myowinthein/project-management-guidelines-for-startups

A set of project management related standard operation procedures (SOP) for startups.

Acronym Explained 📚

Abbr	Meaning
CTO	Chief Technical Officer 👨‍💻
PD	Project Director 📋
PM	Project Manager 📅
BD	Business Development 📈
BA	Business Analyst 📊
Dev	Developer 👩‍💻👨‍💻
SA	System Administrator 🔧
UI	User Interface Developer 🎨
UX	User Experience Designer 🌟
QA	Quality Assurance ✔️
PMS	Project Management Software 📲

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1st Stage - Submit Proposal to Potential Client 💼

Step	Responsibility	Action
1	BA	Collect project requirements, features & flows from client
2	BA	Prepare use case diagrams, BRD, SOW, etc.
3	CTO, PD, PM, BA	1. Read the documents from BA 2. Plan resource allocation 3. Choose the lead developer 4. Discuss overall tech stacks
4	UI, UX, Dev	1. Timeline estimation 2. PM to add buffer to propsed timeline
5	BD, PD, PM, BA	Calculate the project cost based on the timeline
6	PM	1. Submit documents from BA, CV of tech team members, project development procedure, tech stacks, estimated timeline, and cost to the client 2. Let the client know these are the initial estimations. The actual timeline and cost can be different based on upcoming changes

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2nd Stage - Client Agree the Proposal & Start Planning 📝🚀

Step	Responsibility	Action
1	PM, BA	1. Split the project by sprints 2. Add features by sprint in PMS according to priority 3. Invite the client to PMS
2	PM, BA, UI, UX, Dev, QA	1. Discuss technical & business flows of each feature in PMS by sprints 2. BA to note down the questions to clarify with the client 3. Set the new version releases dates
3	BA	1. Send the questions & version releases to the client 2. Once received the feedback, explain to the tech team 3. Loop the process until there are no more questions left
4	BA, PM	1. Make changes to existing documents & PMS based on client feedback 2. Loop the process until there are no more changes

If there are out of scope features in feedbacks, check 4th stage

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3rd Stage - UI/UX Kick Off 🎨

Step	Responsibility	Action
1	PM, UI, UX	1. Explain the project management procedure 2. Explain the planned timeline 3. Explain the review session with tech team 4. Start assigning & managing tasks
2	UX	1. Draw prototypes of each platform 2. Submit completed pages to PM and Dev to confirm technical feasibility & ensure project scope
3	PM, Dev	1. Check & provide feedback on the screens provided by UX 2. Request a meeting with UX if needed 3. Submit all the feedback to UX
4	UX	1. Make changes to the prototype based on the received feedback 2. Request a meeting with PM & Dev if needed 3. Loop the process until no more feedback remains
5	PM	1. Send the hosted prototype link to the client 2. Discuss changes with UX once the feedback is received 3. Loop the process until the final prototype is released
6	UI	1. Generate web design templates based on the prototype 2. Submit completed pages to PM and Dev

If there are out-of-scope features in the feedback, check the 4th stage

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4th Stage - Proposal for Additional Timeline & Cost 💰

Step	Responsibility	Action
1	BA, PM	1. Analyse all the changes & new features made by the client 2. Prepare to request additional timeline & cost
4	UX, Dev	1. Timeline estimation 2. PM to add buffer to propsed timeline
3	BD, PD, PM, BA	Calculate the additional project cost based on the timeline
4	PM, BA	Send the additional timeline & cost proposal to the client

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5th Stage - SA Kick Off 🔧

Step	Responsibility	Action
1	CTO, PM, Dev, SA	1. Discuss server architecture, hosting, domains, CI/CD, dockers, task automations, etc. 2. PM to assign SA about the tasks 3. SA to give credentials to tech team once done
2	Dev	1. Dev to create an initial project in local & push code to hosting 2. Check everything SA did are working well 3. Once done, submit all the feedbacks to SA
3	SA	1. Once received the feedback, make changes to servers 2. Loop the process until there are no more feedbacks left

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6th Stage - Dev & QA Kick Off 🏁

Step	Responsibility	Action
1	Dev	1. Arrange a meeting between backend & frontend developers to discuss API design
2	Dev	1. Draw an ER diagram 2. Set rules for the project (e.g., git flow) 3. Create API documentation (e.g., Postman) 4. List third-party services to purchase 5. List things to research
3	QA	1. Write test cases for each feature 2. Give the test cases to Dev once done
4	PM, QA, Dev	1. Explain the project management procedure 2. Explain the planned timeline 3. Explain the testing procedure 4. Explain the version releases 5. Start assigning and managing tasks
5	Dev	1. Once a version release is completed, upload it to the staging server 2. Send the server urls & mobile apps with login credentials to QA and PM
6	PM, QA	1. Perform testing and note bugs, improvements, feature requests, etc. 2. Once done, submit all the feedback to Dev
7	Dev	1. Once received the feedback, make changes to the code 2. Loop the process until there are no more feedbacks left 3. Deploy changes to the staging server
8	PM	1. Send the server urls & mobile apps with login credentials to the client 2. Once received the feedback, discuss with Dev for changes 3. Loop the process until no more feedbacks left
9	PM	If new features or changes are requested during the development - Move all new features to the end of the final sprint - Integrate changes of old features into each sprint - Check the 4th stage
10	Dev	Deploy the stable version to production server once there is no issues left

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7th Stage - Project Completion 🏆

Step	Responsibility	Action
1	All	1. Give feedback on performance of each team members 2. List down the mistakes 3. Create plans to improve in coming projects
2	All	Nightout together or arrange team dinner