In a long and diverse career we have written dozens of RFPs and responded to dozens more. As well, we have mediated IT contract disputes between parties and acted in litigation where major IT contracts have failed to meet either party’s expectations. As one might expect, the skills required in each of these roles are … Read more
Celebrate Success Projects are hard work – for the whole organization. Total successes are genuinely rare. Even partial successes are worth celebrating – and learning from. As with each preceding step to project success, the aegis for the celebration should be the CEO. The project sponsor’s superior, if not the CEO, should consider making the … Read more
In Step#3 we emphasised the importance of a firm procedural foundation to successful projects. No foundation stone is more important than the inputs and outputs associated with Steering Committee over-sight. The documents should include, as a minimum; an issues log, a register of requirements changes and a continuous and comprehensive list of budget and timetable … Read more
Nothing better emphasises the corporate imperative of a major undertaking than the personal endorsement of the CEO. While the project sponsor, and indeed the primary beneficiary, may be lower down the corporate ladder, the imprimatur of the CEO at the launch of the activity will do more to ensure success than any subsequent communication. The … Read more
Validate the revised plan and re-affirm Business commitment Whether the business solution envisaged is to be developed in-house or via a third party, the process you have been through should have resulted in a revised plan, somewhat different from the original one evaluated in Step #3. If the plan is NOT different, you clearly do … Read more
Validate the RFP & Selection Process Bias, conscious or unconscious, is inherent in all of us, and in every decision that we make. Even our decisions to become better informed about a topic are effected by our biases. The places we seek information and the sources we use reflect those biases, so it’s hard to … Read more
Ensure an informed sign-off of the requirements definition You might suppose that this step was added to round out the steps to ten. Surely the user knows what is required, or the project would not have been approved, planned and funded. But a lot happens between concept and definition. At the time of writing this … Read more
Other than the failure to properly implement Change Management, probably the second-most systemic reason for IT project failures is the reluctance to institute and perform a checkpoint. Every major PM methodology subscribes to this process. Sometimes called stage-gate, or interim reviews, these are specific activities, not just a date on the project plan. A checkpoint … Read more
Identify a high level champion for Change Management Change Management is THE primary determinant for a successful IT project. The absence or failure of the change management process accounts for fully 50% of failed projects – more than failed technology, poorly designed software or runaway budgets. Michael Hammer, the leading force behind business transformation through … Read more
Invest in the Project Foundations Few significant business investments outside of IT would get approval without: a formal process of thought, investigation, discussion across a broad range of stakeholders, a sound plan and budget, all of which could pass muster with the senior management team. And rightly so! All too frequently, however, even major IT … Read more