but that are time urgent.
This is the lower right quadrant. So if you put this together, you are going to
give attention to the issues in the ellipse.
Now let’s consider an example. Figure 10.12 shows the open issues on the chart at a
specific time. Figure 10.13
reveals the issues at a later time. Note that focus at the first time was on the
issues in the upper right and lower right quadrants. The other issues were left
alone. In Fig. 10.13 these issues
are removed, but new issues emerged and the position of the other unresolved
issues changed.
Some specific notes are:
-
Issues 17, 24, and 47 were resolved after the first time and
do not show up in the second chart.
-
Issue 36 is still there and didn’t change position over the
time.
-
Issue 65 appeared for the first time on the second chart.
-
Issue 8 became critical over time.
-
Issue 19 changed but it did not become critical as yet.
-
Issue 26 appeared as low impact, but high time urgency.
What is going on? Over time the time urgency and impact of
specific issues may change. This method gives you a useful way to chart these.
It is understandable to management and makes an interesting slide show out of
what would normally be a boring and arcane subject.
Overall, how do you use these charts? You should consider
these as additional templates for issues analysis. These should be produced for
each critical and major international project.
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