Alligators and software

What do alligators and software have in common?

It comes from one of my favourite sayings "When you're up to your neck in alligators, it's hard to remember that you are there to drain the swamp".

Most projects to install new software in a business start with a fanfare, and an expectation that this new software will solve all your business problems and be the holy grail for your business. I've raised this issue before and said that software will not do this by itself. There are many prerequisites to successful software projects. My blog on business value being a key one.

Even when you have established your goals, identified the business value, identified how the software will support your business process to deliver this value, you have a problem..... reality.
Reality rears its ugly head on a regular basis. You need to respond to your customers. You need to make more sales calls. You need to build, deliver or do whatever it takes to bring in revenue today. That software can wait until tomorrow. As we all know, tomorrow never comes. There is only today. The today issues are the alligators that will prevent you from being successful.

Years ago, I attended a management course that talked about the three requirements for success: focus, will and capability. Contrary to common thinking, capability is the least important. Focus is the most important. If you FOCUS on it, and have the WILL to continue no matter what happens, you will succeed. If you don't have the capability, but have the will, you will develop the capability.

I have followed that strategy for myself and have overcome many problems.

In many cases, you are distracted by day to day events. Can you get back to focus on delivery? Do you need help? A good coach can help you to maintain focus and help you to define solutions to the inevitable problems. You are the one who must have the will to continue. If it is really imporatnt to you, you can buy the capability that you don't have.

So just remember. If you take on a software project, remember the ALLIGATORS. And remember that your job is to drain the swamp.

Does technology frustrate you?

I just read a blog by George Zgourides, a clinical Psychologist titles Dont Let Technology Psych You Out! In it he talks about people who get frustrated with computers or anything else that frustrates them in their day to day work. It's kind of long, but at least worth checking out.

I see this problem all the time when I work with clients. In many cases they aren't comfortable with technology and use it grudgingly. This sets them up for frustration. Software fails. Get used to it! Software wasn't written for people, it was written by software programmers for software programmers! We get frustrated because it's too complex and doesn't just help you to do the job.

I've spent my whole career in technology. I've been a programmer, an analyst, a designer and I still get frustrated. I normally use a very small portion of a software product, but have to deal with all its features every day.

The key to minimizing that frustration is to focus on what you are trying to achieve and set yourself up to do that very well. I see the problem in every assignment. A business buys new software. The software supplier comes in and trains them on everything the software can do. People remember very little of this content, because it has no context. How do I do what I want to do? The software supplier doesn't know your business, so he can't tailor the training to your business. He can't spend the time to leaarn your business, because you won't spend the consulting fees to let him do it. If he's a software programmer, it may not help anyway.

The key to reducing this frustration is to get somebody who will manage the technology for you (Outsource it!). If you get somebody proactive, they will prevent problems and allow you to focus on your business. Then focus on your business process. Find out how to do what you are tryoing to do by using the software. Often the supplier will tell you that can't be done! Bull! They reason that they say this is that they don't understand what you are trying to do.

I encounter this all the time. With my experience as a programmer, I know what can be done. I also focus on the business process and look at other mechanisms which might give us an equivalent solution. I have found that knowledge is not the most imporatnt thing. Persistence is. I believe that when somebody can't make me underswtand, they have a problem. It's not my lack of knowledge, but theirs.

Focus, and will are the keys to eliminate frustration.

Business Value - the Silver Bullet

A detailed study of project success performed in Australia provided another perspective on the failure rate of projects (this went beyond IT projects). A very small percentage of project succeeded in delivering business goals. They failed, not because of poor project management, nor technical difficulty, but because they never defined the business value that was to be delivered.

The projects got initiated with a fuzzy definition of what was to be delivered. It was assumed that by completing the implementation that business benefits would be delivered, but nobody was focused on this. They were focused on the implementation. However, implementation of software delivers a small portion of the benefits, and unless the full business value is identified, success will never be achieved.

I have seen many projects initiated with an attempt to provide "justification". This justification always seemed to focus on identifiable financial benefits, and not on the business value generated. For example, improved productivity was only measured if staffing could be reduced. In addition, this lack of identification of business value leaves a lot of benefit on the table.

I recently completed a project where one of the business goals was to be able to invoice within three days of completion of a job. Within three months, we had achieved that objective and that benefit alone paid for not only my contract fees, but for the original purchase and install of all of the hardware and software. The previous project had been to install the software. While implementation of the software had been completed, the business never saw the value until we focused clearly on these goals.

Why is it that so few projects focus on business value? In my experience, most software projects take on a life of their own, once they are initiated. Many compromises later, the project is completed and there is no way to measure its success. We can measure it one way; the business people are always disappointed. Their expectations (not written down) were not met. A focus on business value would eliminate that problem.

Is Planning necessary?

I had a discussion with a client recently who said that her approach to doing things had changed significantly since we started working together.

She is a very action oriented person and typically starts off in a rush in order to accomplish her objective. She now starts by planning what she wants to do before starting any action. She has recognized how it saves time in the long run.

I recently found a statement describing how 1 hour of planning saves 3 hours of execution.

In starting any project, everybody is looking for action, and planning does not look like action. Managers want immediate results. Unfortunately, this focus on immediate results often causes more problems. Unnecessary work gets done, the wrong function is delivered.

I always look to the business goal that we are trying to achieve and what we need to do to achieve it. In looking at a project this way, questions get asked and the answers change the definition of the problems. People are separated by a common language. What you say and mean may be different from what I understand. If I don't attempt to outline a plan for what you are asking for, I really don't understand what is involved. If I start acting on it, it may look like I'm on the right track, but I could be way off base. By developing a plan, I get a better understanding of what you are asking for and when I communicate this to you, you can tell if I'm delivering what you want.

If business people are separated by a common language, what do you think will happen with technology people? They have a language all their own and their focus is very different. What they hear you say is very seldom what you mean. Without the outline of a plan, you will not get what you think you are asking for.

Studies on project failure rates

Anoher stody of software project failure rates has been completed in Europe (A Study in project failure). The format is poor, but the statistics are interesting. As in the past, many different factors are identified as the cause and as usual, there is a focus on more effective project management as the requirement.

The issues identified include: lack of business alignment, poor requirements definition, business strategy changed, business benefits not clearly communicated. What this is basically saying, is that the technology team was out of control; they didn't understand what the business needed and were attempting to implement solutions that weren't needed or wanted.

While looking at the data presented, there are two things that you might say are not relevant for small business: These are primarily new development projects (software being written, not purchased) and for large businesses (million dollar projects).

The thing that I find interesting is that the issues are common to those that I find in small businesses that are purchasing software. The software is driving the action. When software suppliers sell new software, they will provide training. That training is on how to use the software. It isn't "how to use the software to help your business". Since much of what is being presented is not relevant (at the time) to the learners, it is quickly forgotton (if it is understood). What is not understood is "how does this help me do my job?".

The answers to the following questions need to be provided:

1. What is the business goal for buying the software?
2. What is the business process that I am trying to improve and what are its current limitations?
3. How will the software improve the performance of the business process?
4. How will we measure that improvement?
5. Is the business benefit (the goal) worth the expenditure?

If those questions are answered, and the project maintains its focus on the business goal, the project will be successful. Business people will not abdicate the ownership and "alignment" will not be a problem.

I get called in to help fix these type of projects. Although there are many issues encountered, I always find that a focus on those business goals and business processes will lead to success.

What's software got to do with a BIG MAC?

In working with a client recently, I heard a comment that I hadn't expected. He was asked "how are things going?". He mentioned that he now understood what all the layers of a BIG MAC were for and the role that each played.

This was his way of describing what had happenned for him during our project.

I was brought in to help implement software for the business. They had purchased the software, but hadn't successfully implemented all of the functions. As I usually do, I started with a definition of the business goal, followed by a review of the business process changes required to meet that goal. Then we looked at how the software could help to improve the process to meet the goal.

In doing this, we found that each individual who was involved in the process, understood their own role, but not the role of others, nor how what they did affected how the others did their jobs. By documenting the end-to-end process and who was responsible for what, he had learned all of the steps in the process (the layers of the BIG MAC). By having everybody in the company understand the layers of the BIG MAC, their business process was improved, the software started to deliver on its original purpose.

So in order to achieve your goals in the purchase and implementation of new software, make sure that everybody understands all of the layers in your BIG MAC.

Getting started on a software project

I have a problem with starting software projects. I have been working with software for my whole career, and typically when I start working with a company, I understand the situation and what needs to be done.

While it is obvious to me, it is seldom obvious to my clients and their staff. They called me for help because they were not able to achieve the goals that they set out for themselves. I am ready to get going and can see the steps that need to be taken, but I can't go there.

Over time, I have learned that I can only go as fast as my clients are capable. In the early stages, it seems quite slow and little visible progress is seen. This can be frustrating for managers of projects as they are anxious to get going. However, this is a difficult time for people to go off in a rush. They are working in unfamiliar territory, with changes to their business processes, new technology and tools and typically a new list of issues every day. This is not normal operations.

Many consultants will offer a "solution" to this problem. They will bring in a group of outsiders who will make the project happen. There is a flurry of activity and everybody is happy. Then the project grinds to a halt. Often this is because roadblock and roadblock has been put in the way. This is usually after a lot of money and time has been spent. The reality hits that the staff has to know what is going on. It can't work without them.

While the early stages of a project can be frustrating for those that know what needs to happpen next, it is a time of learning, and sometimes learning can be slow. people learn what they need to know. Once learning has started and everybody understands where things are going, they start to look for opportunities to use the software and they understand how it can help them.

This occurred in a recent project that I worked on with a client. The first month was frustratingly slow. We focused on the business process and looked for ways that the software could help improve the process. We uncovered many process issues that would prevent successful implementation. In the second month, things were still slow. Volume of work prevented catching up with the backlog, but now we were no longer building a backlog. We were keeping up with day to day requirements. More process problems were identified and resolved. By the end of the third month, the staff had taken ownership of the software and could see how it was helping them. The backlog was eliminated and the software was functioning as desired.

Although progress was slow in the early stages and required ongoing support and coaching, the learning process was happening. The slow start was worth it.

In starting any new project, leave time for learning. Start slow. It will pay for itself later on. I have seen too many failures where companies bring in a ast of thousands to make early progress. The only thing that they succeed in doing is increasing the costs.

Is tehnical knowledge necessary to manage IT?

When I speak to small business owners, I often find them uncomfortable with technology. They know they need it to run their business, but they aren't comfortable with it and tend to stay away from it, if they can.

They often have found some useful aspects, such as searching for information on the Internet, but see IT as that PC that is always causing them problems.

In many cases, they hire a junior person on staff, or a technician that fixes the equipment when it breaks. This allows them to ignore the technology.

While they shouldn't be spending their time fixing PCs (they have a business to run), assuming that getting someone technical to manage the equipment is not necessarily the best thing for their business either. The technician is probably very good at fixing what breaks, but is that the best thing for the business? If reliability is a problem, or slow response, this is affecting their business productivity. The technicians are unlikely to focus on preventing these problems, unless they have experience at managing technology. This is very different from fixing technology.

Making technology work for your business has little to do with technical skills, but a lot to do with management and leadership skills. Management skills bring you processes for maintaining technology so that it works consistently and reliably. This ensures that outages do not keep you from doing the job that you bought the equipment for.

Leadership skills in IT are another element. This does take a little technical knowledge to understand or be able to envision the use of technology in a way that improves your business. This requires education and awareness of capabilities, something few courses provide. It also requires a focus on your business and a vision of where you want your business to go. If you have this vision of your business, then you need to look at how technology can support your vision.

Technical skills in your staff and suppliers are not likely to help you develop your business vision. Neither will the next silver bullet software product. Develop the vision of where you want your business to go. Then look for software that can help you get there. Once you set yourself in that direction, you will gain the technical skills that you need to use technology effectively. And those skills will have nothing to do with fixing your own PC or installing your own software.

Is there a difference between education, training and learning?

In most of my engagements with clients, they have been challenged with the implementation of software to run their business. A lot of what is talked about is that they lack training in how to use the software effectively. Although that may be true, what I find that is holding them back is learning, not training.

What I see classified as training is mostly "how to". This is how software suppiers provide information on their software products. This training is all about how to use their product. However, this is not what most businesses want or need. They want to know how to use the product to make their business operate more effectively. If they don't need a particular feature today, they don't need to be trained on how to use it. Since few software suppliers get into the business to understand their problems and what they are really trying to do, they can't give specific "how to" training. They have to provide what I call "fire hose" training (like trying to drink through a fire hose). This is very ineffective, since people don't understand the relevance of the features and functions, they don't remember much of what is presented.

People learn what they need to know by being open to learning. They are looking for answers and learn how to do things when they are looking for answers.

My view is that this is the purpose of education. We often talk about thinking outside the box. This is meant to say, don't always come up with the same solutions. Solve problems by thinking about them in new ways (outside the box). I don't believe that we can think outside the box. It is a box because we are operating within it. That is the pupose of education: to help change the size and shape of the box. I personally use many things to help change the size and shape of the box that I operate in. I read books on many different topics, most of them not in my field. I attend seminars by a variety of speakers. All of this helps to change the size and shape of the box that I operate in. That box is always changing. I enjoy anything that gives me one idea that changes the shape of that box.

In an engagement, I start by looking that my client's business. What is happenning? What kinds of problems are they encountering? How does their business process operate and how does their software support it? In asking these questions, I always find problems with the "box". Each individual is operating in their own box, not recognizing what is happenning in somebody else's box. This causes productivity problems because they are creating work for each other. By understanding their business process, I am able to help them learn how to make their business more effective, by educating them on the broader implications on their business. In many cases, they also are uncomfortable with technology. They don't know what to look for and are still suffering from the after effects of firehose training.

By helping them to see the big picture, they start looking for solutions. They start looking to the software and how it can help them. Initially, their lack of comfort with technology may prevent them from asking these questions. This is where support can help. I help them to learn how to ask these questions, and get answers.

Although there is some need for software training, I see much more value in education, creating the knowledge to open your mind to learning. Once the learning process has started, it can go on forever. It also involves personal ownership of the learning process, whereas training puts responsibility on someone else.

Why can't IT support companies make commitments

I got a call recently from a friend who had just purchased a new PC from someone that I had recommended. The IT support person seemed to have a great attitude and approach to service and the experience to date from my friend had been very positive.

When she purchased the PC, a number of small problems had been encountered and had to be resolved. This was not what my friend was reacting to. My friend was concerned that with each new issue or problem, she was being charged. This was so contrary to the way that she runs her own business that she called me to ask whether this was something that she should expect.

When she installs equipment for her clients, she gives them a price then sticks to it. She is the one with the skills to do the job and is in control of the results. Her clients have no experience with the equipment and cannot control the outcome. If something goes wrong she looks at it as a learning experience and something to be prevented the next time.

In my experience, few IT support companies operate this way, especially the ones that support small business. When a problem is encountered, they react to it and fix it. They may say that this always happens, but there is no ownership. They don't look at how they can prevent this in the future. Since they don't want to do work that they aren't paid for (and this happens all the time), they charge the client.

This is one of the reasons why people get frustrated with computers and computer support. They have no idea what is happenning and they regularly get hosed. It always costs more than they expect and they never know why. And their supplier takes no ownership.

Isn't it time that IT support companies take ownership of this issue? If there are glitches all the time, why don't they find out why and do something to prevent them? I worked in large businesses for many years and that was what we did. We recognized that every incident, every problem caused productivity problems and should be prevented. We diagnosed the reason why this happenned and made changes that prevented these problems. That increased stability and eventually required less support and greater satisfaction.

Why can't small support companies operate the same way?

Maybe the problem is not the IT support companies are not the problem. Maybe the problem is their customers who accept this type of service and feel that they can't do anything about it. Maybe they need to take action and say this response is unacceptable. That's what I suggested to my friend. I'm looking forward to what happens.

Searching for information

We install software in a business to increase productivity and reduce costs, sometimes to deliver a service that could not be delivered in another way.

Having said that, I am always surprised at the lost productivity that I find in business. One of the areas of wasted effort is searching for information. It doesn't take long to do most jobs. What takes a long time is searching for the information to be able to do the job.

Paper has a disadvantage over computers. It can only be in one place at any time. When information is loaded into a computer database that is shared among many people, it is accessible by everyone. So you can do the job when you are ready, not when the information reaches your desk.

In working with a small company recently, I found that they were often delayed in getting their invoices out. The reason was that jobs were being charged as time and materials and all of the charges had to be in before an invoice could be produced. This often took weeks before all of the payroll and payable forms could be made available. It was a further problem because many of these jobs were verbal agreements and there was no tracking mechanism.

Once we had the tracking mechanism in place, it acted as a trigger and a small change in the paper flow process allowed the information to be immediately available and the invoice could be created on the same day.

While a totally automated process might provide more benefits, a lot of work was required to get there. This provided the benefit (faster invoicing, faster receivables) without major effort.

Electronic tracking of workload (a small effort) produced a big benefit (faster revenue). This is what businesses need to look for. Big, complex, lengthy projects are not necessary to get value. Focus on the value first, then what effort is required to get it.

Getting information to manage your business

Most small business owners start out with an idea of a product or service that they want to deliver. Often this business is built on the skills they have, whether they learned them in a job, because of an interest. When those skills are in a trade, you are starting with a focus on physical skills.

As the business grows, the owner must spend less time on the job and more time managing the job. Even though he/she is very skilled at doing the job, these skills become less important, as other people are doing this work. He/she must focus on managing the work. This process is best described in The eMyth Revisted by Michael Gerber. In it, he describes the three roles of an entrepreneur: the technician, the manager and the entrepreneur, and how the owner must transition from the technician to an entrepreneur and how the skills are different.

In this transition, the owner also goes from somebody on the job to someone who must manage work remotely. In today's environment, this can be done with information about the business that is available on our computer systems. This is often complicated, if the owner isn't comfortable with computers. It is further complicated if the software that is in place doesn't capture all of the information that is need to manage the business from the office.

Well defined business processes (the manager role defined by Gerber) are what is needed.

This is the most common problem faced by small companies that implement new software for their business. They have defined their business process, so when they implement the new software, they use it as a tool to do obvious things that their business requires. They don't use it to improve their business process. As a result they miss out on a lot of the information that they need to manage their business. They also lose out on the information that they need to play the role of understanding their business.

Problems with software training

When a business buys new software, they require training on the use of the software. Unfortunately, most of this is generic. They tell you everything that you need to know if you want to use all of the features and functions of the software. Most of this is forgotten by the students, as they return to their jobs and just try to get their jobs done. In addition, much of the online help is virtually useless, as you can find the information only if you know what you are looking for. The terminology is often totally foreign to business people.

I like to refer to this training as trying to drink from a firehose.

When installing new software, we need to recognize that people's lives are being disrupted. Everything they know (and love?) is changing. They don't know how to do their jobs anymore. They become unproductive and frustrated. Until they are comfortable in the new environment, they simply want to know how to do what they were doing with the new software. Once they are comfortable, they may be ready to learn new things.

We can't train them on what they need to know unless we understand their business, how it works and how the software is being used within the business. Even though the software is standard, every company uses it differently. So we should always start with the business process. What is it within this specific business? What is imprortant within this specific business? How will the software be used to address the process needs? Now train the staff to do that with the software.

We can follow up that training with a more detailed set once things are stable. This training should also be focused on how the business process can be improved by using more features and functions in the software.

What's the difference between bacon and eggs?

Years ago, one of my staff came back from a project management course with this question.

The question was asked related to the difference between a good and a bad project manager. The difference is the hen is involved, whereas the pig is committed. The pig only gets one chance to do the job right.

That's what you should look for in a project manager or any supplier. Are they just involved, using up your money, or are they as committed as you are to deliver. If they aren't as committed as you are, you will get poor service, or at least not what you are looking for.

I have seen so many IT projects that fail to deliver on their "commitments". When it doesn't work, there are plenty of excuses. No IT project goes perfectly. There are always unknowns. As a supplier, you can't know everything that's going on in a company and even if you do, something will crop up.

Good planning and preparation will help. Experience with things that have gone wrong in the past will help. The thing that will ensure that you deliver is the attitude that "I have made a cpommitment. I must make it work."

What are you: a pig or a chicken?

What's a Chief Information Officer (CIO)?

In doing a search yesterday, I ran across hundreds of websites that stated that they offered CIO services.

When organizations first started to make use of computers, they called the manager of the group various names from Data Processing Manager, to IT Manager and most recently CIO. While most of these positions had a very similar role, that of managing the activities of the folks that supported computers at the company, the CIO was supposed to identify a new role, that of a business person who was responsible for helping the business to exploit IT to make it more profitable and effective.

While many CIOs still manage the IT function, it detracts from their ability to exploit technology to improve the business. If IT is outsourced, there still is a need for a CIO. Would CIOs be more effective in this situation? Could they add more value to the business? If the business didn't want to outsource would it make sense for the IT Manager and CIO to be two separate positions?

Many small businesses have outsourced IT support, because they just can't afford to hire the type of computer skills that they need. Even if they don't outsource, their computer staff do not have the business skills to help them take advantage of technology.

If they check the Internet for a CIO, most of what they find is IT support businesses that call themselves CIOs. They aren't. They are just computer and network support companies. They don't try to understand thye business, they simply fix what's broken.

If we really want to help small businesses to exploit Information Technology, then we need to focus on their business and not on fixing computer problems. That's not to say that keeping technology stable is not important (it is critical), but we should be past that. Maybe we need a new title instead of CIO, since CIO is being misused so much.

Business software and nightmares

I just read a blog by Michael Krigsman called "7 common lies told by enterprise software sales people". Not surprisingly, the problems that he identifies also are common to small and medium sized businesses. The differences are that most small and medium sized businesses don't have the money to waste on massive failures. Their failures are typically much smaller (or they would go out of business). They also tend to be more cautious because the money is often coming out of the owners pocket.

However, the problems that he identifies are virtually identical for small businesses. For example:

• Some software may be better than others (mostly the supplier), but unless significant time is spent understanding your business, don't trust anybody who says theirs can best support your needs.
• If they tell you it will not take much of your resources, run for the hills. It is your business. It will take your resources.
• My solution is supported well.
• My solution will save you time and money. That may be true, if you invest the time to understand what the software can do for you.
• Don't focus on enhancements. They cost you time and money.
• The cost of purchase is a small part of the overall cost. Most suppliers are willing to negotiate a deal on purchase. The real cost is ongoing costs and most businesses don't manage this very well.
• Most large software companies have a rigid structured contract. Many software contracts are poorly written and often not reviewed by a lawyer.

And we wonder why many software projects fail? Check out my article on the cost of software on my website.

All you need to do is........

This is a common statement by most people who are comfortable with computers. It is also used by most technical support staff and companies who support small businesses.

What many technical people fail to realize is that small business owners have no interest in doing it, no matter how easy it is. They want to run their business, not dabble with technology. They may recognize that doing regular backups, maintaining virus software, security, etc., is needed, but they don't want to think about it. They are busy doing other things. If they are comfortable with technology, they may do it (even then they often can't be bothered).

Most IT outsourcing companies that support small businesses operate as technicians, fixing problems when they come up. They know what should be done and tell the owners they should do it, but stop there. The don't think of the impact that these failures have on small businesses. They don't think of offering a service that eliminates the need for the business owner to think of such things as backup. The owner time is far more valuable focusing on revenues.

Large companies learned a long time ago, that it pays to prevent problems and they know that no business person wants to think about backup, security and virus. They want it prevented.
We need IT maintenance companies that provide service to small business, not just fix computers.

In my experience, I haven't found many IT Service companies that think this way. Most just want to fix problems, and maybe that's because most small business owners just want their problems fixed. I think small business owners need something different, but may not know how to ask.

Managing Your business

I was speaking to a small business owner last week, who is interested in running his business remotely, but was concerned that he wouldn't be able to stay on top of issues while he is away.

When I enquired about being able to track orders and identify problem areas, he mentioned that he doesn't enter orders until he is ready to bill. All orders are generated using WORD. QuickBooks is only used for billing. Therefore he can't tell when orders encounter problems. This seems to be a common problem with small businesses. They utilize the software to make printing and modifying documents easier, as well as tracking financial transactions, but don't use the real power, which is the management of their business.

In this example, if every order was entered in QuickBooks, as well as the supplier purchase order, the whole transaction process would be captured. With this, you know exactly what was ordered, when it was due and can check status and delivery dates. The software can help you to manage your business.

In addition, when you use the software to rack all activities in the business, you now have a wealth of information, about your customers, your sales, your performance. All of this information may not be standard reporting from the software, but all of it is available to help you understand your business.

Understanding your business and making better decisions is what bring value to your expenditures on Information Technology, instead of just being an operational expense.