To be a project manager there are 2 paths you can take. The proactive path or the reactive path. Just as you do in your personal life, the path you wish to take is individual to each person and is depends on several factors. To be proactive means that you need information. The lack of information will normally cause a project manager to be reactive. To have the knowledge for example the amount of development time required to resolve the issue, what resource is available, what viable alternative options are available etc will enable a project manager to be more proactive rather then reactive. Knowledge is the key. The more knowledge you have, the more proactive you can be as you will be able to join all the pieces together to get the bigger picture to see the big picture. The less knowledge you have, the more reactive you become, since you will not know what you do not know until something happens.

All projects have to come to an end. The end of the project is a beginning of a new phase in the project life cycle. Ongoing support can be seen as the icing on the project cake, after all the ingredients have been prepared, mixed together and cooked to perfection. Most of the points here are more related to technical projects but are still relevant to other areas too. The process of handing over and the quality of ongoing support is a delicate operation and is equally important as the previous phases of the project. A number of areas should be considered in this process: Current skill sets of supporting staff Adequate resources to sustain ongoing support Sufficient reference documentation Proper ramp up planning Align expectations of business partners. Current Skill Sets of Supporting Staff An evaluation of the current skill sets of the supporting staff needs to be done to determine if : additional training is required for technical and business skill sets are requi...