Project Rescue - Fix It or Kill It

Executive Briefing

June 28, 2012

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About Your Presenter

• Sr. VP KeyedIn Solutions Consulting Group

– Helping companies align their business and technology

– Focus on people, process, and then the technology

– Subject matter expert on business process management

– On-going research into next generation of technology for

enterprise systems

• 25 years experience in enterprise systems

– USAF Research Project (1985)

– Founder of enterprise quality software company (1988)

• Trusted advisor to global organizations, government

agencies, and professional groups

http://www.linkedin.com/in/johncachat

Today’s Discussion

• Why Projects Fail

• Recognizing The Challenges

• How To Create Success

• Keys to Project Recovery

• How KeyedIn Consulting Group Can Help You Today

How Did We Get Here?

• Project Objective – Bad Example

– To spend a great deal of money and cause huge disruption

obtaining low quality deliverables with questionable ROI

over an indeterminate and elongated time frame

• Project Objective – Good Example

– create a unique organization created to deliver a defined

result within an agreed timeframe with identified

resources

What is a Project?

• A project is a unique organization created to deliver a defined

result within an agreed timeframe with identified resources

• Made Up Of

– Objectives

– Deliverables

– Milestones

– Resources Relationship

Triangle

Project Management

• Business Case

– Why do we want to do this?

– What will it do for the business?

– How much will it cost?

– What are the risks?

– What if we do nothing?

• Project Approach

– Scope

– Phasing

– Controls

– Quality Management

Why Projects Fail

• Unrealistic or undeliverable objectives

• Poor management support

• Lack of visibility

• Lack of focus

• Lack of controls

• Inadequate experience in the project team

• Failure to understand the critical success factors and

risks surrounding the project

Recognizing The Challenges

• Detachment - the external perspective

• Experience - ability to tell when something is not right

• Information - metrics and measures that illuminate the situation

• Communication - businesses react to noise as much as content – make sure you do not leave a information vacuum for others to fill

Avoiding Common Project Pitfalls

• Set the right expectations

– aim for something you can deliver

• Communicate effectively

– “the biggest problem in communication lies in the illusion that it has taken place”

• Monitor, measure and understand

– stay “in the room,”no rose tinted glasses

• Change is inevitable…manage it !

– stay adaptable and stay current

– understand the effect of each, every and all the changes

So It Has All Gone Wrong

• Loss of management belief and support

• Loss of user buy in

• Frustrated vendor relationship

• Vilification of the project team, vendor, product,

project objectives or all of the above

• Continually slipping milestones

• Failed to produce deliverables

• Budget blown

• Business case undermined

Project Rescue

ContainmentContainment RestatementRestatement Re-engagementRe-engagementRestart and

Replan

Restart and

Replan

Phased

Recovery

Phased

RecoveryPhase Sign OffPhase Sign Off

Project

Completion

Analysis

Project

Completion

Analysis

• Needs a defined and very focused recovery method

– Understand the issues

– Re-engage the team

– Get the project back on track

Role of the Project Management Office (PMO)

• Establishing and ensuring adherence to a defined methodology and a clear approach to project delivery

• Monitor the business case

• Manage communication

• High level execution management– assess scope,

– allocate resources and

– verify time,

– budget,

– risk and impact assumptions

Timing is Everything

Phase Description Risk

The Early Innings 25% into the project –

application exploration done,

started system design

LOW

Midgame 60% into the project –

configuration done and testing

has started

MEDIUM

The Home Stretch 90% - just about to go live HUGE

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Adding Resources

• Right people at the right

time with the right skills is

worth the cost

• Wrong people at the right

time with the wrong skills is

a huge mistake

• Skills, attitude, time

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Replacing Project Managers

• Client Project Mangers

– Skill Problem?

– Attitude Problem?

– Has a full time job problem?

• Consultant Project Managers

– Harder to replace because they don’t

have as many

– Replacing with a Client Project

Manager? maybe

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Replacing Consultants

• Personality conflict with other team members

• Is the consultant “not liked” because they are simply a bearer of bad news?

• Will replacement have the same or better skills?

• Inability to contribute at the level expected by the client

• Timing matters

– Mid project, OK, maybe

– Right before we go live, NO

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Changing Consulting Firms

• We were promised skilled consultants and a proven approach

• Things to consider

– Are the issues from the type of contract signed?

– Can we solve the problem with different consultants from the same firm?

– Are they software / systems issues and we are blaming the consulting firm?

– What is the impact on the project timeline and cost?

– What did we learn so that we do not repeat it with a new consulting firm?

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Avoiding the Point of No Return

• Everyone has to be proactive

• Move non-critical items to Phase II

– Executive bonus tied to functionality?

– Refer back to company goals

• Killing the Projects

– Can be political and/or financial suicide

– No chance of a successful go-live?

– Step back and evaluate

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Audits

• Pre-Project Audits

– Organizational Readiness Audit

– Data Readiness Audit

– Best Practices

– System Readiness

– Political Obstacles

• Mid-Implementation Audits

– Step back and evaluate and adjust

• Post-Go Live Audits – Lessons Learned

– What went wrong

– What went right

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Things to Remember….

• Look at internal issues

• Look at external issues

• Tough decisions are required

• Ask for help !!

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About KeyedIn Consulting Group

Experts providing solutions to specific problems

– Project Rescue

– Project Management & Virtual PMO

– People and Process Alignment

– Business and IT Alignment

– Enterprise Software Selection

Follow KeyedIn

Corporate Website: www.keyedin.com

www.twitter.com/keyedinsolution

www.linkedin.com/company/2434133?trk=tyah

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Free Whitepapers

Download

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Upcoming Webinars

Register at

www.keyedin.com

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7/10/12 The Replacement System: Why, How, When and Who

7/12/12 How to Successfully Engage Software Vendors & Their Software

7/17/12 Business Processes: Can’t Live With ‘Em, Can’t Live Without ‘Em

7/19/12 Support for the New System: Go Live Is Just The Beginning

7/24/12 Selecting Consultants: Just Like A Marriage–For Better Or For Worse

7/27/12 Enterprise System Implementation Strategies and Phases

7/31/12 Project Teams: People Issues, Roles and Responsibilities

Questions & Answers

Q ACopy of Presentation Future Webinars

Contact:

Shelly Bird

sbird@keyedin.com

952-835-1041 ext.163

Visit:

www.keyedin.com

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