Project anatomy
Open-knowledge reference entry
A project anatomy (also integration anatomy or organic integration plan) is a tool for integration planning that visualizes dependencies between work items in development projects. It is mainly used in incremental development and Integration Driven Development projects.
Overview
The project anatomy has evolved from the system anatomy and in its purest form the work items (called work packages) reflect the development of system capabilities. Often a more pragmatic approach is taken, though, where work packages may contain other items with important dependencies as well, e.g. HW deliveries for embedded systems.
Benefits
Simple
Easy to grasp view of what to do, what is done and the dependencies between work packages
Collaborative
Common view for developers, project managers and sponsors
Helps in finding and managing risks and delays
Can be used to manage dependencies between teams and sprints in large agile development projects
Limitations
Can include, but not manage, lead time aspects
Can include, but not manage, resource aspects
History
Project anatomies evolved from system anatomies at Ericsson since the late 1990s. Both the terminology and the methodology have differed between organizations and the difference between "system anatomy", "project anatomy", "delta anatomy" and "integration anatomy" is sometimes diffuse or non-existent. In 2004 FindOut Technologies presented a SW tool (Paipe) for managing anatomies with more properties. The company has, since then, worked to establish the term Project Anatomy.
Example
The project anatomy below is an example showing the work packages needed to develop a simple issue management system.
“Project anatomy” enters the record as open-knowledge reference entry. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Project, anatomy and Open-knowledge can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Project anatomy” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Project, anatomy and Open-knowledge provides the most credible route into that argument.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 20, 2024. The linked authority identifier is Q7249386. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2004.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Project anatomy”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Project anatomy primary sources, Project anatomy archive and Project research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Project anatomy”?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Project anatomy” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.