In Uncertain Times,
      Showing Results is More Important than Ever

Your executive team has identified several critical projects that must be completed. Even in a down economy there is tremendous value and a potential payback within the first year, definitely within two. The economic downturn has caused you to cut your team, deep but not critical; however, you don’t have enough resources to complete all of the projects as they are presented. The budget is there for some, but not for everything and you don’t have the needed staff. Bringing contract programmers onsite is not a good solution because you don’t have the bandwidth to manage them. How then, do you succeed?

The answer will be found by dividing the larger projects into short duration, fast moving projects. Break the projects into functional, technical, and risk components. Evaluate the functions based on their individual business value. Review the technology needed based on alignment to the high value functional components and the skills you have available. Then assess the risks to success. At this point, develop three project plans. The first plan expands your understanding of the highest priority for business value, technology, and risk. The second plan evaluates and removes the risks. Use the first two plans to build portions of the end product such that when completed the system knowledge is enhanced, stakeholder confidence is improved, and risk and roadblocks are removed. Even if some of the work is throw-away now, the third plan will be much more successful if you approach it with minimal risk. Plan the development and delivery of the project as your third plan. The third project is much more predictable after you complete the first two than it would have been if you would have jumped in and hoped for the best. A very important management factor to ensure success is gaining your business owner and stakeholder buy-in. This is accomplished with transparency.

From the start, explain the goals of each project and why they are important. Share with your stakeholders your progress toward those goals at least bi-weekly. Set up a demonstration site so once you have pieces to show, progress is visible. Track the budget carefully and align the activity with visible pieces or functions where possible. And, show progress or explain why. If all goes well, and it should, your project will be completed with owner and stakeholder support and feedback, and the business value will be realized. Then it is time to pick a new function and work the process again.

Admittedly this is a short term view, but in difficult economic times, short term is all we have to deliver success. You still have to keep the long term in mind in your planning. Always consider long term business, application, and technology alignment. Consider the age of your equipment and the make-up of your teams. If possible, guide the current projects in the long term direction, but if not, make sure your executives understand the long term risk to the short term solution and make sure you have a plan to mitigate those risks in the years to come. Hopefully, your project will succeed, the business will thrive, and the coming years will allow you to add staff. Keep in mind, you and your company has to survive the short term in order to make it to the long term and yes, it is a difficult balancing act to do what is needed now without creating a real mess that must be cleaned up later.

If after completing the planning, you just can’t make the projects fit into your staff capacity or you don’t have adequate skill levels available, you should consider using a local software services company that specializes in short duration projects. Select a services provider with the technical experience you need and can demonstrate leadership in short duration project management. You must provide the functional knowledge and participate in reviews. You will become participant and stakeholder. Your services provider and you must work as one team, so proximity of their resources is important.

The services provider needs to know the technology and the process, but does not need to know your business or your application. The process and its iterative nature will determine how the application knowledge is shared. This is not an outsourcing model. This is a partnership model and that one underlying factor determines success.

David Schroeder is Director of Consulting Services at Ross Group Inc, an Ohio based IT Service and Solutions firm. Mr. Schroeder devoted his 25 years of IT experience to research and delivery practice in the area of short duration fast moving projects. He developed the PDMR model in use at Ross Group. PDMR means Plan, Do, Measure and Report and it is a subset of the PMI framework. According to Mr. Schroeder, “At Ross Group, we are experts at short duration, fast moving projects. We follow a model that we refer to as PDMR (Plan, Do, Measure, Report) which provides our guidance for success. We first understand financial, functional, technical, and risk components. We work with our clients to breakdown and prioritize the project into sub-projects. We plan the sub-projects based on risk, technology and needed function and we plan our measurements. We do the work by executing the plan. We measure as we go and we report to our clients weekly. Predictability is the key. If you know where you are going, how to get there, why, and measure your effectiveness, the outcome is predictable. Once our client and our team has a clear picture of the end result, then we can make the necessary changes during the project to arrive on-time, on-budget, and with a functioning application that meets the client’s critical needs.

Ross Group Inc was founded in 1994 by Mark Ross and is a software services solution provider for a wide range of industries. Ross Group Inc’s premier services include n-tier Enterprise Web Application Services, Database Administration Services, IT Consulting and RossAssured Managed Services. The Dayton based company is an annual sponsor of Technology First, formally the Greater Dayton IT Alliance. The company is expanding in a challenging market by engaging experienced technical consultants, a project management discipline and providing excellent services to their clients.