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4 Steps to Prevent Project Failure

4 Steps to Prevent Project Failure
November 19, 2007

By  Doug Bartholomew

It’s a lament many CIOs hear all too often from business managers: “Why can’t you start on my project right now? Why do I have to wait?” With IT project backlogs at some organizations running six to 18 months-or even longer-there’s good reason.

“Businesses need a way to ensure it’s not the squeakiest wheel but the most strategic project that gets IT’s attention,” says Ian Finley, research director at Boston-based AMR Research. “At the same time, IT needs to work side by side with the business units to set and execute strategy.”

Savvy IT project management is the solution. In a report issued by AMR last week, “How Leading Companies Unite IT with the Business,” Finley and co-authors Bill Swanton and David Brown find that smart IT project management can go a long way toward ensuring the projects IT focuses on are the most strategic for the organization.

“In a study of IT management effectiveness, we identified a class of companies that set themselves apart with deft leadership and effective management of IT projects,” Finley says. “This discipline just started to get applied to IT projects in the last few years.”

What these most successful IT groups have in common is a set of four best practices for managing their IT projects. They are:

A Business-IT Governance Council. This group, usually made up of both business and IT leaders, makes decisions on the business case of future IT investment, reallocates resources as priorities change, and determines which IT investments should be ended.

“The majority of large companies we see have an IT steering committee with IT and businesspeople deciding what the organization’s priorities should be,” Finley explains. “For large organizations with centralized IT operations that have multiple divisions they have to serve, this group is essential for setting corporatewide priorities to balance the needs of all divisions.”

IT Portfolio Management. While IT project management ensures the organization is correctly implementing projects, IT portfolio management aims to ensure that IT does the right projects. First and foremost in the portfolio management process is the tenet that IT project investments are based on business decisions and not IT decisions.

“The portfolio is managed more like a set of stock investments,” Finley explains. For many organizations, this means striking a balance among investments that keep the business running, investments that enhance the business, and investments that are high-risk but hold the promise of transforming the company. “It’s an interesting shift from questioning whether a project has a return on investment or are we making the right steps as a company,” he says.

A Program Management Office. This is a middle-management group that handles the day-to-day IT resource tradeoffs while making exceptions as needed to meet strategic business goals. If the company needs a new warehouse management system for the holidays, for example, the PMO assigns the project priority status. The PMO also keeps a close eye on the impact of IT project interrelationships.

“If you have 15 interlinked projects that are part of a larger program and one is behind, you need to flag it and redeploy people and resources to get it done,” Finley says. The PMO also serves as a center of excellence for project management skills. “It acts as a learning and training organization to help standardize the way to do projects,” he adds.

IT Project and Portfolio Management Software. PPM systems automate the management of IT projects, giving business managers as well as IT managers a portfolio view. “In some companies that have tens or even hundreds of projects, it’s hard to control them all without having these systems in place,” Finley says. Numerous software companies, including ERP vendors SAP and Oracle, have project and portfolio management solutions. Other key PPM vendors include CA, with CA Clarity, and Hewlett Packard, with HP Portfolio Center, both of which have made acquisitions in this market. Among the pure PPM software companies are PowerSteering and Innotas, each of which offers its PPM software as a service, and Planview.

Bottom line, Finley concludes, “IT needs to work side by side as part of the business, both setting and executing strategy. If your company is going to be innovative, you’re going to have to involve IT.”

Project Failure Rates

Consider this:

1. On average, about 70 percent of all IT-related projects fail to meet their objectives
2. Nearly half of respondents reported at least one project failure in the past year
3. Steve Ballmer (CEO of Microsoft) stated 35% of IT projects fail
4. 35% of all requirements change within the duration of any given project

References

http://www.infoworld.com/articles/op/xml/01/10/29/011029opsurvival.html
http://www.it-cortex.com/Stat_Failure_Rate.htm
http://blogs.zdnet.com/projectfailures/?s=stating%20the%20obvious

Multi-Monitor Productivity

Does having more then on computer monitor increase productivity?

Some research I did on the subject found:

• http://research.microsoft.com/displayArticle.aspx?id=433
• http://lifehacker.com/software/dual-monitor/dual-monitors-increase-productivity-168488.php
• http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/gxm/products/dh2go/home.php

Vedors

Hardware

• http://digitaltigers.com/index.shtml?gclid=CJv0uqGo6I8CFR7qYAodNR8dkA
• http://www.9xmedia.com

Software

• http://www.mediachance.com/free/multimon.htm
• www.realtimesoft.com/ultramon

Hardware/Software Combo

• http://www.maxivista.com

Scrum

Today I learned about Scrum, a new way of thinking about Project Management. The video I watched was located here (a lecture @ Google). In addition I found some links on the Internet which  included

• http://www.controlchaos.com
• http://groups.yahoo.com/group/scrumdevelopment
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anchoring 
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrum_%28development%29

Key findings from the Google video included:

indicator of future performance based on sactual to date

 

 the “velocity of release”

  

Quotes from the video:

• When we are told to do more, we cut quality without telling a soul… - not a good thing according to the author
• 35% of all requirements change within the duration of any given project (due to 25 years of using the waterfall method)
• Scrum, you must deliver one customer facing functionality component within every sprint

Also, one last video on Scrum (with a good into soundtrack, but bad acting) I found is located here.

Enjoy!

Delegating to People Who Are Surly

1.  Consider whether the surliness is a cover-up for something else (fear, depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, etc.).

2.  If you can see through the surliness to something else, try to get through it and make a connection with the person so that the surliness is not an issue. Then you can ignore the following 8 tips.

3.  Recognize that being surly (defined as “inclined to anger or bad feelings with overtones of menace”) has served the surly person well because others are fearful and fretful about interacting with this person and so they don’t bring their tasks and responsibilities to the surly one.

4.  Fortify yourself, as needed, prior to dealing with this person so that you are not fearful or fretful (or at least can delegate in spite of those feelings).

5.  Start by saying “Hello, how are you?” and really mean it. Good manners are appropriate for the surly as well as for the non-surly. Do not, however, get caught up in small talk.

6.  Bring the task you are delegating to the surly person and say clearly, “I have something I need you to do (or “I need your help with,” or whatever is the correct phrase). I would like to explain it now.”

7.  After your explanation, ask for his/her understanding of the task and ask for a commitment, including a deadline.

8.  Tell the person exactly when you will check back on the progress and to see if there are questions or problems. Be prepared for the surly person to claim to be “too busy” to do this task. Re-state the deadline.

9.  When you check back, be prepared for the likelihood that no progress has been made and that you may have to sit with the person while he or she does the task. And yes, this takes longer than if you had done it yourself…and that is exactly what the surly person is hoping you will realize. Say “thank you” when the task is complete.

10. Give the person another task and repeat #7 - 9. Slowly, but surely, you will break through and the person will realize that you will keep coming back and you are respectful when you do. This may take a LONG time or it may be relatively short. What you want is for others to say in awe and amazement, “How in the world do you get that guy/gal to help you?”

http://www.toptenproductivitytips.com/tips.php?page=63

What is a Baseline Snapshot and Baseline Variance within Microsoft Project?

1.    A baseline is a snapshot of the planned number of hours at the start of the project (as of a base date) i.e. Baseline #1 

2.    Later one may need to change the number of hours, the work column will show the new number hours and thus the (within the capacity report) Baseline and Work Variance columns will show the difference. 

NOTE: the PM should not change (i.e. re-baseline) without agreement from line managers/resources/sdm

Every wonder what the difference between (resource) capacity and utilization is?

Check this out…

9 + 4 Questions to Answer in Response to a Scope Change:

PM Network Magazine, (July 2007): 

1.      What is the benefit?

2.      Is it compatible with the rest of the project?

3.      Is it specific and clear?

4.      Are the influencers in favor of this?

5.      Is it possible to test the effect before implementing?

6.      Are there (human) resources available to do the work?

7.      Is there additional Software or Hardware needed?

8.      Is the change reversible?

9.      What are the short and long term benefits?
 

Seth, (July 2007):

1.      Does this affect the budget or time to finish the project?

2.      Who is the requestor?

3.      Who has the authority to approve the change?

4.      What is the communication plan?

What’s the difference bewtween and Issue and a Risk?

1.      An issue is something that comes up in a project and is tracked by issue, severity, category and resolution.

2.      A Risk is something that was predicted with a probability, severity, a mitigation and contingency plan.