Michael WoodProject Manager / Business Analyst / Business Process Improvement Guru| Independent ContractorGig Harbor, Wa, United States
Okay, we are all doing our best to achieve impressive results with our process improvement projects. So what are the most presseing challenges facing you? What have you done to be successful and what has got you stumped. Share the good and the not so good. We can all benefit from sharing our experiences. Saving Changes...
Michael WoodProject Manager / Business Analyst / Business Process Improvement Guru| Independent ContractorGig Harbor, Wa, United States
Well a month has gone by and no takeres. Hmmmmmm. Here is something to ponder. You are midway through a project you are leading and suddenly there is a shift in the momentum. Management is doubting the business case for the effort and the team is feeling like they are out on a limb. What are your options? How do you turn a winner turned looser back to a winner again? Saving Changes...
Anonymous
Maybe management is right - maybe the business case is no longer valid. Isn't it self-serving for a PM to fight to continue this project? Saving Changes...
Michael WoodProject Manager / Business Analyst / Business Process Improvement Guru| Independent ContractorGig Harbor, Wa, United States
Definitely your comment frames one of the plausible scenerios. It could also be that politics have carried the day and the business case makes goog sense. Certainly, the PM should be the first to come forth and move to close down the project if the business case is no longer valid. The key is to know the difference between a business case that is no longer valid and political preasures that are not in the best interest of the organization. Also, it could be that the project is strongly desired by management and the PM has lost credibility in management's eyes. I am interested in hearing what people have done to salvage projects that fall in the latter two circumstances. Your comments have helped to clarify this point. Thanks. Saving Changes...
The Business Case is a politics equalizer. If politics is trumping the business case, then either the business case wasn't very good to begin with (well-founded or well-documented), or the situation has changed. Look at the business case again, if the premises are good, show it to the stakeholders. If not, rewrite the BC or pitch the project. Often, the result of this "show me the money" ploy is not the re-engagement of the project, but a revelation of the real reason it was being promoted, or is now being tanked. Saving Changes...
Michael WoodProject Manager / Business Analyst / Business Process Improvement Guru| Independent ContractorGig Harbor, Wa, United States
Well said. Saving Changes...
Anonymous
Or the business case can be revisisted to make it more palatable to the purse string holders. Not 'can' the project because someone thought it was too expensive, rather, how can we still achieve this, but in a different way. Change the approach, achieve the same result only slower and over and extended period. Slowly slowly catchy monkey. Saving Changes...
To the orginal post, one of the biggest challenges I face with process improvements is changing the culture, especially in the technology field. I have stakehold and management buy in, but actually getting people to take 2 steps upfront to save 10 on the back. It's been well, challenging. Saving Changes...
Michael WoodProject Manager / Business Analyst / Business Process Improvement Guru| Independent ContractorGig Harbor, Wa, United States
How interesting, someone worried about getting IT buy-in. Refreshing. Coming from the CIO's chair I have found that IT is rarely included in the process up front. They are all too often viewed as technical nerds and not taken seriously on process issues. I suggest treating them like knowledge workers from day one on improvement projects. Get them involved in understanding the business reasons and value proposistions at stake. They are stakeholders in the process and can make or break PI implementation efforts since most PI efforts are somewhat dependent on information systems for leverage. The buy-in will occur as a by-product of the inclusion process. I suggest you have a system analyst and senior programmer on the PI knowledge worker team. Saving Changes...
One ex-system analyst here. Actually what I'm finding is that I must be some sort of rare bird or the first of a new breed. I'm an IT Project Manager. I started off as a tech, my management figured out that I was good at translating technospeak into business jargon, so a career was born. My company recognizes that the appropriate application of technology holds the key to our collective futures. So they are big on having Tech representation in business projects (anything that will touch a pc) and having the business unit understand tech projects (any thing that will affect access) On the up side the company is keen to try new things, on the down side, the company is keen to trying new things. I have a lot of projects both infrastructure and business unit driven. Saving Changes...
Part of the problem seems to be the size of the scopes involved in IT projects. Rarely do I have something that the scope doesn't change often during the project cycle. Always doing more for less or free.
Unlike construction or engineering projects I very rarely get "green field" projects. Most of the time I can't shut down the system to make the necessary changes. In a white paper from the Center for Project Management, IT projects are compared to attempting to replace the transmission on a semi doing 70 on the highway.
Looking at the stats, "42% of IT projects being abandoned before completion and 50% failing to meet expectations" The Wall Street Journal, April 30, 1998. You would think that getting buy-in would be the least of my concerns. I'm finding to be my biggest time/cost saver. If I get both sides to understand the business need and technological limitations, usually we can find a way to acheive both without too much pain. Saving Changes...
