SPA – Systemic Projects AlignmentOn “soft” Aspects of IT Project ManagementDaniel Ofek

What?On IT Project distressHuman factor in IT projectsEffective behavior in projectsSystemic thinking in projects context

What is a Project?A project is a one time planned effort, composed of activities performed by professionals in order to reach pre-defined results by using pre-allocated resourcesProject results is a product or a serviceEvery project has a customerEvery project meant to promote a bigger goal of the organizationA project is a process of change and learning – by its completion the organizations is different. The people who took part in it are different too

The ChallengesJuly 09

What’s Going-on with IT ProjectsLarge Scale IT ProjectsSource: Standish Group “Chaos Reports” 2006

Why Projects Fail -Testimonals (1)Project has no published visionToo much focus on technological issuesNo clear division of responsibilityManaging tasks instead of outputsPoor risk managementEpisodic approach to projectMatrix structure increase conflicts, disputes, lack of commitmentPeople don’t believe in: managers, product, plan, each-otherVicious circles drive the projects

Why Projects Fail -Testimonals (2)Many activities are performed with no project frameworkThe project solves the wrong problem (sold by hungry salesperson)The solution is of “soup of the day” typeTrying to do the best – instead of the right

Why Projects Fail –Testimonals (3)Bad project management (in-experience, poorly trained, poorly selected….)Plan (and scope) are irrationalWrong WBS and personnel assignmentBad manning – inadequate team membersBad quality productToo many changes, poor productizationWrong mix of technology and interfaces

Why Projects Fail -Testimonals (4)Lack of company commitmentLack of requested knowledgein company and among project membersMissing sponsors from company and customerToo complex processesPassive not involved customerWeak agreement between stakeholders regarding the solution

An Industry Leader Definition of the Cause of the ProblemsQuestion: Are most project failures caused by technical problems, people problems or business problems?Answer: People problems. Business and technical problems boil down to people problems. People solve problems. People create problems. It's the extent to which we take responsibility for solving problems that gets them solved. The myth of IT is that it's about computers and technology. It's not -- IT is about people. From: Sue Young CEO of ANDA Consulting in Colchester, VT

Project Management Body of Knowledge-PMBOKThe five process groups are:Initiating, Planning, Executing, Controlling and Monitoring, and Closing. The nine knowledge areas are:Project Integration Management Project Scope Management Project Time Management Project Cost Management Project Quality Management Project Human Resource Management Project Communications Management Project Risk Management Project Procurement Management

PMBOK - Human Resource Management ChaptersFocus on human as resources:9.1 Human Resource Planning• 9.2 Acquire Project Team• 9.3 Develop Project Team• 9.4 Manage Project Team

BackgroundJuly 09

Project Management DimensionsOrganizationalStructurealignmentTeamsKnowledgeCommunicationInfrastructures

Structure

alignment

Teams

Knowledge

Communication

Classifying your Project (what’s missing?)Unique expertiseGlobal DevelopmentstechnologyQuality StandardsDetermining theCritical Success FactorCost objectiveMulti-disciplinaryTimecrucialHumanoutsourcingcomplexityEvolutionRevolutionCompany importanceLife dependant System Rich feature setLegacy knowledgeAvailable test equipment15Time to Market GoalsRisksMulti Project Org .SW intensiveVersion release policyInfrastructure ReUseBudget In-house knowledgestakeholdersNovelty Off-shoringTaken from PM courseETC ….State of the Art HW or SW Project ?

Iceberg model of PM and Problems SolutionsSolutions ElementsManagement ElementsIntegration, ContentTimeCost, Budget, Pro-curementHR ManagementFormal CommRisk ManagementChange ScopeTechnical ChangeIncrease BudgetReduce CostReplace People"Investigation Committee”Change Co-efficientsProject ProductsFormal Management ProceduresInformal Management Procedures and RelationshipsCultureMoodCommitmentPoliticsLeadershipInformal CommCooperationKnowledge&Und-erstandingSystems ThinkingInfo sharingAlign with supra-systemSupport LeadershipHR-Human Relationships

Project Management Theories

The Space of Org Support in ProjectsProject specific org. parametersLeadershipExternal Comm &PRThe more dynamic and less stable is the project environment, the greater need of fostering the organizational aspectsKnowledge &understandingSystemic visionCommitmentMoodHuman relationshipsOrg structureCultureProjectLife-cycleInternal commPeople Placement& HRMEmergencyImplemen-tationPlanningInitiationExecuteClosureMaintenance

Supporting the ProjectManagement consultantTechnical ConsultantSPAOrg. Consultant

Project Vs. CompanyLearning most often begins with a small group and only gradually spreads across the organization and then up Edgar H. Schein 2002

In-Project Behavior – What is it?Every project member performs specific functions within the projectThe In-Project Behavior (IPB) is the way in which these functions are performedFunctions performance is a product of the following dimensions:Behavior - leadership, sharing, trustfulness, biases…Mental conditions – commitment, motivation, mood, pride…Professional infrastructure – specific and background knowledge, experience, competencies …Personality – traits, character …

In-Project Behavior - PrinciplesIPB is derived mainly from 1. personal, 2. project characteristics 3. peers IPBEvery project has IPB “State of Aggregation” – the total effectiveness of IPBImproving IPB is a learning process (not just managerial)Teaching IPB is by courses or personal coaching

IPB ImprovementIBP improvement is composes of the following items:Defining best IPB for the project (in context of the organization, market, technology)Identifying the gap between actual individual and team IPB and the required effective IIPBDesign and implement activities to reduce this gap

Systemic ThinkingIt is possible to improve IPB by adopting systemic thinking approach throughout project life-cycleUn-solved chronicle problems are largely the result of a systemic failure and not human errors

Systemic Approach to ProjectsThe Project is a system is a system is a system...July 09

Systemic Approach to ProjectsEvery project constitutes an open, dynamic, complex and learning systemThe systemic approach uses two lenses simultaneously to investigate the situationConcave – enables to see the full pictureConvex – enables to get down to details

CustomerCompanyProject’s EcosystemCompany’s visionProject ContextCommitments, Business Plan, Internal & External Goals, CultureTeam AFunction AManagerTeam BFunction B3rd Party VendorsDocumentation, External InterfacesTechnology, Innovation, CultureProject Ecosystem

SWDevelopment Teams NW

Providing a Vision for the ProejctProject leaders must provide a vision for the members of the project so that each individual understands his or her contribution to that vision. The vision must be defined according to the strategic obligations of the organization. The vision describes the project’s ecosystemThese strategic obligations are determined by what the organization has committed to provide for its customers in terms of value, what systems must be established and managed to provide that value, and how the functions and tasks interrelate in order to meet those strategic obligations.29

What is the New Paradigm?The new paradigm is founded on the recognition that managers must focus on the following two tasks:i) Continuously knowing what is valued and what would be of more value to the customers of their organization’s products and/or services, andii) managing the creation, providing, and continuous improvement of strategic organizational suprasystems which when used by members of the organization will produce that which is of value to customers and users.”G. Harlan Carothers, Jr., 198830

Suprasystem Owner’s AccountabilitiesArticulate the purpose of the suprasystemUnderstand the link of the suprasystem to the customerUnderstand and explain the relationship to other suprasystems of the organization, to functions, to processes, and to the activities and tasks of individualsMap out the suprasystem, and understand its inputs, outputs, decision processes and linkagesDocument the suprasystem, and make sure that all who must work within it have the knowledge, ability, and authority to do what is needed for the customerDevelop (in cooperation with appropriate people) outcome and operations suprasystem Owner’s Accountabilities measures which enable diagnosis of the suprasystem for improvement opportunities, as well as monitoringAlign efforts and resources toward suprasystem improvementThe responsibility will continue over time. It is not a project assignment. It is a managerial accountability. William C. Parr

When System Thinking will helpThe problems are been around for long time (there is a “history”)Existing multitude of “theories” to explain the cause of the problemsProblems are dynamic and complex – complicated, stubborn, overtime, oscillating (based on mental and cultural)Require new approachעל פי: Goodman, Karash, Lannon, O’Reilly, Seville: Designing a System Thinking Intervention

Systemic analysis and interventionIdentify a problem to be solved by systemic thinkingDescribe the problem using listing of behaviors, time axis events and potential causesGraphical depiction of the problems integrated with the theoretical factors – the big pictureSpotting the right point for intervention

Level of Intervention in a Project The mindset, paradigms, attitudes infrastructure – their influence on project health, cultural issues, inter-relations with intrasystem. Example: highly praising heroic activities, “the customer is stupid”The goals of the project – clear definition, alignment, agreement. Example: quality, customer satisfaction, TTM as additional goalsSelf-organization – define pressure for change, self adjustmentsעל פי: D.H. Meadows: Places to Intervene in a System

Level of Intervention in a Project (2) Rules, procedure – rules of the games, constraints, rewards, right-wrong, technical or behavioral. Example: change management, Hierarchical rules, reportingInformation floes – presenting results, feedback. Example: Public advancement reporting as motivational factorControl positive feedback loops – more brings more until self-destroy, identify and control growth. Example: Resources growth by customer demandעל פי: D.H. Meadows: Places to Intervene in a System

Level of Intervention in a Project (3) Control balancing feedback loops – goalactionmeasurementactionMaterial stocks and flow – quantity against flow magnitude, stock as stabilizing buffer. Example: Stock of system requirements against the flow of developing themData, measurements, results – change data, change interpretation. Example: Change number of reported bugs, change bugs scalingעל פי: D.H. Meadows: Places to Intervene in a System

Thank youJuly 09