Jay Sachetti joined Jeff O’Brien, partner at Husch Blackwell and Dyanne Ross-Hanson, president of Exit Planning Strategies talked about the market for mergers and acquisitions, exit planning opportunities for companies that don’t end up for sale and how companies can maximize their eventual sale price during an early October panel at the first Upsize on Tap event at Summit Brewing Co. in St. Paul.
When the state Legislature passed a law requiring employers to provide paid leave and safe time for employees, Justin Bieganek started hearing differing details from friends, colleagues and peers.
Don’t laugh. In too many cases, its true! After years of being committed to delivering software on time and on budget, our customers have reassured us that finishing on time is the exception. No matter what your industry, my strong hunch is that the same is true for you.
Projects involving teams of people and complicated assignments are tough. Gartner Group estimates that about 75 percent of software projects fail because of lack of technical consideration or poor business planning.
Fortunately, there are some tried and true project management principles that can increase the odds in our favor. Here’s what I’ve learned in the area of software development, but the principles are universal no matter what you do.
Get the right team
The topic of human capital (recruiting, motivating, retaining) fills bookshelves at the local Barnes & Noble. And it should. Studies show that top performers outproduce low performers by a factor that varies by industry — in software, it’s by 8 to 10 times.
Great talent is drawn to great work. For Generation Y, get ready. Research suggests they are as committed to the work as to the firm. When the work goes bad, they go (employees who are now 18-25 are considered the beginnings of Generation Y).
Take the time to find them. I recently attended a class at Harvard. Several case studies had recruiting in the study. One of the firms, known for having the best-of-the-best talent, does 25 to 40 interviews to ensure a good fit to company values and performance.
From law to software, using outside expertise to round out your team is common. In software, 97 percent of organizations have consulting services for some part of their software initiatives. Obviously, choosing the right partner is key.
• When interviewing prospective vendors, see the work and meet with the people who’ll be involved with your project. Don’t fall for bait-and-switch — meeting with a ringer on the sale and working with a junior staff member on your project.
• Look at the long-term track record for the firm. Here’s a sad reality of service firms: the barrier to entry is low. Stop by Kinko’s, print a business card, and you can be a consultant.
• Make sure you’re comparing apples to apples. Unlike cars or detergent, services are harder to quantify. Ask questions about what’s in the bid, what’s outside of the scope and how inevitable changes will be handled.
Define the problem
There’s an adage about a problem defined is half solved. This is very true in software. An IBM study by Felix & Watson found well-defined objectives were the No. 1 factor in successful projects. Here’s what we prepare to launch a new project:
• Project plan. This high-level document defines the project vision, scope, goals, success criteria, and the users of the end product.
• A requirements document. This describes the finished project — what it does or needs to be, the technical aspects, and a list of deliverables.
• A prototype, mock-up or demo. Most people are visual. A visual tool is a clear way to communicate and take care of misunderstandings.
• A Gantt chart. This timeline states who, what, when and defines interdependencies.
• A risk plan. Define what’s likely to go wrong and what happens when it does.
Work effectively together
An ideal project team is four to six. This size is large enough to have effective dialogue and collaborative thought, but small enough to be efficient. If the project is large, break it up into pieces tackled by teams of four to six people.
Communicate frequently
In fast-moving environments — all companies today — daily huddles can keep communication consistent and effective. In huddles, which take no more than 15 minutes at my company, each team member gives an update, streamlining communication for everyone.
The daily number is shared (a number that measures the bottleneck or health of the project) and each team member shares a stuck item. Sharing a stuck item brings up issues early, enabling us to slay monsters (problems) while they’re little.
Work smart
IBM built an empire on the word “think.” Thinking is key to deploying applications on time. To get people thinking:
• Encourage team members to constantly ask, “What could be done today that would have the greatest impact on the future of the project?” For example, I’ve seen expensive developers without computers because a manager was “too busy” to order them a few weeks back.
• Keep meetings, including daily huddles, focused. Set meetings for first or last thing in the day or right before lunch. Cut off talkers. Honor time.
• Don’t let meetings create more work. If you have the decision makers together in a huddle and a decision needs to be made, make it!
Understand the end game
The end game, the time right before the project finishes, can be difficult. It’s manageable if you keep teams on track. Tell them to turn off e-mail and voice mail and stay focused. Beyond the huddles, hold off on other meetings that may be fluff.
You should strive to keep the work in a known state. With multiple people making changes to a project, ensure that the details are pulling together. For example, in software, this means building the entire application daily.
Make smart decisions about what matters. In software, when a project is nearing completion and there are small things that are not quite right, sometimes fixing the bug can introduce more bugs. At the end of the project, when people are verifying the work is complete (in software this is QA), this is not the time to solicit feedback and add more to the project. It’s the time to nail the requirements and get done.
Celebrate and recognize team members when the project is finished. Whether it’s a formal event or a beer out with the team, it matters. Napoleon said, “A soldier will fight long and hard for a bit of colored ribbon.” Recognition results in heroic acts.
Constantly improve
Because this isn’t the last project you’ll be delivering be prepared to change. For example, in software, good software doesn’t die, it just changes a lot — think of MS Word. Factor in ongoing maintenance and changes from the start.
You should also follow some process. Before we can improve something, we need to understand what it is. Follow a process and make it your own, constantly improving on it.
And, finally, do a post mortem. Don’t blame. Ask “What could be done to make it even better, next time?”
