IT Project Planning: The First 15%

Renowned quality guru E. Deming said the first 15% of a project determines the remaining 85%. In other words, if we don’t do a terrific job up front defining the real problem, identifying the true stakeholders, and understanding the values that will drive decision-making, then there’s little chance of success.

No real surprise there. But then why, if we look at that 70% failure rate, is it so darn difficult? And how do you know if you’re on the right track?

Forget what everyone says is the problem.

Blanket statements tend to be more about a corporate culture than specific  problems that can be solved with pragmatic solutions. Talk to a lot of people and ask a lot of questions, knowing that new technology is often proposed as the front-line solution to ineffective business processes. For example, broad claims that the Software team isn’t very productive could be because of their developer toolset, but it could also be because Product isn’t adequately defining what they want, Sales one-off’s keep jumping to the front of their queue, or Marketing urgently insists on certain new features every time they come back from a trade show. New developer tools can’t solve these process issues.

Find out who the customer really is.

You can always identify the true customer because s/he will have a vested interest in all parties playing well together. What a successful implementation can’t be, however, is everything to everone, so there needs to be agreement among top influencers and decision-makers as to the top few benefits you hope to achieve. And then manage scope, tightly. It’s those  innocuous little requests here and there that add up to missed schedules and budget overruns before the targeted benefits are realized. Just like in our Software team example above.

Resolve the Scope – Schedule – Resources dilemma well and early on.

Every project includes a juggling act, but certain values typically dominate decision-making. Whether it’s a list of must-have features, see what you can get done by a certain date or just fix it at any cost, defining the project values up front is essential to selling the business case, influencing decision-makers and delegating authority.

Include change management in every thought and action.

Any IT initiative that is going to bring about substantial, cost-justifying efficiencies is going to be incredibly disruptive. There is no way around it, and soft-pedaling or avoiding change management greatly increases IT project risk at the last possible and most expensive moment. Educate the executives early on and make internal champions of a solid 40-50% of your new user group so that they can help you create buzz. Without that buzz, your implementation may be cool new toy for a while, but then your users will go back to their old ways because they have work to get done. With strong buzz, even the laggards will eventually want to get with the program.

Do these four things well and you’re on the right track. Not only that, the remaining 85% might even be fun!