Managing the Lab

If your lab is to be permanent or used by many groups, you might need to assign someone to manage it. This is particularly the case if the lab is to be used by several groups for testing during the change management process. Smaller labs or labs used by a single team might not need to have an assigned manager. Even if you decide not to assign a full-time manager, select someone to be responsible for the lab.

Regardless of your decision about a lab manager, establish a good communication system to disseminate information about the availability and state of the lab. Lab users need to know when they can perform their own tests, whether their testing will disrupt any other tests, and what state the lab is in. For example, if a domain in the lab is used for testing the migration process as well as mixed mode functionality, lab users need to know if the computers are ready for an upgrade or have already been upgraded.

If you decide to have a lab manager, weigh the tradeoffs and costs of hiring a dedicated lab manager against assigning the role to a project team member. Which decision you make depends on the size and complexity of the lab. The extra duties as lab manager might be too demanding in addition to other project responsibilities.

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