Project Management 2.0

Situation: Testing your large-scale applications would take more infrastructure than you can afford.  

Some of the most impressive global applications are customer facing retail systems that are underutilized most of the time, then must perform well during extreme bursts of activity that are nearly impossible to replicate in any testing environment.  Often the flaws in these applications only show up in production when the price of failure is high. Recently we spoke with Steve Dykstra, Product Management Director for Micro Focus and asked him a few questions about testing in the cloud.  His answers offer a pretty good overview of the subject and why it might be useful to look into.

Q.  Most large scale applications go through boom and bust periods of performance, yet testing peak performance would require huge investments in infrastructure.  How do organizations avoid purchasing large volumes of hardware to support the scale of tests that they need?

A.  Increasingly, companies are looking to the “Cloud” as a way to improve IT performance.  Imagine being able to focus the power of the world’s largest data centers onto your computing needs – just when you need it most.  That’s what the Cloud provides.  It is a virtual set of computing resources that can be securely accessed via the Internet.

And now through Cloud-based computing you can apply the power of the Cloud to peak load testing.  Cloud-based performance testing lets software quality teams rapidly launch any size peak-load performance test without the burden of managing complex infrastructures.  Now, you can test and diagnose Internet-facing applications under immense global peak loads.

In principle, your Cloud-based peak load testing solution should allow users to define the numbers of virtual users required for a given test, and schedule the computing resources necessary.  They should be able to match the geography of these computing instances with plans.  And they should be able to define the scripts that will be used to simulate user behavior.

These scripts are then accessed by Cloud-based test agents and run on a performance testing schedule.  Managers would then be able to monitor tests and efficiently locate and diagnose where performance issues arise in their applications -- a critical step for any test manager.

Q.  We have seen that some industries are particularly susceptible to problems with peak performance.  Retail is a good example.  Which retail-specific events lead to performance related issues?

A.  Thousands or even millions of customers, partners and employees engage with your company every day via the applications that you develop and test. So, these systems must perform as expected and be accessible when needed.

But your applications are under massive stresses.  Growing volumes of customers access your systems at peak times of the day, season, or at discrete events like following a major marketing promotion.

And it’s not just the volume of users that leads to higher demand on your applications; there is also increased application complexity.  Today’s Web 2.0 applications, which are designed to be more responsive to users, can be highly resource intensive.  This compounds the effects of increased demand.

When your application is subject to sudden spikes or sustained usage volumes, it can behave in unexpected ways.  The system may crash or become too slow to use.  It could also become inaccessible as customers compete for access.  Regardless, it leads to frustrated users and potentially lost business.  Every moment that the application is inaccessible is potentially millions of dollars in lost revenue.  Sudden spikes could be due to a holiday season or a sale.  The business of retail is built on these kinds of spikes, so your applications should be too.

Q.  Web 2.0 and social applications are often used to enhance shopping experiences.  Will that affect how retail organizations should handle performance testing?

A.  Today’s applications are often developed as dynamic and highly interactive Web 2.0 applications.  These Rich Internet Applications require special testing in order to access functionality developed in AJAX, Silverlight, and Flex, among other technologies.  Simple application testing is no longer sufficient because the background interactions and richness of the client-side are so great.  This is well-suited to Cloud-based testing as it requires more computing power to perform these more complex tests.  However, very few solutions are sufficiently mature to handle the dynamism of this style of application.  When looking at a solution, make sure to investigate whether Web 2.0 support is needed and the degree of coverage you have.

While many applications today are entirely browser-based, that is not often the case for large enterprise applications.  For instance, a bank’s core banking application will likely have a hybrid model.  Part of the application is browser-based Internet banking and another part may be only accessible via bank tellers’ terminals.

This means that you need to test both routes to your system for completeness.  An approach that relies solely on Cloud-based testing will be lacking since it needs to access the application via Internet protocols.  As a result, it is important to determine upfront whether you need a mixed model that combines Internet protocols with support for .NET, Java, Oracle, SAP, Siebel, COM, and other enterprise application protocols.

Q.  Most retail applications on the web are global.  Do testing needs change with a distributed user base?

A.  First off, not all Clouds are equal.  Some can scale more readily than others.  So, you should consider the levels that you need.  Whether you need computing power for tests with 50,000 to 100,000 to 200,000 virtual users and beyond.  Of course not all Cloud based load testing providers can scale to this degree and not all testing solutions can effectively harness these kinds of resources, so care should be taken when selecting vendors.

Further, you should be able to simply schedule time for a test and resources are automatically provisioned.  This avoids testing bottlenecks and prevents long delays as internally managed hardware is acquired and set-up.

Also, the global nature of some Cloud-based solutions lets you “place” Virtual Users in a variety of locations to test international performance.  No longer do you need to maintain hardware in a variety of countries in order to test.  Not all Cloud-providers or test solutions can provide this capability, so it is key to evaluate if global-readiness is a requirement for you.

Discovering that your application failed under peak loads is clearly not enough.  You want to discover why it failed and how to correct it.  While this may seem obvious, diagnostic tools are often excluded from testing solutions.  This is often the case when Cloud-based peak load tests are operating against an application you manage in-house.

Cloud-based tooling on its own cannot analyze the internal behavior of the application under test.  This can mean that applications may be incompletely repaired following tests, increasing the risk of a real-world failure.  It is more effective to combine the power of Cloud-based testing with “on the ground” diagnostics of your application performance.

Situation: You think it might be time to  focus on collaboration again.

In a few weeks I'll be attending the Gartner Portals, Content, and Collaboration Summit - which is an obvious thing to do for someone in my position.  This year, fellow collaborator, I think it's something you should consider doing as well.  I think we have arrived at a unique point in time where collaboration needs not be something you force people to do.  It's just something you set the stage for and nurture over time.  The forces I see making this a good time to focus on collaboration are:

Niche Communities
Every time I attend these things, I'm struck by how useful the event is to people who are responsible for enterprise collaboration - especially those who deal with niche communities.  Presenters used to point out modest internal successes and relate them to far more successful consumer-based ones.  These days, when we talk about collaboration, I hear more about internal successes that create immediate value far beyond what's happening more broadly online. These efforts are often more effective because they address smaller, more tightly focused, and interconnected communities.  Tight knit communities are motivated by shared needs that people on the outside simply don't share.  I know that tools matter, but to be honest they often feel as inconsequential as the brand of golf club you use.  It's mostly about the people and how much sharing between them "matters".  The more people share in common, the more they can help each other and the more they care.

It's not "weird and wasteful" anymore
People's willingness to share has changed a lot based a larger cultural shift. Society is just more attuned to social networking in general - more open to online interaction.  Ten (or maybe even just a few) years ago, it was near impossible to get people to participate in knowledge sharing of any sort online because they just didn't understand it.  Now so many people provide their "friends" with highlight reels of their lives through facebook, that it's just second nature to share.

People are seeing the value of it - personally
In Stephen Covey's book "The Speed of Trust", he talks about the importance of Social Trust and what he calls "The Principal of Contribution".  It's sort of an extension of "you get from life what you put into it."   Essentially, there is an increasing need for individuals to display their contribution to society online.  Here on gantthead, I talk about your profile being an central hub for your Project Management "body of work".  Facebook gives you a place to "let people know what you are up to" and Linkedin is pretty much a place for people to see what you've accomplished.  Again, it's all about the "personal show", not so much about the details of each transaction.

One of Gartner's Keynote speakers Clay Chirky wrote a book entitled, "Here Comes Everybody".  In this book, he explores how the content "balance of power" has changed over the years to where users are more in control. More recently, he wrote "Cognitive Surplus," where he reveals how new technology is changing us from consumers to collaborators, increasing creativity in many ways.

So I guess my point is that we're getting to the point where techniques, and perhaps where we are in our socio-technical evolution matters more than tools.  Attending conferences like the Gartner event can help you understand what's working.

Do you think it's gotten any easier to get people within your enterprise to collaborate online?  What's working well for you?

Note: If you would like to join me at the Gartner Conference, they are a sponsor of ours and will give you $300 off, if you use the promotion code "GANTT".

Situation: You want to know how you are measuring up these days.

Global Knowledge is conducting a salary survey that actually goes way beyond "how much do you make".  It asks some pretty detailed questions about job satisfaction, training, certifications, and other things that you might like to know about your peers.    As is typical with these things, you can get a copy of the results sent to you after completing the survey.  So if you have about 3 minutes, check out the  2011 IT Salary and Skills Survey

Situation: You're in a MS shop, looking at PPM SaaS options.

Many organizations ask "Should we go with MS Project Server or a SaaS solution?"  The folks at SharkPro Software are in the business of giving you both.  Recently we spent some time with Greg Bailey, SharkPro Software's CEO who clued us in on where he sees the industry going.  Whether you are pro or anti Microsoft, I think you'll find his answers interesting.

Q.  Is the future of PM and PPM software in house or in the cloud?  Obviously everything has been moving in the cloud for a while now.  Is that where it all ends up?  If so, when?

Most of PPM will end up in the cloud, and relatively soon.  Even large businesses with well-established IT departments while leveraging their existing infrastructure for some on premise applications will opt to tie into the cloud and get the benefit of both.  Organizations handling financial, medical, or intelligence information may opt for a “private cloud”.  We’ve found the more agile small and mid-sized companies are moving towards SaaS solutions at a faster rate as evidenced by the success of the early PPM SaaS vendors.

Where does sit end up?  With more vendors looking ahead to more open and cross platform technology standards like HTML 5, companies will be able to “turn on and off” and only pay for the features they need on demand.  So whether on the PC, the Web or a Mobile device they will only pay for the capability they need throughout the lifecycle of a project.  Project ramp up may require more of the initial feature set but as a project goes live they will just need more of the update and collaboration capability.  Users will also have a choice to select best of breed features from multiple vendors all seamless to the end user.  As businesses realize the security, accessibility, as well as the ability to rapidly get access to the latest features and capabilities only as they need them, the benefit of cloud solutions and the economics are irresistible. 

Q.  Fast implementation times are a key selling point for SaaS PM and PPM offerings competing against Project Server.  The idea is that they give you "just enough" of what you need, without extensive customization.  Generally speaking, what is the functionality or type/level of customization that you can't get with Project Server in the cloud (whether it's with your company or another) and why?

I agree that fast implementation has been one of the SaaS vendor’s value proposition’s when positioning against Microsoft.  Microsoft Project and Project Server are tremendously successful with over 20 million Project Users and 10,000 larger companies using Project Server.  It still is one of Microsoft Top 10 products so the investment in new development is huge.

Although Project Server has been available in a hosted environment for years, there has not been a “pre-packaged or ready-to-go” version that did not require at least some initial configuration.

When developing SharkPro Projects we decided to leverage the power and popularity of Project and Project Server 2010 as a platform but provide a completely new way to deploy and experience Project Server.  Available via SaaS in minutes or installed on premise in a few hours   It is pre-provisioned and has a fresh web interface so users are ready to go, just like the early SaaS products.  The difference is SharkPro Projects still has all of the new Microsoft Project 2010 and Server capability available as needed.  A company can grow into the more advanced features without having to migrate to another tool later.

The limitations we have seen so far have to do more with architecture deployment decisions rather than features. For example, a large employment agency was looking at SaaS initially but also wanted the option to bring on premise to leverage existing infrastructure when ready.  Typically not an out-of-the-box solution with SaaS only vendors and requires more thought and planning to deploy.  For global companies there are more laws and regulations related to where the actual data resides.  Some have compliance requirements that require that servers and data are physically located in the host country.

Q.  Do you see many IT shops strictly using MS Project Desktop at this point?  Are there specific industries or company sizes that are more likely to be using stand-alone software?

We still see a tremendous amount of MS Project Desktop.  Many still use Project Desktop even when they have selected other SaaS or higher end tools.  Desktop is still great for just learning project management or if you are a project manager managing a large capital construction project and there is not a need to share that information on the web.  We also see Project terrific for off-line work when you may not always be connected to the cloud and are on a plane or very remote region in the world such as an offshore platform.

Q.  At what point do you see an enterprise needing an EPM solution?  Is there a particular set of attributes or pain points that you typically see in companies at that stage of maturity?  Is there a particular situation in which a Microsoft-based solution is best?

Individual project managers are usually successful running their projects using a tool Like Microsoft Project. Companies often realize they have a problem when they start trying to optimize resources across multiple projects or need to understand and optimize the “demand” of all the requests coming in.  Companies also need to be able to support multiple workflows and work streams and need to better communicate and collaborate across teams. I have always felt that the tools did not take into account the likely user scenario or “workflow “and how people interact on a project.  Most tools do fine as a big repository of all the project data but forget to take into account the likely “use case” scenarios of how the information needs to flow within a team or organization.  That’s a good time to use Microsoft Project Server either from scratch or to start with SharkPro Projects.

Q.  Without saying "all of them", what company sizes and industries is your software MOST useful in?  Why is that?

SharkPro Projects is ideal for the upper mid market.  Companies, government agencies or departments within each that have between 250-1500 employees.  They typically would like a “ready to go” solution they can start with due to budget constraints and in house expertise but would like to make sure they have the flexibility to grow with the tool and be able to still do some configuration to their specific needs.

We have seen 3 types of early customers.  Those that started with the early SaaS or SharePoint tools but have started to outgrow them, companies that want to upgrade from earlier versions of MS Project but would like a “ready to go” Project Server to get them started and lastly companies that started with a higher end tool that may be too complex for a specific department to tie into. 

Situation: You could use a pat on the back.

Badges are one of my favorite recent additions to gantthead. At a glance, they help you understand how your peers are contributing to the site. If you look at your profile as your "PM Body of Work", badges offer a fun set of highlights - adding a sort of punctuation to the link-lists of things you've done.

They live on the your profile and and follow you around the site. Every time you make a comment or participate in a discussion, badges tell people a little bit about you.

Since launching badges last week, we've received a lot of questions about how you earn them. So here's a quick list of the launch set of badges and a description of how you can get them. We'll be adding more over time, but these are a great place to start.