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Our Project Management Strategy and Quality Analysis
We are mentioned the need for 'data' to show quantifiably where we're wasting resources. I've tried it on several occasions. I've even put it in monetary terms to show the cost of 'not doing it right the first time', to use a quality phrase. For the most part my efforts fell on deaf ears. Why? I believe it's our business culture. Getting the product to market is everything. I'm not saying this disparagingly. The market, not IT drives what we do.
Building good systems is not our problem. Technically, we're very good. Some of our systems are nothing short of brilliant and our businesses couldn't run without them.
The discipline of good project management (I emphasize 'good' since poor project management is no project management) is rarely given emphasis in IT. Project management is not the same as systems development. Project management involves tasks like planning (an art unto itself), coordinating, controlling, communicating, and reporting. In short, it applies management disciplines to the development effort.
None of these activities is technical. Unrealistic target dates, identifying requirements correctly, and requirements management are problems that have plagued us from day one. But good project managers realize this and plan accordingly. They get total agreement on the project requirements up front and dictate that inevitable additions go through the change management process that analyzes their impact on resources and delivery dates.
Changes to requirements will not be accepted any other way. 'Scope creep' can be prevented. As for unrealistic target dates, good planning can address this. A tool like Microsoft Project allows planning to be done and to graphically illustrate why or why not the date is realistic. If the date is unrealistic, negotiate as to what can be delivered by that date. That's what is going to happen anyway.
I'm not suggesting project management is a panacea. It is difficult even under ideal situations and the best PM can only take it so far. The biggest obstacle is culture with your enemies existing in both IT and client communities. "That's not the way we do things around here" and "That's just more paper work" are often heard.
Even when facts are presented, management can ignore them and tell you to "do your best". But, while project managers can't stop this type of intervention, they can document and track them as part of the risk management process and file them as lessons learned for future projects. Good project managers are also agents of change. They should always document and advertise the benefits of using PM and the problems that occurred when it was ignored. Cultures can and are changed.
SETTING THE SCENE - The Long-Term Relationship
The vendor has been selected, it's important to continue with the same level of diligence to ensure that all that work will pay off. Just as any relationship needs diligence beyond the courtship stage if it is expected to survive, such is the case in outsourcing as well. This week, we discussed some of the important topics to ensure our ongoing success with an outsourcing arrangement.
FEATURE ARTICLE - Outsourcing Systems Development and Maintenance - Part 3 - Working With Vendors
By Bhupendra verma
This is the third of three articles on outsourcing systems development and maintenance. The first two articles dealt with:
This article discusses working with selected vendors and addresses three topics:
It is essential that you maximize vendor efforts on your behalf AND maintain control of the relationship (protecting against inadvertent contract scope increases generated by staff and colleagues who aren't financially attuned.
A liaison role called the Contracting Officer's Technical Representative (COTR). Contracting (or sourcing) officers acquires IT vendors today, buildings tomorrow and fresh fruit on Friday. A person knowledgeable in the function being contracted is
therefore appointed and provided with contract liaison training to monitor the contract on behalf of the contracting officer. This person (or team) is NOT a replacement contracting/sourcing officer.
The COTR role has to have been included in the negotiations and contract.
Usually, all vendor deliverables pass through the COTR. This does not have to result in a bottleneck. The COTR (team) checks incoming deliverables for compliance with the contract and knows whom in the business to send them to. The COTR tracks required responses from the business and send them to the vendor.
The COTR raises notices of disputes with the vendor and manages the business' responses to vendor disputes. The amount of authority vested in the COTR depends on the appointment letter from the contracting officer and approved by the sponsor.
A main responsibility of the COTR is to ensure that contract-mandated methodologies and deliverable templates/forms are used.
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It is not unusual, at least in the author's experience, to have a vendor change the method to one of his own because "it makes more sense" or "our people are more familiar with it." Then the vendor should not have signed the contract. This can be a method of taking over your function or a genuinely held change of opinion on what is best.
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One technique to address this situation is inclusion of a contract deliverable called a "Request to Modify Method/Deliverable" in the contract. If, during the course of the work, the contractor determines that the mutually agreed-upon method/deliverable doesn't make sense, this document is prepared and submitted, via the COTR, to the business. It sets forth reasons for the change along with forecasted impact on schedules and costs if not approved. If the business approves it (thereby maintaining overt control), the substitution is made. If the business disapproves it, the contractor has made his point and has put the business on notice that the task may take longer or cost more. Ultimately, it is the "business' dime" so it must make the decision
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If the contractor forecasts utter disaster and the business disapprove the request, escalation is appropriate. If modification requests arrive like waves on the beach, there is an "honor thy contract" problem, which should be addressed.
The COTR receives and manages vendor reports.
This may seem redundant; the contract is an agreement. The intent is to suggest that the form and topics of service level agreements be used and that formal SLA's be considered. This is especially true for long-term maintenance and operations contracts. SLA's also identify "relationship" and "project" metrics.
The easiest way to cover this is to provide examples. The numbers and topics shown here are examples only. Some are universal; others depend on the work being contracted. The format will consist of the general topic followed by attributes, their definitions, units of measure, and sample values and penalties.
GENERAL/CONTRACTUAL
- Item: Communication Link Downtime
Description: WAN connectivity between vendor and business
READINESS
Item: Team setup time
Description: Time between agreement to take on a task & team ready to work
Measured Target: Working Days (5)
Penalty: Penalty is 1 free person-day/per days over 5 offered free.
PRODUCTION SUPPORT, MAINTENANCE & ENHANCEMENTS
Item: Bug fix total turnaround
Description: Time to resolve bugs based on priority defined per engagement or system
Measured Target: Hours (4-Critical, 5-High, 24-Medium)
Penalty: Penalty is 5% of monthly support costs (or equivalent free service) when defects in a month exceed 5% of opportunities
PROJECT SYSTEMS & APPLICATIONS DEVELOPMENT
Item: Milestones on time
Description: % Milestones delivered on or before schedule
Measured Target: % (99)
Penalty: Penalty is free-of-charge resource for every day milestone missed (fixed price contracts require other penalty)
Item: Experience of Team
Description: % of team with specified experience
Measured Target: NEW DEVELOPMENT - 2 or more project (20%), at least 1 project (50%), formal training (30%), on-job-training (20%).
Measured Target: MAINTENANCE OF LEGACY - 3 years or more (20%), 1-3 years (50%), <1 year of training (30%).
Measured Target: NEW TECHNOLOGY - 1 to 1.5 years (20%), 6 months to 1 year (50%), < 6 months of training (30%).
Penalty: Penalty is forfeiture of agreed-upon Experience bonus. Extreme shortfall may result in cancellation of contract and other remedies.
Reports addressed here are not project progress reports. There are other tools and reports for that. These are relationship reports and they exist to protect the vendor as much as the customer.
Reports should be monthly so as not to constitute an undue burden and should be "minimalist."
Recommended items include the following:
As long as this document was, it is the tip of the iceberg. Outsourcing can and should be rewarding for both customer and vendor. I have found that the best vendors welcome the structure and stability of relationships that accompany it.
How To Build A Compelling Employer Brand
When I make the effort to create a compelling employer brand, I save myself the work of trying to convince candidates that you are an employer of choice. With a compelling employer brand, Our reputation acts like a huge talent magnet, drawing the best, most talented people to our organization.
To enjoy the benefits of a compelling employer brand, i need to deliver a unique and attractive work experience - that is, a branded work experience - that sets i apart in the labor market.
Putting Together A Team
Developing a powerful employer brand requires that i involve all constituencies who influence our employer brand in the branding process.
This cannot be overemphasized. Creating a compelling employer brand isn't about our HR department getting together with an ad agency and coming up with the ultimate ad campaign. It isn't simply making sure all our collateral material has a consistent image. Creating a compelling employer brand requires rigorously examining all facets of the work experience our organization delivers and making sure i create an experience that leads to an employer-of-choice reputation.
To address all the various factors that impact our employer brand, i need to involve people who represent these varied perspectives. i want to include one or more individuals representing human resources, management from all levels, public relations, sales and marketing customer service, and frontline workers.
Group size permitting, i would ideally have someone from each of the major divisions or departments represented. Because a strong brand is one that gives consistent messages and provides consistent experiences, i can't afford to have pockets of discontent and areas of poor work experience that contradict - and therefore weaken - our employer brand.
Effective employer branding also involves expertise from a wide range of disciplines and perspectives. i will want our team to possess expertise in the areas of advertising and marketing, market research, customer service, public relations, human resources management, psychology, organizational development, and management.
Involve Employees In Every Facet Of The Process
Because employees directly experience whether or not i deliver on our employer brand promise, they play an essential role in the employer branding process. Without their input on how to make your organization a better place to work and their ongoing feedback about how well you're delivering the work experience i promise, I m likely to do what many organizations do. I m likely to end up "advertising your fantasy," to use the words of Alan Brewer, vice president of creative services at Burgess Advertising Associates.
To paraphrase advertising legend David Ogilvy, nothing will kill our reputation in the labor market faster than doing a great job advertising a work experience i don't deliver. Organizations that promote themselves as an employer of choice, when they're anything but, end up with an angry, cynical workforce that is only too happy to counteract their employer's paid advertising with more credible word-of-mouth advertising.
Frontline workers possess critical workplace quality intelligence that senior managers huddled around a conference table can never provide. If i truly want to develop a compelling exployer brand, employee involvement is nonnegotiable.
How do i involve our employees? First, make sure frontline workers are represented on our employer branding team. Second, conduct employee focus groups and surveys both in the beginning and on an annual or biannual basis, to find out organizational and managerial practices that are weakening our employer brand. These focus groups and surveys can also provide i with internal best practices that i will want to spread throughout our organization. Third, create Employee Advisory Council that will give i critical "voice of the (internal) customer" feedback in all phases of the employer branding process.
If our management team has a reputation for soliciting employee input that only ends up in the La Brea Tar Pits of inaction, it will take time to build enough credibility and trust for employees to care enough to give their input. To restore damaged credibility, honestly acknowledge our less-than-stellar performance in this area and then demonstrate as quickly as possible what I am doing with their input. For input that can't or won't be implemented, explain why.
Share information on best practices regarding employee input and involvement with our employer branding team and all of management. There are numerous books, articles, and white papers on this topic. i might want to start with The Society for Human Resource Management's website.
Become An Expert On Your Target Market
As any marketing expert will tell me, the most successful brands are built upon an intimate knowledge of their customers. The stronger the brand, the more the brand manager understands the hearts and minds of their ideal customer. In employer branding, this means understanding what:
Although this may seem obvious, we have plenty of evidence that many - if not most - organizations don't understand or don't know how to deliver the kind of work experience that employees want.
Knowing what employees value most highly not only allows i to build an employer brand that is relevant and compelling, but it also provides a framework for ongoing monitoring of whether I am delivering the kind of work experience. Where do i find out what our target market wants? For today's "typical" employee, i'll want to draw on the plethora of research identifying what matters most to employees and what impacts both satisfaction and productivity.
To discover what workers in our specific industry value, contact our industry association. For information on what the most talented employees are looking for, interview our star performers to find out what is most important to them. Interview star performers who've left. Find out what important factors they found elsewhere.
Regardless of what industry I AM in, I hire people that represent a variety of professions. I'll want to understand their unique need and value hierarchies. This amount of precision allows me not only to create a compelling employer brand to the general labor market, but also to fine-tune our message and the work experience i deliver to our various sub-markets.
For instance, our accountants' value hierarchy will likely be very different from that of our sales force or our customer service representatives. I might be delivering the kind of work experience that accountants want, but not what sales or customer service professionals want. Thus, our employer brand would not be consistently strong across the board. To learn more about the value hierarchies of the various professions and demographics i hire, contact the various trade associations that represent the profession in questions or The society for Human Resource Management.
If i draw heavily from a particular demographic, become an expert on that demographic. For instance, when Deb Franklin, HR Manager at Designer Blinds of Omaha, Nebraska, wanted to hire from two different ethnic groups, she brought in experts and studied the cultures of these ethnic groups so that Designer Blinds could more accurately address their needs. The result? They have a waiting list for their second shift and a turnover rate of 8.5% - one-tenth the average rate for Development in their region.
I will also want to understand the different work-experience value hierarchies of different generations. To learn about these generational differences, start with the classic “ Generations At Work “,The values and needs that are unique to today's employees and to the various demographics lie upon a bedrock of timeless, fundamental human needs. Regardless of one's profession or age group, or changes in societal norms, human beings have fundamental, hard-wired needs and drives that impact employee satisfaction. These include the need:
When our work experience taps into these fundamental human needs, i unleash a gusher of enthusiasm, pride, and appreciation - and an impassioned word-of-mouth PR campaign that positions i credibly as an employer of choice. To make sure i do tap into this powerful source of employee satisfaction and inspiration, have someone on our team with a strong psychological background who understands what fundamental human needs drive employee motivation and satisfaction.
Find Out If I Deliver What Employees Want
Once i know what our target market wants, the next step is to find out how well I am delivering that. Conduct individual interviews, focus groups, and employee surveys to find out whether or not I am delivering the kind of work experience the most desirable employees are seeking. For this to work, i will need to make it clear what i plan to do with this information - and that in fact i will do something with it.
As mentioned previously, if our management team has a history of not doing anything with employee input, credibility building will be an important first step.
Think "Experience"
To provide our employer branding team with precise, actionable intelligence from employees, break down employees' total work experience into process experiences or moments of truth.
For instance, what is the new hire experience like in our organization? Does this critical moment of truth feel like sink or swim, or "We're glad you're here. You've joined the best, and here's why?" How would they describe their "interaction with senior management" moment of truth? What about their "the organization is going through change" experience?
Asking employees how they experience each moment of truth will provide me with valuable information about how to create an exceptional overall work experience. Companies known for providing unique, standout customer service - companies such as Ritz Carlton or Southwest Airlines - do this with their customers. They pay close attention to each facet of their customers' experience to make sure it reflects and strengthens their brand. By carefully managing each customer service "moment of truth," they differentiate themselves in the marketplace with what the Forum Corporation calls a "Branded Customer Experience."
I can use this same principle to create a branded "work" experience. By using this same attention to detail in making sure each facet of our employees' work experience reflects and strengthens our employer brand, i create a branded work experience that establishes me as an employer of choice. The first step in this process is to identify and analyze these moments of truth and how well I am doing in each.
Get Ready For The Next Step
At this point in the process, I have:
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