My last two Industry Insights have introduced the concept of process and began to sketch the benefits than one can obtain from adopting a process-centric frame of mind. I used the analogy of using a map book (or not) to help one reach a lunch date at a friend`s house on time.
In this final Industry Insight, I want to leave these dry, sunny uplands and consider some real-world scenarios, where clients are not as understanding as friends, and where the Map Studio has not produced an accurate map one may use to find the best way from A to B.
ICT organisations and builders must be the two most guilty parties in making promises they know they can`t keep.
Stuart Mann, performance and productivity improvement leader, EDS
In the real world we often find ourselves trying to meet impossible demands from our customers, we put our project teams on death marches to meet a go-live date, we keep re-inventing wheels and we rely almost completely on the skills, commitment and dedication of key project team members to magically pull the rabbit out of the hat.
We need to consider four important questions:
* How do we get ourselves into these situations in the first place?
* How can we prevent them from happening again?
* How can we manage our customers better?
* How do we get our hands on a `map book`?
The basic answer to all these questions is to keep historical records - and use them to manage your projects more effectively. This is helpful because this type of data provides a baseline from which to start the planning process. Think of a trip to the theatre, which you have to reach by 8pm. Some typical follow-on questions and their answers are:
Question 1: Do you know how long it takes to get there?
You probably have a fairly good idea of how long the trip will take based on previous journeys to the same destination. Even if you haven`t been to this theatre before, you can ask someone else and/or base your estimate on journeys to destinations in the rough proximity of the theatre. You`ll combine this estimate with the time of day, day of the week and any other factors that will impact the journey to come up with a time estimate. Basically what you`re doing is using historic metrics to estimate a `new` journey.
And if you don`t have historic metrics to base your estimates on, then you`ve only got yourself to blame. Estimating ICT projects is obviously far more complex but follows the same basic principles as a trip to the theatre. Most corporations talk haughtily of process improvement initiatives - few have any baselines from which to improve in the first place. Having an organisational measurement repository from which to draw information when planning new initiatives is fundamental to effective estimating.
Question 2: Have you considered all the small stuff?
The danger here is that you focus only on the actual trip from home to the theatre and forget that you need to fill up with petrol, you need to find parking, and the time it takes to walk from the parking area to the theatre doors.
Your organisational measurement repository comes into play again - combined with the often touted, but seldom applied "lessons learnt". Your estimation process should ensure that you`ve included everything in the estimate. It`s amazing how many estimates exclude `fundamental` deliverables like documentation. Your lessons learnt should be used to make sure the same mistakes and oversights are not made a second time.
Question 3: Do you have enough resources?
You have one car and need to pick up the kids on the other side of town from school at 7pm (they were in detention!), drop them off at home and still get into your seats by 8pm. Can you do it all in time? Probably not.
ICT organisations and builders must be the two most guilty parties in making promises they know they can`t keep. Estimates and work commitments should not be done in isolation, you can pick up the kids from school and make it to the theatre on time but not if you have to do both at the same time.
Question 4: What do you do when faced with an impossible target?
Historical metrics and a rigorous estimation process should give you the confidence to decline to accept impossible commissions - and allow you to stand a good chance of persuading the client that your assertion is reasonable. In my example, if you cannot start the trip to the theatre before 7.30pm and you estimate that the entire journey will take 45 minutes, then skip the theatre and get a video instead.
Question 5: What do you do when you have to go where no earthling has gone before?
Of course, many projects - especially IT projects - often take one into uncharted waters. Still, historical data can used to help one work out what the journey is likely to be like, and will also suggest some of the contingencies you will need to plan for. You will probably be able to find logs of similar journeys to sharpen your extrapolations from the historical data. And you can make sure you document everything along the way so that if you get totally lost you can return to where you were previously and future journeys along the same (or similar route) can make use of your documentation.
In other words, don`t waste the experience and you will have truly absorbed the lessons about the value of process.
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