Short and sweet this week.
I always worked on the assumption that any project would have an additional life cycle phase after, during or occasionally before, go-live.
After Dev, Test, Imp etc comes, in my opinion, the most important phase of any project methodology, the phase whose length dictates whether a project is ultimately a success or failure; H&D, Hatred and Despair. This is where the user community realises that actually they don’t like change after all and they were more than comfortable with what they had before. This is where, for many good reasons, expected functionality has been delayed and more issues than anticipated have arisen.
I think that a good PM and IT Leader will acknowledge that this phase will, in all but the rarest of projects, always exist and they will prepare their response and broaden their shoulders in anticipation. I believe that this is the final push for any project to be accepted; it is inevitable.
I always found cakes and sweets helped and in extreme cases alcohol; use whatever tools are at your disposal !