Planes, Trains, Unfocused Brains

Starting projects on the correct footing is probably one of the most important tasks a project manager has to execute. I’m not talking about your executive sponsor’s speech at the project kick-off meeting, where the criticality of the project and total commitment of the team are emphasized.   This article is about definition of business requirements by the project team working with the key project beneficiary--the client business process owner.

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Ah, yes, the harried client business process owners. Always on the go to this plant or that sales office. Running for their next flight. Speaking in business shorthand and acronyms: “We’ve got to improve preproduction raw goods inventory turn, while maintaining EOQ, or never make QC in time.” Sound like any of your business process owners?

They change topics while explaining a crucial business process and provide you with excruciating product feature details when all you require is an overview so you can get the project planning process rolling. They appear intense but not totally focused. However, they can recite product production or sales statistics from short-term memory.

A project manager’s role is to get the project requirements defined, documented, and clearly understood by everyone involved as quickly and accurately as possible. This is to be done in simple business terms as it relates to management’s goals established for the project. The challenge clearly lies ahead. 

One Size Doesn’t Fit All
Requirements definition is not only important for the project, it is extremely difficult to correctly execute. Everyone--especially the harried client business process owner--has a slightly different understanding of what is required to meet project expectations. Business objectives are announced by senior management in their staff meetings and trickle down to business process owners to “make it happen yesterday.” In their haste to make the boss happy, key requirements or other process owners are sometimes overlooked.

Getting the resultant business requirements correctly defined by a business process owner is best accomplished during the project’s planning phase. This is where the project manager has significant influence over the outcome. 

The Proverbial Level Playing Field
In the early planning meetings, the business process expert and the project management expert meet on what can be considered equal terms. Both have varied skills and knowledge bases but a common set of goals for this particular project. It is where egos get checked at the door and project assignees become a project team. The task at hand is defining the project’s business requirements.

A technique that has worked for me during project planning, with a business process owner who has difficulty remaining focused, is to have the project manager act as “scribe” when defining requirements. The PM asks the business process owner to define how the process being changed currently works. Listening carefully and verifying with the business process owner as it’s being developed, the PM carefully charts on a white board or projected PC drawing pad each step of the existing business process. The PM then steps back and goes through the process flow diagram describing it in his or her own words. This acts as a vehicle to shift ownership of the business process to all members of the project team, not just the current business owner. This will later permit critiquing and suggested changes by all team members without invoking “pride of ownership” issues with the current owner. That way, when project requirements finally get documented, they will reflect everyone's input to the requirements as well. This spreading of project ownership is key to ultimate success.

In With the New
With the existing business process now documented, understood and jointly owned by all members of the team, it is time to move to the next step. The PM now begins to start the process of defining requirements for the new and improved business process. This can begin with a discussion of issues surrounding the “old process.” It will also take into consideration what new business objectives are being directed by senior management. 

The PM begins to draw potential process flows, carefully ensuring that all issues and objectives are being addressed. This won’t be correct during the first iterations. However, over the next few meetings, the business requirements will solidify and the business process flow diagram should reflect the addressing of those business requirements. Otherwise, the process repeats until it does. 

When the new business process model is completed and documented, it can then be juxtaposed with the old business process to ensure that all requirements are being addressed in the new process model. Of course, changes can be made until everyone on the team is satisfied.

Interview the Catcher as Well
Another critical aspect to the technique being described is seeking requirements from other business process owners. This can be accomplished in several ways. You can make them part of the project team if they have time. You can also ask them to review the old and new or changed business process models.

Pertinent to this suggested approach is the possibility that you may be changing a business process that affects other business process owners. For example, the resultant project implementation may change the manufacturing process by totally eliminating or streamlining a step no longer necessary as determined by analyzing the requirements.  

It might be invaluable to check with quality control and raw materials inventory managers to gauge the potential impact on their operations. Eliminating or streamlining a manufacturing step might create problems on both ends of the manufacturing line because work-in-process arrives at their area sooner than expected. Either improving a product’s functionality or speeding up the manufacturing process can adversely impact any imputed savings or improvements. 

Everyone Involved Can Be a Winner  
Taking the necessary time to correctly and adequately define business requirements is critical to the success of any project. It is the project manager’s role and responsibility to ensure that new business requirements are properly defined, documented and understood by all those involved and potentially impacted.