Accelerating a Project--A Case Study

Michael R. Wood is a Business Process Improvement & IT Strategist Independent Consultant. He is creator of the business process-improvement methodology called HELIX and founder of The Natural Intelligence Group, a strategy, process improvement and technology consulting company. He is also a CPA, has served as an Adjunct Professor in Pepperdine's Management MBA program, an Associate Professor at California Lutheran University, and on the boards of numerous professional organizations. Mr. Wood is a sought after presenter of HELIX workshops and seminars in both the U.S. and Europe.

 

Here's a true life case study about a project that had to be completed in six weeks, requiring the complete replacement of the most mission-critical revenue generating system at each of the organization's five divisions. If the project failed, the company was out of business. Sound impossible? It would have been if traditional methods had been followed.

Background
Allow me to set the stage. This $50 million cable TV service provider operated in two states in five different locations. It outsourced its cable service systems to avoid a large capital investment in equipment. As luck would have it, one of their major competitors purchased the company providing the software service, leaving only six weeks to replace the outsourced system with an alternative. At the end of the six-week period, the service provider would shut down and the company would no longer be able to process new cable subscriptions or do any billing. Essentially, failure to find an alternative would put them out of business.

Approach
When presented the opportunity to lead this project, I knew that traditional approaches would take too long. The first meeting with the company turned into a work session. Using the six weeks as…

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