5 January, 2011
The iPad Experiment
As an experiment for 2011 I am endeavoring to use an iPad as a replacement for my desktop PC … you can follow my progress here: http://theipadexperiment.wordpress.com/
25 October, 2010
Exceptional Project Management – Issue Management
Issue management is an important aspect of successful project delivery which should be undertaken in parallel with risk management. This article introduces the concepts of issues and issue management and describes a simple issue management technique that increases the likelihood that a project will succeed in delivering its objectives.
What is an Issue?
An issue is a problem that is currently happening. An issue may arise as a result of a previously identified risk being realised or it may occur as a new unanticipated problem.
Since an issue is already happening it is longer possible to mitigate and instead it must be addressed and resolved.
What is Issue Management?
Issue management is the development of processes and procedures to define the reactive process of responding to problems once they have occurred.
From a project management perspective issue management, like its counterpart risk management, is a continuous activity throughout the life of the project that seeks to address issues effectively as they arise in order to minimise the adverse impact on the project.
Identification
Issues can and probably will arise at any time during a project. In fact the infamous “Murphy’s Law” suggests that problems will definitely occur and so we almost certainly need an effective process to address them when they do.
Just as with risks, everyone involved in the project should be encouraged to think about issues that are arising and adding them to the “issue log”, which is a list of all known project issues that are occurring or have occurred over the life of the project.
An issue is initially placed into an “open” status when it is added to the issue log and remains in this state until it has been fully resolved.
When an issue is registered, the person creating the entry also assigns an estimate of the magnitude of the impact on the project. The scale used to represent the magnitude of an issue may vary between organisations and projects however I recommend you use a simple definition that everyone involved in the project can easily understand.
Evaluation
Usually, it is the responsibility of the project manager to ensure that all new issues are properly evaluated once they have been added into the issue log.
The first step in evaluating new issues is to validate the issue. This includes ensuring that the issue is not duplicated in the issue log and also identifying and separating out risks, which are impacts that might occur in future.
Once an issue has been determined to be a valid new item on the log, then the magnitude estimate from the issue creator is also reviewed to ensure it is appropriate and consistent with other issues and also with the known risks, which are listed in the risk register. At this point the risk register is also updated to record the fact that a risk has occurred and therefore has migrated onto the issue log.
Ongoing Monitoring and Control
Each issue on the log should be allocated to an owner, who has responsibility for determining the appropriate resolution and also for monitoring the issue on an ongoing basis. Make sure that the issue owner is someone who is in a position to understand and respond to the specific issue being assigned to them and also ensure they are aware of and agree ownership of the issue.
For each issue, ensure there are one or more actions identified to address the problem. It is essential that a clear and realistic date is set for achieving each resolution.
On a regular ongoing basis, preferably weekly, the issue log should be reviewed to determine whether actions have been taken and whether the impact of an issue should be adjusted.
Escalation
Any issue that is evaluated as having a significant impact on the project should be escalated to the appropriate group or individuals. Similarly, any issue where the required actions are overdue should also be escalated. The escalation path will depend on your project governance structure and is likely to include a project or programme office, project sponsor and steering committee.
Improving Responsiveness to Problems
Good issue management increases the likelihood or project success by improving the speed of response and decreasing the impact of negative events on the project. When used in conjunction with effective risk management, issue management can help ensure the success of your project.
Exceptional Project Management – Risk Management
Risk management is an important aspect of successful project delivery. This article introduces the concepts of risk and risk management and describes how the application of risk management techniques increases the likelihood that a project will succeed in delivering its objectives.
What is Risk?
Risk is the possibility of suffering harm or loss. Risks are inherent in every project and can be considered to be anything that will adversely impact the progress or objectives of the project.
What is Risk Management?
Risk management can be defined as “the culture, processes and structures that are directed towards realising potential opportunities whilst managing possible adverse impacts”.
From a project management perspective, risk management is a continuous activity throughout the life of the project that seeks to identify potential risks to delivery, evaluate their likely impact, develop mitigation plans and monitor progress.
Identifying Risks
Finding risks is an ongoing process. Everyone involved in the project should be encouraged to think about possible problems that might arise and adding them to the “risk register”, which is a list of all known project risks.
A risk is initially placed into an “open” status when it is added to the risk register and remains in this state until it has been fully reviewed and a mitigation strategy has been put in place.
When a risk is registered, the person creating the entry also assigns an estimate of the probability of the issue occurring and the magnitude of the impact on the project if the risk does eventuate. The scale used to represent the probability and magnitude may vary between organisations and projects however I recommend you keep them simple so that anyone involved in the project can understand and utilise them.
If you are a project manager then you should strongly consider running regular risk workshops with the project team and also key stakeholders. These workshops are used to brainstorm finding additional risks and to assist with development of mitigation strategies.
Evaluating Risks
Generally it is the responsibility of the project manager to ensure that all new risks are properly evaluated once they have been added into the risk register. On larger projects there may be a dedicated risk manager who holds this responsibility.
The first step in evaluating new risks is to validate the risk. This includes ensuring that the risk is not duplicated in the register and also identifying and separating out issues, which are impacts that have actually occurred rather than those that might occur in future.
Once a risk has been determined to be a valid new item on the register, then the probability and magnitude estimates from the risk creator are also reviewed to ensure they are appropriate and consistent with other risks.
Monitoring and Control
Each risk on the register should be allocated to an owner, who has responsibility for determining the appropriate mitigation strategy and also for monitoring the risk on an ongoing basis. Make sure that the risk owner is someone who is in a position to understand and respond to the specific risk being assigned to them and also ensure they are aware of and agree ownership of the risk.
For each risk, ensure there is one or more mitigation strategies identified. This may be as simple as determining that the impact of the risk is negligible and nothing further is to be done, however in most cases an active strategy will be required to reduce the probability of the risk occurring or to address the possible impact. It is essential that clear and realistic dates are set for achieving each mitigation.
On a regular ongoing basis, preferably weekly, the risk register should be reviewed to determine whether actions have been taken and whether the probability or impact of a risk should be adjusted.
Escalation
Any risk that is evaluated as having a potentially significant impact on the project or that is viewed as highly likely to occur should be escalated to the appropriate group or individuals. Similarly, any risk where the required actions are overdue should also be escalated. The escalation path will depend on your project governance structure and is likely to include a project or programme office, project sponsor and steering committee.
Improving Certainty of Delivery
Good risk management increases the likelihood or project success by decreasing the probability and impact of negative events on the project. By proactively identifying and preparing for potential issues throughout the life of your project you will be well prepared for challenges as they arise and can reduce the chance of potential threats becoming real problems.
18 September, 2010
Exceptional Project Management – Stakeholder Management
After more than 15 years success in delivering large business transformation and IT projects I have found that effective stakeholder management is the single most important factor in ensuring successful delivery.
When it comes to your own project, ask yourself the following questions. How is my project going to effect various stakeholders and stakeholder groups? Who are my biggest advocates and supporters and who is actively working to undermine my delivery? Do my stakeholders understand the benefits of the project and their role in helping to deliver those benefits?
1. Know your stakeholders – complete a stakeholder inventory:
Often, influential stakeholders may not initially be obvious and it is important to leverage expert judgement to help you identify all of the relevant parties within and external to the organisation.
Review project documentation and interview team members and other key stakeholders to assist you in compiling a comprehensive list of all the individuals and groups who are impacted by and can impact your project.
Whilst every project and organisation is different, consider some of the following as possible stakeholders for your project;
- The business line management and staff impacted by your delivery
- Other departments who may provide or receive services impacted by the project
- Support areas including human resources, finance and information technology
- Vendors – of products, services, software and electronic and computer equipment
- The company’s clients!
2. Stakeholder influences – complete an engagement matrix:
For each stakeholder (or group) rate them on the basis of how positively or negatively they will impact the project.
Consider factors including how the project will impact individuals and groups, previous experiences which may influence perceptions and the political environment within the organisation and departments concerned.
I use a simple scoring system to identify stakeholders who are extremely supportive, through to those stakeholders who are significantly resistant.
Stakeholders may resist projects, both actively and passively, for many reasons, including:
- Fear of change
- Previous bad experiences
- Perceived loss of control
- Job reassignment or potential redundancy
- Increased workload during project execution
3. Effective communication
Communicating effectively means that your stakeholders clearly understand the message you are attempting to convey, whether it be in written form, phone conferences or presentations.
By now, hopefully you have identified all of the important people who might influence your project and categorised them by their level of engagement and support. Do these individuals understand the benefits of the project and their role in helping to deliver those benefits?
The next step is to ensure you engage and communicate with each stakeholder effectively.
Whilst sounding deceptively simple, this is where you can have the most impact on your project’s success.
To achieve this, consider the following factors:
- Do your stakeholders understand the terminology you are using?
- Do you understand what your stakeholders want and need to know?
- What new information about the project do you want to get across?
- What old information is redundant and can be left out or summarised?
- What is your objective for this communication and how do you intend to achieve it?
- Are you selecting the right communication medium?
In order to maximise the value of your communication, avoid the use of jargon and use the information you have gathered in your stakeholder analysis to identify the “hot topics” that you should focus on for a specific individual or group. Use a range of different channels, such as email, status reports and group presentations to deliver your message and ask for feedback to determine how effective your communication is and which formats work best for specific individuals and groups.
Knowing how your project is going to effect various stakeholders increases your ability to influence and persuade them to support your delivery.
By identifying your biggest advocates and supporters and who is actively working to undermine your delivery, you are able to seek more effective assistance and also focus on and address potential issues early in the project lifecycle.
Effective stakeholder management is the single most important factor in ensuring successful delivery and using these simple and effective techniques will help you to achieve exceptional project management outcomes.
Exceptional Project Management – Closure
Sometimes, the hardest part of a project is closing it down! As a project manager it is easy to become focussed on the goals of the project and emotionally engaged with the team and stakeholders, such that it is tempting to allow the project to continue on to deliver “additional” value. “If only we had a little more time we could achieve so much more …”
If you are a project manager, then it is extremely important that you retain clarity as to your goals and objectives. In almost all cases, this should be the delivery of the project scope, within a specified time period and budget. Allowing a project to “run on”, no matter how good the intention, is a fundamental failure in project governance.
A project is an investment of a company’s resources, in terms of people and money, which needs to have a predictable outcome. The business case is built on the assumption that a certain investment will deliver a specific return. Once a project is completed the organisation may decide to invest further resources to achieve additional outcomes, however this decision needs to be made with a full understanding of the costs and impacts along with the alternative investment opportunities that exist.
So, how then do you ensure your project achieves a graceful and timely completion?
1. Stick to the plan. Keep track of key milestones and ensure everyone on the team stays focussed, especially during the latter stages of the project.
2. Make sure you have a plan …
3. Communicate, communicate, communicate. Keep reminding the team and key stakeholders of the project’s timeline and budget and how the project is tracking against plan.
4. Keep in mind the Pareto principle (also known as the 80/20 rule). Sometimes, achieving a key portion of a deliverable can achieve most of the desired outcome, so look for opportunities to sign off deliverables and avoid unnecessary effort.
5. Ensure that change management principles are adhered to. Any changes, particularly additions, to scope or complexity must be transparent to the key stakeholders. Avoid “scope creep” at all cost.
6. Monitor resource usage closely and manage it pro-actively. Ensure resources are planned to migrate off the project at the appropriate times and actively increase resources if required to ensure delivery dates are met.
Ultimately, the success of your project and of yourself as a Project Manager, will be measured by how effectively you delivered against the scope of your project and whether it was delivered on time and on budget. This is the key to “Exceptional Project Management”.
Exceptional Project Management – 8 Tips for a Great Project Charter
The “project charter” is a critical document which clearly defines the parameters within which a project must operate. To find out more about creating a charter, please see my article entitled “What is a Project Charter?”.
To ensure the success of your next project, here are some tips to consider in relation to your charter.
Tip 1 – Engage your sponsor
Ensure you know who the sponsor is and that they understand their role and responsibilities in relation to the project. Make certain they are fully engaged and that they agree to actively support the project.
Tip 2 – Engage your project owner
Similarly, ensure you know who the project owner is. Confirm that they agree to actively own the business case, help steer the project and manage the realization of benefits.
Tip 3 – Involve your key stakeholders
Thoroughly identify your key stakeholders and get them actively involved in the development of the charter. Early engagement creates a sense of ownership and will help you identify potential issues early.
Tip 4 – Identify the strategic contribution
Confirm that the strategic contribution of the opportunity or problem to be resolved is clearly understood and articulated. Sometimes the longer term strategic view can be lost in the enthusiasm (or panic) of achieving a short-term outcome or resolving a significant issue.
Tip 5 – Specify a timeframe
When setting the overall project timeframe, ensure that the key milestones are identified and that the resulting dates are realistic. Include estimates on the overall effort and duration of activities and use benchmarks from other projects to assist in validating your delivery schedule.
Tip 6 – Determine impact and benefits
Document all the potential impacts and benefits across the business, both financial and non-financial. Include what the project is expected to deliver (benefits), what other effects the project might have (impact) and also what is not going to be delivered (out of scope).
Tip 7 – Identify risks
Identify and document the major risks and for each risk include details of the risk mitigation plans along with an owner who has responsibility for ensuring that each risk is managed and escalated.
Tip 8 – Produce a financial estimate
The financial estimate for both costs and benefits should be reasonable, logical and complete. Check that each of your project costs and benefits are fully estimated and linked to clear business outcomes.
Exceptional Project Management
Developing a comprehensive charter, with full engagement of your sponsor, project owner and key stakeholders, is the first step towards delivering your outcomes on time, within budget and to the desired levels of quality and completeness. Congratulations on taking the first step towards “Exceptional Project Management”!
10 April, 2010
Exceptional Project Management – What is a Project Charter?
The “project charter” is a critical document which clearly defines the parameters within which a project must operate. If you are relatively new to project management, this article will provide you with an overview of the most important elements of the contents of a project charter:
Project Sponsor
The project sponsor is an important stakeholder who is responsible for providing funding and governance. Your sponsor can help you with key decisions, escalation of serious issues and to navigate any politics. Usually your sponsor will be an executive level manager.
Project Owner
Similarly, your project owner is the key individual within the business who has responsibility for the delivery of the benefits from your project. Usually your project owner will be a senior manager.
Key Stakeholders
Anyone who has an input to or impact on your project is a stakeholder. Key stakeholders are individuals whose potential contribution or impact on the project is significant.
Strategic Contribution
The “strategic contribution” of a project is the long term impact that the successful delivery will have on the business. Note that in some cases a project may have a negative strategic contribution!
Timeframe
The project timeframe is the overall effort and duration of activities which is estimated and documented at this stage. Timeframes should be clearly defined and set to a realistic deadline, to ensure that the project is able to meet expectations.
Impact and Benefits
Also referred to as “scope”. Potential impacts and benefits of your project may be financial and non-financial, including factors such as reduced costs, increased market share or compliance with regulations. It is absolutely crucial that you start with a clearly defined and documented statement of what outcomes the project intends to deliver.
Risks
Anything that can adversely impact the delivery of your project is a risk. Each potential risk should be identified, along with an owner who has responsibility for ensuring that each risk is managed and escalated.
Financial Estimate
Your initial project financial estimate contained in the project charter is a high-level overview of all known costs associated with the delivery of the desired business outcomes, along with estimates of the expected financial returns. A business project with no obvious return on investment has no reason for proceeding so it is important to ensure that the financial estimate for both costs and benefits is reasonable, logical and complete.
Exceptional Project Management
Developing a comprehensive project charter is the first step towards delivering your project outcomes on time, within budget and to the desired levels of quality and completeness. Congratulations on taking the first step towards “Exceptional Project Management”!
4 April, 2010
Why Your Business Needs a Services Oriented Architecture – SOA
Services Oriented Architecture (SOA) has become a de facto standard for the integration of disparate software applications or components. Yet there is still significant confusion and misunderstanding as to what SOA offers and why it is of benefit to the organizations which implement it. Increasingly competitive markets and the rapid pace of technology change are driving businesses to respond quickly to new opportunities and customer demands.
For information technology departments, supporting business agility requires the ability to quickly add new functionality and business processes while leveraging existing systems and information. This is changing the nature of application development from a standalone activity that focuses on the creation of new code to an activity that is centered on using existing applications as the basis for developing new business systems.
In an SOA, discrete business functions are created as independent components with standard interfaces that can be accessed by other applications, services, or business processes regardless of the platform or programming language. These services can be flexibly combined to support different or changing business processes and functions. it works by leveraging a reliable, secure and technology-neutral messaging infrastructure based on widely accepted industry standards.
In general terms, an SOA provides the following key functions:
• A communications protocol which can inter operate between different systems and languages, such as between Microsoft Windows, UNIX and Apple Macintosh.
• A method by which a service can be described in a way which is clear and platform-independent.
• A way to search for a service which satisfies the specific need at the time it is required.
One of the most widely utilised implementation of an SOA is known as the “web services platform”. The web services platform uses the internet and HTTP for communication, a form of XML (the Web Services Definition Language (WSDL)) to describe services and something called UDDI (Universal Description, Discovery and Integration Service) which provides a mechanism for clients to dynamically find other web services.
Within an organisation, the implementation of an SOA architecture provides a platform of re-usable business services, which can be used to provide the information required to meet the ongoing demands of your business in a flexible manner. A well implemented SOA can integrate existing, even legacy, applications into a modern flexible environment which supports faster delivery of new functionality and breathes new life into the existing investment in applications.
If your information technology department is implementing an SOA then you are already on the right track. If not, then it should be considered as an urgent business priority if you are to compete with increasingly agile competitors in an environment where information technology has become a key element in successful business delivery.
7 November, 2009
One day workshop (Sydney). Change Your Thinking – From Worry to Clarity
For those of you in Sydney (or willing to make the trip) you might be interested in this workshop!
Change Your Thinking
From Worry to Clarity
Saturday, 14 November 2009, 9.30am – 5 pm @ Citigate Central Hotel Sydney
For more information ….. http://achievementcoaching.com.au/ACC/Events_2.html
Enjoy!
8 October, 2009
Agile and Iterative Development – Scrum
Scrum is one of the simplest “agile” methodologies and is also proven to be highly effective for both software development and more general product development. Notably, Scrum is often used in financial product development.
At the core, Scrum recognises that during a project the customers can (and will) change their minds about what they want and need (“scope creep” or “requirements churn”). To address this, a Scrum project moves forward in a series of short iterations each of which delivers an incremental set of improvements to the product.
Scrum has frequent intermediate deliveries with working functionality. This enables the customer to get a working product earlier and enables the project to change its requirements according to changing needs.
Scrum is not overly proscriptive, rather it provides a set of practices and predefined roles which a team adopts in order to maximize the team’s ability to deliver quickly AND respond to changing and emerging requirements.
Scrum works very well in its own right and is also an excellent first step if you want to introduce Agile into an organization since it is simple and focuses on project management and iterations rather than covering intricate details of the software development process like XP does.
Please contact us for more information and for assistance in implementation of Scrum to improve your software and product delivery.
7 October, 2009
Free Seminar – “Change Your Thinking”
Achievement Coaching & Consulting presents a FREE SEMINAR:
“Change Your Thinking – Towards a Happier Mindset”
Thursday, 29 October 2009, 7.30 – 8.30 pm @ Elixr Fitness Centre in Bondi Junction
25 April, 2009
Did you know? (seriously cool statistics)
A very cool video clip by created by Karl Fisch, and modified by Scott McLeod on the topic of Globalization & The Information Age.
Strongly recommended viewing!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5o9nmUB2qls
P.S. So *that* is what an “exabyte” is 
17 March, 2009
Hope
I’m not usually one to forward links however I received this today and was really moved.
Apparently it is a video created by a 20 yo as a submission to a contest entitled U@50.
You need to watch it right through until the end (trust me):
Migrating Legacy Applications
One of the most common problems encountered by our clients is how to deal with so called “legacy” applications. Often the applications are operating well in dealing with the original business requirements however they may be suffering from an inability to handle rapid growth or to facilitate and support changing business requirements.
Additional issues plaguing these application may be increasing difficulty in finding staff with the necessary technical experience, a lack of up-to-date documentation and ad-hoc addition of new functionality which has not maintained the original architectural design.
Building a new application from scratch is a major undertaking that may squander the investment in analysis and implementation of business rules and collection of enterprise data encapsulated in the existing system. Finding a third-party solution is time consuming and costly and may falter simply because there is no “off-the-shelf” replacement for the existing system.
We have found that a reliable and proven solution to this dilemma is to use a structured approach to migrating legacy applications onto flexible, scalable environments. This methodology is broken into three independent phases, and can be summarised as:
Phase I – Define & Architect:
The first phase of the methodology reviews the current state of the legacy application and maps out a path to migration.
1. Document. The starting point is a comprehensive up-to-date understanding of what the functions the application currently provides, what data is utilised and how is it stored, the business rules and assumptions encapsulated into the application and what process flows are automated.
2. Collect Requirements. Determine the key functional requirements including business needs, performance and scalability targets and any specific dependencies and restrictions.
3. Analyse Gaps. Using the map of the target requirements created above, identify the major enhancements or additions to be applied during the migration process.
4. Architect. A detailed roadmap is produced which outlines the steps that will be taken to move from the existing system to the ideal solution.
Phase II – Migrate:
Once the current state has been documented and a detailed roadmap has been produced, we move to the implementation of the migration strategy.
5. Modularise. Each new modular component is created with a well-defined abstract interface and a clear, logically defined business function. This creates a “services” model in which new or changed services can be deployed rapidly.
6. Model. Information Models are primarily a record of the interaction between applications and the business processes, which support and drive an enterprise.
7. Integrate. By utilising an Enterprise Services Bus (ESB) architecture we provide an enabling platform to support integration of the new service modules into the legacy architecture.
8. Migrate and Extend. The ESB architecture provides a framework for implementing the necessary “service interfaces” that enable data to be accessed and updated as necessary between the two parallel environments.
9. Test. As each new element of the system is modularised and integrated with the Enterprise Services Bus it is then tested through a series of business and system test cycles.
Phase III – Extend:
Once the application is migrated to the new architecture, new services can be added more easily.
10. Migrate and Extend. The ESB architecture provides an extensible framework for implementing new services into the application environment.
11. Test. Each new service is tested to ensure it meets functional, performance and scalability criteria through a series of business and system test cycles.
Rather than waiting years for a “big bang” replacement which may never succeed and which will invariably be outdated even before its arrival, this methodology reduces operational and project risk by delivering incremental improvements in functionality as well as the scalability, flexibility and supportability of the application.
Team Values Analysis
Values are the specific things in people’s lives that are most important to them. When an individual is aware of their values, they have a set of guiding principles that enables them to behave in a manner that supports who they are and what they really believe in. This can help to prevent behaviours that are subconscious saboteurs of their progress in personal and business relationships.
At an organizational level a clear definition of the values of a company or business defines the culture that develops within the organization. When an organisation’s values are shared and lived by all levels of employees and leadership, a strong core culture develops that sees everyone living and working according to a code of behaviour that supports the vision and mission of the company.
If personal or corporate goals are not being reached there is a good chance this is because individual or company values do not support these goals or are not in alignment with them.
The values analysis process typically involves the following steps:
1. Values analysis of the company and/or senior management
2. Values analysis of key employees
3. Creation of a company or department vision statement describing how the organisation or department sees its future
4. Creation of a company or department mission statement describing the organisation’s or department’s core business
5. Detailed analysis of values at management and employee level and their alignment with each other
There are numerous techniques for eliciting and evaluating values. A simple method is to ask the individual to list out the ten things which are most important in their life, and to then rank them from 1 to 10.
This values analysis process can assist in providing a clearly defined vision and mission statement and with:
• Alignment of corporate values with the stated company mission
• Alignment of management with the corporate values
• Alignment of staff with the corporate values
Overall the elicitation and alignment of values leads to more effective direction from management and more motivated action from employees toward the organisation’s vision and objectives.
16 March, 2009
Creating Business Value From Investment in Information Technology
One of the key questions I am often asked by our clients is, “how do we get more business value from our investment in our Information Technology department?”
In my experience there are four key areas that need to be addressed to maximize the benefit obtained from the investment in IT:
Align business cases with business strategy
In most cases, the business case for IT investments, including the development or purchase of new software, is not linked to a clear business strategy. IT investments are invariably made on the basis of proposed benefits which are rarely recognized and are often short-term in nature, rather than directly addressing capabilities required to support the organization’s vision.
By ensuring that every investment is directly supporting your business goals, and by regularly reviewing the actual benefits being delivered by past investments, you can begin to more effectively align your IT delivery to add true business value.
Address project management capability
Most IT departments are so overwhelmed by the rate of technology change and the continual demands from the business for new functionality, that they have neither the time nor expertise to address project delivery issues. This results in projects running over time, exceeding budget and failing to meet significant portions of critical business requirements.
Most of these potential problems can be avoided by simply following good project management practices and by ensuring that the structure, processes and underlying practices are proven and consistently applied. This can be effectively achieved by implementing a robust project lifecycle and then hiring experienced project management professionals to assist with the governance an execution of project management.
Accept ownership and responsibility
Similarly, most areas of the business are so busy attending to the rapid changes in their own markets and customer expectations that they have little time to concern themselves with the problems of their IT department.
It is imperative that businesses fully accept responsibility for the delivery of information technology. IT must be considered a critical and core part of your business and the delivery of IT value should be owned directly by the business. Insist on active management engagement and involvement, on focusing on only the most important business problems and on a financial business case for every improvement.
Leverage best practices
Information technology and software development best practices are understood, proven and well documented. Unfortunately, most IT departments are functioning at a process level that is many years behind best practice.
The following three areas are worthy of specific focus in this regard:
Gathering of business requirements:
Ensuring that business requirements are recognized and understood can lead to substantial efficiencies in project delivery and minimize costly rework and slippage in project timescales and costs. Using industry standard tools and notations such as the Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN) greatly assists in bridging the communication gap that frequently occurs between business process design and implementation.
Estimation and tracking:
Along with project management governance, the implementation and adherence to a robust software development lifecycle will improve the predictability of delivery and early visibility of any variation to plan.
Architecture and software lifecycle:
Effective enterprise and application architecture, coupled with appropriate use of agile development methods, assists in ensuring high quality, maximum flexibility and low levels of support and rework.
15 March, 2009
What is an IT Strategy and Do You Have One?
In my role as an information technology strategy consultant, one of the more interesting discussions often arises when clients present their existing “strategy” for review.
Common IT strategies include statements such as “Our strategy is to implement SOA”, or “Our strategy is to buy first and build for business advantage” or even “Our strategy is to provide top-quality customer service and support”. These statements may be supported by copious amounts of documentation including architecture diagrams and white papers extolling particular technology solutions or approaches.
Often we hear about “architecture strategies”, “networking strategies”, “integration strategies” or “service strategies”.
Although each of these is an element of an IT strategy, none of them constitutes an IT strategy in the complete sense. The individual elements may give guidance to a software developer or engineer as to how to go about some of their daily activities, however they do not provide management guidance on critical business issues such as how to invest the company’s technology spend for maximum benefit or whether to focus on acquiring new systems or enhancing existing ones.
For an IT strategy to be of use to a firm it must be aligned with the business direction and provide a central, integrated and externally oriented concept of how the Information Technology function will assist the business in achieving its objectives. An IT strategy must also fit within the current economic and technology environment and the organization must currently have the capability and resources to deliver on the proposed strategy, or at least have the capacity to easily obtain these resources and capabilities.
As this implies, an IT strategy must be based on and aligned to a business strategy, without which no IT department can ever succeed.
Where a clearly enunciated business strategy does exist, the following key elements need to be addressed within the IT strategy:
1. Which specific business functions will we partner with to add maximum value?
- General services (such as email) will probably be provided to the entire business.
- Resource and capital expensive initiatives should be focused on those areas which most support the goals of the organization.
- Some business areas may be best served through partial- or full-outsourcing rather than being internally serviced
2. How will we develop a partnership with these business areas?
- Understanding the goals and drivers for each key business area
- Demonstrating an understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing the business
3. How will we support the business to be successful?
- Portfolio management
- Value analysis
- Options theory
4. Speed and sequence of actions?
- Well defined and documented plan for implementation, circulated & agreed by the relevant stakeholders
5. How do we obtain economic returns?
- Clear business case linked to benefits
- Benefits realization review post implementation
In those organizations where we see both a coherent and comprehensive business strategy, and an Information technology strategy which is aligned with the business goals and covers these main points, then invariably the IT department is seen as a crucial business enabler and the relationship between the business units and the IT function is strong and supportive. Whilst this still cannot guarantee business success, it is certainly a recipe for cost effective and highly valuable technology support for any business.
Christopher William Young is a visionary leader and inspirational writer and presenter specialising in Project Management, IT Strategy and Performance Coaching. Chris is the founder of White Water Consulting (http://www.whitewater.com.au) and is a senior consultant with a broad knowledge and experience in financial services, change management and information technology. His areas of focus include delivering business-aligned IT strategy and implementing best practices in process improvement, project management and software development process.
8 March, 2009
Quality …
I wanted to share some thoughts on what quality means (to me) in relation to the delivery of IT projects and software developments and how it can be achieved:
So, what is “quality … the definition I use with clients and when running workshops/seminars is that quality is a combination of the following key factors:
1. How closely a deliverable meets the business requirement
2. The robustness and repeatability of the resulting process
3. The degree to which the deliverable is cost effective, operationally efficient and supportable
4. The level of flexibility achieved in whatever is delivered to meet ongoing and potentially unexpected business demands
One critical factor in delivery quality is the transparency of the linkage of actual business benefit to each requirement. Without this transparency there can be a tendency to replicate existing business processes and system functionality regardless of whether the existing process/functionality was efficient or effective and without thorough analysis of the “out of the box” functionality of new system. This can create inefficiency, generate unnecessary costs and increases complexity without resulting benefit.
To maximise the quality of delivery we promote that a “gap” analysis be performed between the actual business requirement and the functionality of the new system and then a cost/benefit analysis be performed to create transparency around the investment needed to close the gap. Whilst this creates some additional up-front overhead the benefits are significant as it leads to shorter overall delivery times and often to a greatly improved end-result.
Cheers!
17 May, 2008
Project Health Check
While the Project Health Check is one of our most popular services, I am still often asked what a “health check” is for and why an organisation might want to undertake one. I thought I would outline the main objectives and benefits of undertaking a health check as I find them extremely valuable as a tool for ensuring project success.
The key objectives of a Project Health Check include:
To determine the current state of the project and detect problems early enough so that the project team has the capacity to deal with them.
To identify factors that will enable or disable the potential of delivering the anticipated outcome and benefits of the project. Key areas under review include the following:
· Completion and clarity of Business Case / Benefits Realisation Plan
o Sufficiency of analysis and translation to definition of project outcomes
· Adequacy of Stakeholder Commitment & Support
· Adequacy of Project Initiation Process
· Adequacy of Scope Definition & Verification
· Adequacy of Requirements Definition & Verification
· Appropriateness of Project Approach
· Appropriateness of Project Organisation Structure & team
o Skills, knowledge and experience of Project Manager / Team Leaders
o Demonstrated competency of Project Manager / Team Leaders
o Skills, knowledge and experience of project team
· Adequate and timely risk identification, analysis , management and control
· Realism & Executablility of Project Plan (schedule) taking into account:
o Completeness of Project Plan
o Appropriate level of work decomposition
o Appropriate work steps such as:
§ Project Initiation / Problem Definition
§ Requirements Definition
§ Analysis /Design (System Performance, System Capacity, IT infrastructure)
§ System Development/Testing (Conversion, Application Security, Interfaces, Testing Co-ordination, Functional Testing, Business Acceptance Test Planning, Regression Test Processes, Integration Test Planning)
§ Process Development/Testing (internal controls in process design)
§ Change Management (Organisational Impacts, Communication and Training)
§ Implementation Planning including Support Planning
o Reference to appropriate IT standards, processes and methods
o Sequencing of tasks in a logical sequence to deliver desired outcomes instead of silos of work by functional area
o Dependency definition ( doing the right tasks at the right time)
o Appropriate sizing of work into manageable packets of work
o Accuracy of work effort and duration estimation
o Adequacy of resourcing levels and appropriateness of types of resources applied
o Sufficiency of contingency planning
o Inclusion of checkpoints linked to appropriate implementation of deliverable (document) review sign off and management
o Appropriateness of wording in plan to enable its use as a communication document and management document
o Ability to baseline project plan and manage variance to plan
· Communication Planning
o Thoroughness of Stakeholder needs assessment
o Appropriateness of Information distribution
· Adequacy of Project Monitoring and Control
o Accuracy, adequacy and timeliness of performance reporting, replanning and change management
o Implementation of appropriate inclusive project status and team meetings
o Implementation of appropriate Steering Committee
o Adequacy of Issue Management and appropriate scope change control
· Adequacy of resource procurement process vendor and contract management
· Adequacy of Financial Management including:
o Development of project budget and expenditure forecasts
o Implementation of adequate, accurate and timely processes to manage and report project cost
To analyse findings and present detailed recommendations addressing each of the issues identified.
Overall, this helps to ensure a shared understanding and commitment between the project team & the ultimate business stakeholders to a realistic and executable strategy to resolve issues as agreed.
9 May, 2008
Real-Time Infrastructure (how to reduce the cost of your IT)
I have recently been hearing the buzzword “RTI” a lot and quite frankly “Real-Time Infrastructure” just seemed like a lot of jargon, until I understood what it meant. I have taken the following information from one of the leading suppliers of RTI solutions (DataSynapse) and endeavoured to phrase it in relatively plain English.
What is RTI?
Real-Time Infrastructure (RTI) is software that allocates computing resources (i.e. server hardware) to software applications based on business demands and policies.
So how does RTI save me money?
Most companies have rooms (or indeed entire data-centers) full of expensive computer server hardware, much of which sits idle until needed for a specific business applications. Changing business demands on how this infrastructure should be allocated occurs at a much faster rate than IT departments can respond. As a result IT service delivery may lag behind business requirements and expensive investments in additional infrastructure are required to keep pace.
RTI software is used to create cross-platform, standardized and automated approaches to configuring, activating and scaling existing applications and hardware resources based on policies and business demand to meet the demands of constantly changing business conditions. This enables IT to effectively prioritize business critical applications and processes on a daily basis.
By creating a real-time infrastructure, IT departments are able to improve service levels that elevate business productivity, and deliver cost-savings across technology, resources and operations.
10 March, 2008
Product Review – 29West Ultra Messaging
As you might have guessed from my previous posting regarding 29West’s Ultra Messaging software, I am very keen on this product!
29West provides the lowest latency, highest performance and most stable messaging infrastructure to the financial markets that I have found to date. In addition to the obvious competitive advantages low latency messaging delivers, their design can provide large costs savings as they are able to handle considerably more messaging traffic with less hardware.
Ultra Messaging®, 29West’s messaging product suite is high speed, low latency, IP-based communication between the large numbers of cooperating computers in today’s financial systems. The Ultra Messaging product suite includes Latency Busters® Messaging (LBM) and Ultra Messaging® for the Enterprise (UME).
LBM is a fast, efficient, and lightweight streaming messaging system targeted specifically at market data applications. Its many unique design features provide low latency, stability & control under heavy loads, integration flexibility make it particularly well-suited for applications with very high message rates. UME leverages the proven LBM API and with our breakthrough Parallel Persistence™ design, provides support for durable subscriptions, delivery confirmation and persistent messaging with latency as low as 70 microseconds. 29West’s messaging products eliminate the need for message daemons or message brokers resulting in a true application-to-application messaging system.
With these offerings, 29West provides the application developer the power needed to easily handle growing market data rates and the latency edge needed to be competitive, along with many other advantages.
If you have a need for high performance messaging I strongly recommend you seriously consider 29West!
Enjoy 
27 February, 2008
Seminar: Parallel Persistence™ Architecture and Ultra Messaging® (Sydney, Australia)
Today’s real-time financial systems require robust, high-performance communication and market data distribution.
However, we have heard from many system designers that they have been frustrated by having to choose between traditional expensive daemon-based messaging products, low-performance JMS products, or writing their own messaging layer. We are excited to show you how 29West Ultra Messaging® Products provides a better choice. 29West provides a high-performance, low-latency, full-featured, highly-configurable messaging product with a proven track record in demanding financial applications.
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Are you envisioning writing your own messaging layer?
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Are you wondering how to consolidate distribution of real-time market data?
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Do you need robust, low-latency, high-performance, messaging?
If so, we are pleased to invite you to a 2-hour focus group presentation, including continental breakfast.
The seminar will be presented by Bob Van Valzah, Director of Integration and Consulting with 29West Inc. providers of high-performance messaging to the financial markets. Bob will share his hands-on experience in this field.
This seminar will look at architectures and APIs for persistent messaging systems, along with discussing the development of robust messaging applications.
We will review failure cases and learn about designs for resilience from simple applications to enterprise level solutions.
We present the architecture and explain the high-performance of 29West’s UME product and give concrete example applications for banks, hedge funds and exchanges.
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Date: Tues 18 March 08
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Place: Westin Hotel, 1 Martin Place, Sydney, Australia
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Time: 7.30am to 9.30am
Seating is limited, so book now to guarantee you place!Book now by ringing Christopher Young on 04 33 139 103 or email info@whitewater.com.au
12 February, 2008
Project Health Checks
I have recently formalized two of our most popular services and I have attached an outline of each as they may be of interest to you.
The Project Health Check service is used to determine the current state of the project and detect problems early enough so that the project team has the capacity to deal with them. This is valuable for existing projects particularly if there are early signs of potential project slippage.
The Project Management Support service provides hands on assistance to support the Project Manager or Project Director to ensure successful project initiation. This is especially valuable in the early stages of a project to ensure delivery and success.
11 February, 2008
Product Review – R/V Platform – integrated risk, valuation and planning system
I have recently discovered an exciting new risk management solution which I think might be of interest to you and I wanted to tell you about it so you can see if it fits your own organisation and requirements.
The R/V Platform is designed to provide a fully integrated, yet fully modular system platform for risk and valuation analyses and financial and corporate planning.
The thing that really impressed and excited me about this particular solution is that they have a single framework and infrastructure which can manage all relevant types of risk and it is also very highly scalable.
The following applications are available on the system:
1. Extended Basel II Internal Models type one step market risk analysis.
2. Extended general market risk analysis including one-step and path simulation analytics.
3. Extended credit risk analysis with market and counterparty credit risk variables being simulated as time-paths, and with netting and credit risk mitigation enabled. The system supports Basel II Advanced Approaches for credit risk capital requirement calculations.
4. Simulation based operational risk analysis. The system supports Basel II Internal Measurement approaches.
5. Economic capital analysis with market risk, credit risk, operational risk and, where relevant, underwriting risk simultaneously included.
6. Alpha testing of counterparty credit risk trading book derivatives positions.
7. Cash flow analysis and NPV simulation based approach for advanced probability of default and rating migration forecasting and analysis.
8. Cost at Risk analysis of government financing policies.
9. IFRS 36 risk-adjusted discount rates for impairment testing.
10. IFRS 39 validity testing for hedge accounting.
11. Cash flow simulation based Enterprise Wide Risk, valuation and ALM analysis for strategic planning, M & A, investment and Value Based Management applications.
12. Cash flow simulation based rating outlook analysis.
The product has been developed by CD Group (based in Helsinki) and you can find their website here: http://www.cdgroup.fi/rv.html
7 February, 2008
Charity event – Spiral up your Values Focus Group
Only three weeks left to book your place!
I am excited to be able to tell you about a wonderful event being hosted in Sydney by success coach Pip McKay who I recommend you see in action and who will be donating $20 out of every entry fee ($35) to the charity Whitelion which supports young people to build better lives for themselves and helps make our community a more inclusive and safer place.
What is the evening about? …
Did you know that there are 8 levels on the values hierarchy and that your position effects the way you think, relate to others and behave? The values levels also show you how to accelerate your personal evolution and more deeply understand others.
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Ever wanted to follow your passion but think you can’t make money from it?
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Ever wanted to get organized but get bored following systems?
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Ever felt burnt out and dreamt of giving it all in and living simply?
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Do you want to make lots of money but can’t face the rat-race?
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Do you like the security of being employed but don’t like people telling you what to do?
Each of these thoughts reflects different levels in the Values Hierarchy and the specific problems related to transitioning between the levels. Often we feel that the issues we see in our life are unique to us as individuals, when they may in fact reflect a stage in our development. When you know where you are now and what the next level is, it is easier to make progress rapidly and smoothly. This reduces stress and frustration and enhances your success and happiness.
The knowledge in this focus group also gives you a unique insight into understanding your clients, friends and family and what type of support is most effective. In sales and management this information assists you in knowing what someone really wants, what their hot-buttons are and what motivates them.
Pip’s informative and entertaining presentation style brings each Value’s Level to life so you can identify your own and others position, as well as, get clear on what to do to get to the next level. This is also a great way to meet like-minded people, network and see Pip in action.
To register ring 02 9949 9480 or email judy@evolvenow.com.au
Cost: $35 (inc GST) per person, with $20 from each ticket sold going to the charity WHITELION.
Special Offer: The first 10 people to reply get Pip’s CD, Clearing Negative Emotions, which normally retails at $40 for FREE!! Or you can get a signed copy of The Secrets of Great Success Coaches Exposed.
| Presenter: | Pip McKay |
| Date: | 9th April 2008 |
| Time: | 6.45pm for registration 7pm – 9.30pm |
| Place: | Crows Nest Centre, 2 Ernest Place, Crows Nest Sydney |
| Price: | $ 35 inc GST |
| Specials: | Bring 1 or 2 people new to Evolve Now for the price of 1 1st 10 to book get a FREE gift worth $40! |
6 February, 2008
What is Best Practice?
The term Best Practice is a commonly used buzzword particularly in the consulting community. I am often asked by clients to advise them on the best practice in a particular area of their IT operation and delivery, however there is rarely a clear understanding of what this actually entails.
My favourite definition is that a best practice is a technique or methodology that, through experience and research, has proven to reliably lead to a desired result. An organisation which commits to using the best practices in any field is a committing to using all the available knowledge and technology to ensure success.
However, the challenges to using Best Practice are significant.
I recently posted an article which briefly discusses these challenges and some approaches to dealing with them What exactly is best practice .
I hope you find it useful!
3 November, 2007
Using DMAIC for Improved Software Development
One of the key tools in the Six Sigma “toolkit” is its problem solving methodology. DMAIC stands for Define, Measure, Analyse, Improve and Control. The key to the success of this methodology is its focus on using data-driven tools to identify what is to be changed and then to monitor the actual impact of changes in a feedback loop.
As IT managers we may feel that our existing project and development methodologies already provide the tools we require and that Six Sigma has nothing new to teach us. Experience with numerous IT projects and with leveraging Six Sigma into the IT project space has shown clearly that Six Sigma really does have something to offer!
I recently published this article which outlines how DMAIC can be leveraged to improve delivery of software development projects: http://ezinearticles.com/?Using-DMAIC-for-Improved-Software-Development&id=801449
Enjoy!
Product review – Informavores Firebox & Firefly
The second product which has impressed me recently is strangely named and initially it is somewhat difficult to work out what it actually does!
Informavores (apparently an informavore is one who consumes information) has developed a remarkably clever suite of products that enable business rules to be documented graphically (in the form of a decision tree called a “Spark“), directly linked to data sources, automatically used to generate web based forms and then delivered as web services …. all without the use of traditional programming tools or resources!
The Firefly software enables you to create interactive tools without programming by drawing the process or decision rules as a flow diagram or decision tree. This automatically generates a series of interactive screens to guide staff or customers through complex procedures, tasks and decisions in a user-friendly way.
Firebox takes this a step further, and enables the business or subject expert to create and manage powerful rules engines, online calculators or expert systems – without programming. Keeping the business rules or logic separate from the programming code in a software applications makes them easier to manage and speeds up development. Importantly, since the components the system generates are SOAP complaint web services they can be used from within existing applications and as the basis for new web based (.Net or Java) applications.
To find out more contact Selena Kilfoyle at selena.kilfoyle@informavores.com or take a look at their website http://www.informavores.com
After a few hours of experimenting I was thoroughly impressed with this software and I am convinced we will be hearing a lot more about Informavores and their products in the future.
UPDATE: Apprently this product is now owned by Salesforce.com … see link here: http://www.salesforce.com/platform/process/
1 November, 2007
Product review – AssetControl TAPMaster
These days it takes a pretty special product to grab my attention and recently I have found two worthy of note!
The first is TAPMAster, from AssetControl. TAPMaster is a reference and market data management solution which provides a fully populated relational data model ready to support business applications out-of-the-box. It also automates the acquisition of both external vendor data feeds and internal proprietary data sources.
If you have anything to do with managing financial markets reference or market data then this product is a beauty and the startup time and costs are much lower than other solutions I have seen in this space.
For more information contact Lonispace (http://www.lonispace.com.au/) at info@lonispace.com.au
26 October, 2007
Stressful working relationships?
I found an interesting article recently that you might find applies to some of your relationships with people at work (and in your private life!).
This article on “Stressful Relationships: The ‘Cardboard Image’ Effect“, explains how we create an image of another person and then can be surprised or upset when their behaviour doesn’t match our view of them.
It is a worthwhile reminder that we need to leave space for other people to grow and change.
My latest articles
I have begun publishing various articles that might be of interest especially to anyone involved in achieving better success and greater value from software development and project management efforts. If you are interested please take a look at my articles at http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Chris_Young
24 October, 2007
Server Virtualisation
I have been receiving a lot of questions from clients regarding the topic of server virtualisation.
Virtualisation is a method of running multiple independent instances of an operating system on a single physical computer. It is an effective way of maximising the investment in your computer hardware and can provide opportunities to reduce complexity, improve service levels to the business and lower capital and operating costs to provide and maintain IT infrastructure.
For more detailed information I can recommend this site http://www.vmware.com/virtualization/
Before beginning a deployment, it is important that you assess your organisational and technical readiness as part of the due diligence for the business case for virtualisation. This assessment period typically takes a few weeks to a month, and can happen in parallel with other planning activities.
21 October, 2007
Book review – Tempered Radicals (Debra E. Meyerson)
Meyerson’s book explains how individuals who act in ways consistent with their personal values and what they truly believe in can be powerful forces of positive change within organisations.
I found this book inspiring and believe it will speak to many of you who may find yourselves challenged by the organisational culture you work in.
The Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK®)
We are regularly called in by clients to review projects which have overrun on time and budget. At best, these projects need to be restructured and new budgets and plans put in place. In the worst cases the projects may be cancelled, at the expense of significant amounts of time and money and the loss of valuable project deliverables.
Most of these potential problems can be avoided by simply following good project management practices. The Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK®) is a full body of knowledge of proven, traditional practices, which are widely applied. It also contains knowledge of innovative and more advanced practices. The PMBOK is published by the Project Management Institute, Inc. (PMI®) which is a peak industry body for professional project managers.
For more information on project management best practice, governance and the PMBOK®, contact us at info@whitewater.com.au
20 October, 2007
At last, Market Data Explained
I have recently finished reading an excellent book entitled, appropriately, “Market Data Explained”.
If you have ever dealt with the complexity of global capital markets data you will know how complicated and inconsistent it can be, so it was refreshing to discover this well thought out and clearly presented explanation.
Mark Alvarez uses the concept of a data model to provide a single, consistent view of capital markets information. He explains, in concise language, how the data relates and how it can be navigated.
Market Data Explained by Marc Alvarez is published by Butterworth-Heinemann, ISBN-13: 978-0-7506-8055-4
Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN)
Recently, a number of people have been asking me about “BPMN”. Since it is one of the more useful initiatives being progressed in the open standards field I thought it was worthwhile providing a brief explanation.
The Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN) is a graphical notation that depicts the steps in a business process. BPMN depicts the end to end flow of a business process. The notation has been specifically designed to coordinate the sequence of processes and the messages that flow between different process participants in a related set of activities.
1 October, 2007
Six Sigma in IT Project Delivery
Six Sigma is a system of management designed to achieve lasting business performance. In our experience we have found that Six Sigma provides tools and techniques that can be leveraged to achieve reliable IT project delivery.
Six Sigma and Agile Software Development
Six Sigma is a system of management designed to achieve lasting business performance. Agile software development is a form of iterative software development encouraging rapid and flexible response to change. In our experience we have found that Six Sigma provides tools and techniques that can be leveraged to achieve more reliable Agile software development project delivery.
