LearnShareProsper logo Boosting Business_Performance Adele Sommers
by Adele Sommers, Ph.D.
 www.LearnShareProsper.com Adele@LearnShareProsper.com 
In This Issue

January 2019
Volume 15, Issue 1

These are monthly tips on boosting business and professional results.

Start your subscription!

To change subscription options, please see the bottom of the page.

Facebook logo Like us on Facebook!

Greetings!

Below find this month’s newsletter, hot off the press!

Please add “Adele@LearnShareProsper.com” to your whitelist or address book in your e-mail program, so that you have no trouble receiving future issues.

You subscribed to this newsletter at LearnShareProsper.com. You’re very welcome to forward it to your colleagues; please just keep the entire message intact. If you wish to discontinue your subscription, please use the links at the bottom.

Note from the Author

Note to Self: Pin Down Project Requirements!

Man covered with sticky notesIf there’s one thing we all should remind ourselves of at the start of a new project, it’s a need to thoroughly — even exhaustively — research the requirements on which we intend to embark.

Oh, there may be certain endeavors that let us “make it up as we go,” by providing some degree of flexibility in the budget and schedule to allow for a discovery process along the way.

But the vast majority of project undertakings aren’t as nearly as accommodating. The ones I’m usually involved with presume that the initial requirements gathering and estimating process will produce a relatively spot-on proposal, and they then set their expectations accordingly. Not only is there often very little wiggle room for surprises, but if and when those surprises occur, the budgeting and scheduling process has long since slammed the gate, pulled up the drawbridge, and filled the moat with alligators!

That’s why today’s newsletter offers reminders about avoiding Murphy’s Law and using the “project diamond” to proactively gather and discuss requirements on every future undertaking.

I hope you enjoy this month’s features, and as always, please be sure to join the ongoing conversations by leaving your comments on my Facebook page!

Here’s to your business prosperity,

Adele
Adele Sommers, Ph.D., business improvement specialist, author, educator, and award-winning instructional designer

P.S. If you missed any previous issue, please visit the newsletter archive!

Special Message

Beware of Murphy’s Law

Today’s projects, especially technology-dependent ones, involve more variables than ever before in history. Speed often is perceived as extremely important — so important that many companies take enormous risks on short schedules to prove their worth to a global market.

But what happens if we attempt to speed up the schedule without analyzing the tradeoffs? Many times, it’s the unexpected things that come back to haunt us — glitches, snafus, oversights, surprises, and mistakes — that we didn’t anticipate and therefore didn’t account for in our timelines.

WWII aviators with airplanesThat means that at one time or another, we are all struck by “Murphy’s Law,” a maxim that implies that whatever can go wrong will go wrong — especially on complex projects.

This old adage, which we’ve long attributed to Edward A. Murphy, Jr., emerged while he was an engineer working for the US Air Force in 1949. At that time, the Air Force was conducting experiments to test human acceleration tolerances. However, at some point during the testing program, someone had installed each sensor for a particular flight experiment backwards.

(I’m not sure exactly what would have happened to those human acceleration experiments, but I’m sure glad I wasn’t there to find out!)

According to the story, Murphy philosophically noted, “If there are two or more ways to do something, and one of those ways can result in a catastrophe, then someone will do it.” You’ll probably agree that we usually don’t have to look very far to find examples of this observation!

Feature Article

Rally the “Project Diamond” to the Rescue!
by Adele Sommers

Have you ever wished you could wave a magic wand to make your project sponsors, clients, managers, and team members agree on truly workable project criteria? Sometimes, the mix of high expectations, low budgets, and unattainable schedules makes it seem necessary to pull a rabbit out of a hat.

On too many occasions, we struggle silently to produce an illusion of success, too intimidated to raise red flags while feeling under extreme pressure to produce. In the worst case scenarios — which happen with increasing frequency in today’s complex world — Murphy’s Law strikes and disasters occur!

The story below illustrates just how difficult it is to handle several conspiring pitfalls at once. It’s a fictitious tale based on a real-world fiasco that could have been avoided with the help of the “project diamond.”

Read on, and then find out how to apply the project diamond in your situation to avert outcomes like these!


“So, How Hard Could It Be?”

Woman looking sheepishThe eleventh of April registers as an infamous day in the life of Purple Star Software. It’s the day that Purple Star’s principal, Barbara M., reluctantly realizes that she and her primary client (her former employer, Ralph R., CEO of Halfdome Engineering) are both in deep trouble.

Barbara and Ralph have long been suffering from a ever-increasing case of scope creep.

Every week, Barbara had been asked to make changes and implement features in the software she was designing that were never spelled out in her contract.

Likewise, due to nonstop pressures from his own clients, Ralph made far too many promises that he and his team had no way of keeping. Always worried about losing the work, Ralph had agreed to include several complicated features to the product without:

1) Realistically estimating the complexity
2) Updating the contract with the latest requirements
3) Planning to develop the features over a feasible timeframe, or
4) Rigorously testing and delivering the components in stages.

The result? The clients finally shut down the project after seeing that Ralph and his crew couldn’t get the features to work.

At this point, Ralph’s clients are unlikely to pay for most of the effort to date. Poor Barbara, as Halfdome’s subcontractor, is caught in the middle of this big mess. She’s hoping the situation will be resolved soon so that she can recoup at least some of her outstanding invoices.


Man looking pensiveHere’s what happened...

Ralph’s clients had truly believed that their project (a Web site for collecting and processing their products’ fabrication data) would be a piece of cake. They had never commissioned anything like it before, but simply thought that any halfway competent Web design group ought to be able to complete it quickly and easily.

After all, it looked simple. (How complicated could a Web site be?)

For his part, Ralph had agreed to take on a seemingly mundane project (but one that surfaced many complex features), at a high level of quality, for a rock-bottom price, on a very short timeline.

Little did Ralph and Barbara realize that it would be many times more complex than it seemed on the surface. After all, his team was skilled in designing and developing flashy marketing Web sites. But this particular site would need to:

  • Interact with users
  • Collect user data
  • Verify the accuracy of the data
  • Enter it into an elaborate database that his team would develop
  • Process the data, and (this ultimately turned out to be the kicker...)
  • Seamlessly send that data back into the clients’ ancient ordering system.

On the Web page itself, all anyone would ever see is just a simple-looking form. Underneath, however, there would need to be sophisticated rules and algorithms, plus a way to integrate the system with the clients’ byzantine order-fulfillment database.

It ultimately turned out to be impossible to do. In fact, the new system still was not working correctly when, months later, the frustrated clients called it to a halt.

The bottom line? Ralph had failed to do the following: collect enough information going in, realistically constrain his estimates, recognize and mitigate the risks, and simply decline an unachievable objective if he couldn’t fulfill it.


Whose fault was it?

Group pressure with finger-pointingIt would be very easy to blame one party or the other. But there was plenty of culpability to go around. Here’s why:

  • The clients didn’t understand what they were asking for.
  • They also insisted on a short schedule and a small budget that reflected their unrealistic view of the effort.
  • They didn’t communicate an essential requirement — the integration with their ordering database — until well after the start of the project.

Ralph, on the other hand, had perceived this as a “must-win” project, even though it was clearly a poor fit for his in-house talents. This attitude blinded him to the trouble ahead. He scurried to find people who said they could do the work. But several collaborators he hired were complete unknowns and turned out to be total flakes.

Except for Barbara, the collaborators stretched the truth about their capabilities, and also were difficult to communicate with. Their handoff process showed early signs of trouble and set the stage for failure. The surprise requirements and underestimated difficulty quickly overcame the project.

What a painful series of lessons to learn!


How could the “project diamond have helped?

The project diamond refers to four types of criteria that exist on every project — some of which may have been implied on Ralph’s project rather than stated:

* Time (the speed or schedule for doing the work)
* Cost (in terms of the funding, the resources, or a combination)
* Quality (how well, and how robustly, the effort needed to be done)
* Features (how many components or deliverables there were, and how complex)

It’s not unusual for project sponsors or clients to ask for:

Project diamond: Cost vs. Schedule vs. Quality vs. Features1) Low cost and
2) Fast completion and
3) High quality
and
4) Many features
in the final project deliverables.

Although it’s understandable to want the greatest value for the money, it’s usually possible to achieve only two or three out of four of these goals on a typical project.

For example, if both the budget and schedule are fixed, the tradeoffs will need to limit the quality, constrain the features, or both.

So, how could the project diamond have helped to save Ralph’s project?

If Ralph had engaged his clients in a discussion about the project diamond early on, it could have helped him tackle the illusory assumptions with tough, pragmatic realism, before he allowed himself to be swallowed by hubris and overconfident denial.


The moral of this story...

If your sponsors or clients ask for everything under the sun, and you agree to deliver it without weighing the options, your project is at risk! Next time, try introducing the project diamond to your stakeholders, and invite a firm, candid discussion about how to apply the tradeoffs to accomplish your goals.

This story was adapted from a case study in “Business @ the Speed of Stupid” by Dan Burke and Alan Morrison. (See more below.)

Copyright 2019 Adele Sommers

The Author Recommends

“Business @ the Speed of Stupid”

"Business @ the Speed of Stupid" by Dan Burke & Alan MorrisonBusiness @ the Speed of Stupid,” by Dan Burke and Alan Morrison, conveys the harsh realities of bypassing careful planning and clear communication in large-scale, must-do projects.

Based on several real-world, high-tech project disasters that the authors witnessed or studied, the book reveals in riveting and articulate detail how various project teams insisted on making major mistakes that resulted in utter failure.

From unfounded assumptions to arrogant management to ludicrous expectations, the authors describe a graveyard of efforts that often imploded from a lack of common sense.

About the Author

"Straight Talk" Special Report
"Straight Talk" Workbook

Adele Sommers, Ph.D. is the author of “Straight Talk on Boosting Business Performance” — an award-winning Special Report and Workbook program.

If you liked today’s issue, you’ll love this down-to-earth overview of how 12 potent business-boosting strategies can reenergize the morale and productivity of your enterprise, tame unruly projects, and attract loyal, satisfied customers. It’s accompanied by a step-by-step workbook designed to help you easily create your own success action plan. Browse the table of contents and reader reviews on the description page.

Adele also offers no-cost articles and resources to help small businesses and large organizations accelerate productivity and increase profitability. Learn more at LearnShareProsper.com.

LearnShareProsper.com/Business Performance_Inc.,
705 North State Street #187, Ukiah, California, USA.

For more information, e-mail Info@LearnShareProsper.com.

 
 

©2019 Business Performance_Inc., Adele Sommers, All rights reserved. www.LearnShareProsper.com

Your feedback is always appreciated! Write to us at info@LearnShareProsper.com. We respect your privacy and do not give out or sell subscriber names or e-mail addresses.

Please use the links below to take yourself off our list or change your e-mail address.