Describing IT project success

IT organizations have a problem when they talk about project success. That success is almost always described in terms of the project itself, yet the reason why the project was undertaken was a business reason. The business wanted to improve the outcomes that they received from one of their processes.

Project success is normally measured by:

• The project was completed on time.


• The project was completed within 10% of budget.

The real issue is: "did the business receive the value that they expected?" If the answer is no, then the project was a failure. If the business can't answer the question, then the project was a failure. Significant time and efort has been spent in the last 30 years to improve project success. All of it has been placed on success as measured by the project team, not by the business.

In this example, the project team considered the project a success. The business considered it an outright failure, because:

• The solution increased workload.
• The solution did not cater for exceptions.
• The job roles were changed. The staff were trained on the software, but not their changed roles.

The result? Negative productivity impact on the business.

Technology value through Focus and Will

Years ago, I went on a course that presented three steps for achieving results:

• Focus
• Will
• Capability

I read about cultures that achieved great things. They lacked the skills or capabilities to move forward, but had the focus and will. They eventually developed the capabilities.

The same is true of technology. I see many small business owners that are frustrated wth technology. They don't have the interest and abdicate their responsibilities to others who are comfortable with it.

I understand the frustration that these business owners have. Most technology based solutions are presented as technology solutions in their own right and not as business solutions.

When a business decides to buy software, they start with a business problem. As solutions providers, we jump right in and assume that the software is THE solution. The business peopl lose interest, because they don't care about the technology. They care about their business problem. This is the way it should be.

The three words listed above offer the solution to the problem.

Focus: on the business problem, not on the software. What problem are you trying to solve. If it is important to your business, keep this focus. Don't get distrated. When the software supplier tries to teach you everything about the software (fire hose training), resist and get them to focus on the features and functions that will help solve your problem.

Will: This will be painful. The technical support people will try to get you away from your focus, to get their approach and become technical. Resist. Maintain your focus. Learn what you need to know to succeed at solving your problem.

Capability: If you can maintain your focus, you will learn what you need to know. You don't have to be a technician. You need to understand how to manage technology so that it helps your business.

Business Process Consulting and Software as a Service

With the growth of software being provided as a service, for rent rather than purchase, some consultants have the opportunity to make themselves experts in the processes behind these software products.

In the past, many consultants have provided support for specific software products, because there was revenue available by selling the hardware and software as well as installing and configuring the software. In his article on "SaaS drives business consulting", Michael Vizard describes some of the opportunities. Software products have seldom been utilized to their full capabilities. If consultants start to focus on helping businesses understand the processes behind the software and extend the use, so that they get better value, they become much more closely tied to the processes rather than the software product.

This is a good thing.

Too much time has been spent on the technology or the specific software product, and not enough on the business process. Improved business processes help to drive business value. Focusing on trying to get the software to deliver more value to the process can only help to improve performance and reduce costs.

I haven't seen many consultants with a business process focus, but if more get into it, I think it's great. To see Michael's full article click here.

Is Vista about money or Value?

A Computerworld article describes the reason why Microsoft is having trouble getting businesses to upgrade to the Vista operating system.

It describes the problem as being about money. Because of the recession, most large businesses cannot afford to take on a project to convert from Windows XP to Vista. It costs money for licenses, it costs time and money to do the upgrade. And after upgrading, you get a new slate of problems that you have to diagnose. This means that reliability goes down, productivity goes down. On top of that users have to be retrained.

Now if there was value to be gained by the upgrade, it may make it worthwhile. Traditionally, people in IT have taken upgrades as a normal thing. But upgrades have always cost money, and time, and training and releaqrning how to solve the new set of problems that come up.

Maybe it's time we start thinking differently. Just because the software supplier wants more revenue, is not a good enough reason for users to be buying new licenses. It has to have business value! The cost of upgrading is far too high to waste money and not get business value!

Maybe we need a new model to work with. There are elements of this new model out there in open source and Software as a Service. At least this may keep the upgrades in the realm of the people who may find value from it, the people who provide outsourcing or applications for rent. The average business person has nothing to gain.

The full article can be viewed here.

Getting to the Business Goal

Many technology related projects get stuck in the technology world. They start with a business goal, but by the time they get to doing something, the goal is totally wrapped as a technology related project. The end result is that although the technology related project is delivered, the business goal is missed, or the effort to deliver it exceeds the value.

A recent project provides an example of how the business goal can easily be missed.

I was called in to help a small construction company. They were growing rapidly and went from small jobs to much larger ones. These larger projects required more sophistocated tools. As a result, they purchased new software. After a year of trying unsuccesfully to implement, they called me for help.

In analyzing the situation, I found that the software was probably the right one for the job. However, the approach was wrong. The focus had been to implement the complex functions first, ignoring was was their bread and butter operation. The complexity of the new function required significant effort, meanwhile, they had problems with day-to-day operations.

In digging into the issue further, I found that they were unable to invoice their customers ina timely manner. Since everything was being done manually, they had no records until after a job was invoiced, no ability to follow up on what was billed or not billed. Invoicing was 3-6 months late.

The delayed invoices meant that customers were not being billed and therefore not paying their bills until months later. This created a cash flow problem. lack of cash flow meant that the business could not take on the bigger, more profitable jobs. Lack of bigger jobs meant that the growth of the company was stopped.

So the real business goal was to grow the company. In order to grow, the company needed cash. In order to get cash, the company needed to invoice more quickly on the small jobs. In order to bill more quickly, they needed to start tracking jobs when they were started, when a quote was given.

We were able to capture all existing jobs and and create a follow up process for planning and executing the jobs as well as invoicing most jobs within days of completion in less than 3 months. This meant that the company could focus on growing the business quickly. The new functions to handle to large jobs could be done during quieter times.

If the original goal of fully implementing the software had been maintained as the priority, it would have taken a lot longer and cost a lot more. During that delay, the company might not have survived its cash flow problem.

Herding Cats, Buffalo, Geese and Information Technology

These three types of animals are very different in their makeup, and the way that they can be managed. This makeup also means that they deliver very different results.

Herding cats is a real challenge. Even though they are a common house pet, they are very difficult to control. Cats will do what they want to do, whenever they want to do it. Working with one cat is manageable. When you get a second or third or more, they are impossible. Where some animals, such as cows or buffalo, follow a common path, cats don't. They do whatever they please and when you try to exert control they scatter.

Buffalo are another matter. While much bigger and stronger, buffalo are very easy to control. They follow the leader. They don't think and choose for themselves. Before controls were established, they almost became extinct. All a hunter had to do was control the leader, and the others would follow.

Geese, on the other hand are very different. Each goose knows where it is going and what is needed to get there. They work as a team. When one tires or falters, another quickly takes over. Split them up and they continue to function, and eventually get back together. They know that their strength is in their support of each other, whether its two, five or ten. There is strength in numbers, if those numbers understand where they are going and how to get there. When a weaker member gets in the lead, they don't have to be the strongest. They can lead for a short period, yet know that another is ready to take their place.

In a business, we have cats, buffalo and geese. I have seen many organizations that function with mostly buffalo. As a result, they succeed for a while, because of the strength of their leader. But when their leader falters, they lose.

Many organizations prefer to manage buffalo, because it's much easier than trying to herd cats. But cats are free thinkers. They have ideas that can help an organization, but there is no common direction in the organization. Each cat has his own views and approach, and since there is no common goal, there is no way to measure success. Since cats are fighting the system, managers attempt to put controls on them. This succeeds in one of two things: the cats become buffalo; the cats leave the system. Both result in a loss for the business. Buffalo will become extinct, unless their system is managed for them.

The solution is to help cats become geese. This means common goals and a system for reaching those goals with the strength of each individual. What is that system? It may be slightly different for each business, but the process for achieving that goal must be understood by every individual within the business. They must know how what they do affects every other step in the process. This may sound difficult, but it isn't. It's a matter of focus.

What does this have to do with Information Technology? When you change the software in your business, you are changing the system for meeting the goal. Cats, buffalo and geese will all react differently. This is what change management specialists are trying to manage. If you don't understand what animal you are working with, you are going to have problems. No matter what you do, you can't herd cats. No matter what you do, you can't get buffalo to think and act independently.

My next post will talk about what you can do to handle a major change such as software implementation.

Eliminate the problems of computer support - Part 3

My last two posts talked about the benefits of a good computer supplier. My last one talked about the problems caused by buying and installing software on your computers.

This one will look at the benefits of an alternative solution: Renting your software. If you are not convenced yet, go back to my last post and ask yourself if you want to solve these problems. If you don't, then let me describe the benefits, and why you should lease software.

First of all, let's talk about what I mean by leasing software.

There are a number of software products that are available on the Internet. To use these products, you don't buy them and install them on your computer. You simply access them via your browser. Some are free, like google applications, others you pay for using them every month. There are a number of very good products that are available this way and this is the direction that the industry is going.

While you may have to pay something every month, there are significant advantages.

• You pay for only what you use. This means that a large and a small business might use the identical product, but the big business will pay more because they have more users.
  
• When a new version comes out, the supplier is responsible for upgrading it.


• If it doesn't work, you call support and they have the problem of fixing it.


• The exact same software with all of the fixes is used by everyone, so you don't have to worry about keeping it up-to-date.


• Your files are stored on their computers, so they are responsible for backup. If you want to protect yourself more, you can take a backup yourself. You don't have to worry about offsite backup.


• Whether your office is in one location or many, you all have the ability to share it, without having to worry about designing a network.
• Software is not being installed on each of your computers, so you don't have to worry as much about computer maintenance and support.



• No matter how big the software gets, you don't have to worry about upgrading your computer's memory or hard drive. Your PC could last a lifetime.
  

Do all of these benefits make it worthwhile to rent instead of buying? It at least must make it worth considering.

There is another issue that may make it worth considering. When a software supplier sells you a big complex software product, they often surprise you with a big training cost. This package is never enough and even though you get training (see fire hose training), it is never enough. With some of the software that I have tried, they are simple to use. You can use as much of the product as you want, which means less training required and a gradual approach. I intend to look more into this to see how easily a small company can convert all of their business to these products. Some are very comprehensive.