[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
If Lauren had upgraded this potential event from an assumption to a risk,
the team would have had some time to deal with the situation. Of course, it
doesn t mean the acquisition was more or less likely to occur. However,
they could have considered alternatives, such as beginning to test the soft-
ware of the acquiring company or other software packages.
Now that the event has occurred, the situation is classified as an issue and
issues management techniques are utilized. The team may identify the same
199
Lessons in Project Management
options for resolution as if they had done a risk plan earlier. However, if
they had utilized a risk plan, they would have had time to prepare a plan of
attack in case the event occurred. At this point, all they can be is reactive,
and any resolution will probably have an impact on the timing of the project.
C H A P T E R
47
Don t Deliver
More Than
the Client
Requested
The weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas are traditionally slow
times of the year at Mega Manufacturing. Many people take vacation
time at the end of the year, and even if they don t, I find most people
are ready for the Christmas break about two weeks before it arrives. As
such, they very rarely schedule any new projects to start during this time
frame, and if a project is near completion, every effort is made to wrap
it up before the holidays.
When I arrived at my office on Monday morning following the Thanks-
giving break, I was surprised to find a voicemail message from Sally
White. Sally and I had been e-mailing back and forth about her team s
T. Mochal et al., Lessons in Project Management
© Tom Mochal and Jeff Mochal 2011
202
Don t Deliver More Than the Client Requested
project to enhance one of our purchasing systems. When we spoke last,
Sally was trying to implement some structured project management
processes to ensure this effort didn t become any larger. I decided to
swing by her office after grabbing a cup of coffee.
Sally was in her mid-30s and happily single. She had light brown hair
and hazel eyes, and she was an avid reader. She had three bookcases
in her office, and they all were full to the point of overflowing.
You re going to be able to open that public library very soon, I said af-
ter walking into her office.
I know, right? I ordered a third book case only three years ago. Now it
looks like I ll need to order a fourth.
Or you could just unload some of the books you have. Have you ever
thought about purchasing a Kindle or an iPad? I have an iPad with
iBooks if you d like to give that a try.
I actually have a Kindle already, and I do use that for reading, espe-
cially when I travel. I don t know, though. There s just something about a
physical book. I don t think you can beat it.
I took a few minutes to peruse Sally s bookcases. They were mostly filled
with business books, although she also had some American literature
classics and even the complete Harry Potter series. Needless to say, she
appeared to read everything.
Tom, I have some good news today, Sally began as I sat down in front
of her desk. We were able to formally gain agreement on the business
requirements for this work. I think the problems I e-mailed you about
regarding change are all in the past.
That s good news, I replied. As I said in one of my replies, you can t
manage scope effectively if you haven t defined the scope to begin with.
We talked some more about the requirements. Sally was able to gain
agreement on a minimum set of requirements from the manufacturing
client. During the discussions, however, Sally uncovered other features
that the client wanted. These were not included in the project for the
sake of getting the initial work completed and implemented.
When does it look like you will be done?
203
Lessons in Project Management
We have some more good news on that front, Sally said excitedly.
We initially told the client it would take an additional six weeks to
complete the work. But, when we got into the initial programming, we
discovered some of the work was not nearly as complex as we first
feared. We have about two weeks less work than we thought.
Great news! I agreed. I m sure your client will be happy to imple-
ment this work earlier.
Well, that is one option, Sally countered. However, remember we
uncovered a number of additional features the client wanted but didn t
include in this enhancement. Now that we have some extra time, we
can include this additional work as well. I think the client will be very
happy when they see the extra features we will be able to implement
and still deliver within the deadline they have already agreed to.
Has your client approved the extra features? I asked.
Sally looked a little puzzled. Well, we didn t ask them officially. We
thought it would be a nice surprise if we delivered the extra features.
We know they wanted them initially.
On the surface, this sounded great. But I knew from experience and
training this was not the right way to go. Sally was about to get into a
case of gold plating.
LESSON
During the project planning process the project team understands the na-
ture of the project in terms of deliverables, budget, duration, risk, etc. This
information is used to set common expectations between the project team
and the sponsor. Setting expectations is one of the reasons we ask the
sponsor and key stakeholders to approve the Project Charter and the busi-
ness requirements. If the project manager can then deliver within those ex-
pectations, the project is typically considered a success. However, like Sally,
you may also have heard it is good to under-promise and over-deliver. Let s
look at what it means to under-promise, since there is a good way and a
bad way to do this.
The project manager has some options when setting expectations using one
of three scenarios worst case, most likely, and best case. The worst-case
option means you assume everything will go wrong. Work will take longer
than you expect, issues will come up, potential risks will occur, etc. If you
204
Don t Deliver More Than the Client Requested
set expectations based on the worst-case scenario, you are not under-
promising you are sandbagging. This means you are purposely setting very
low expectations you know you can exceed. Sandbagging is not good be-
cause you are not presenting accurate information to the sponsor and
therefore the sponsor does not have the right information to make the best
business decisions.
The best-case scenario is just the opposite. If you present the best case, you
are assuming everything will go according to plan and everything will work
great the first time. This is also not a good way to set expectations and for
the same reason. The sponsor can t make the best business decisions if in-
formation is skewed. Of course, you are also much more likely to be unsuc-
cessful in meeting your expectations and this will cause trouble all around.
You can see that the best course of action is to set expectations based on
events that are most likely to occur. This includes most likely estimates of
schedule and budget, most likely risks, most likely constraints, etc.
With that in mind, let s look back at Sally s desire to under-promise and [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl ocenkijessi.opx.pl
If Lauren had upgraded this potential event from an assumption to a risk,
the team would have had some time to deal with the situation. Of course, it
doesn t mean the acquisition was more or less likely to occur. However,
they could have considered alternatives, such as beginning to test the soft-
ware of the acquiring company or other software packages.
Now that the event has occurred, the situation is classified as an issue and
issues management techniques are utilized. The team may identify the same
199
Lessons in Project Management
options for resolution as if they had done a risk plan earlier. However, if
they had utilized a risk plan, they would have had time to prepare a plan of
attack in case the event occurred. At this point, all they can be is reactive,
and any resolution will probably have an impact on the timing of the project.
C H A P T E R
47
Don t Deliver
More Than
the Client
Requested
The weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas are traditionally slow
times of the year at Mega Manufacturing. Many people take vacation
time at the end of the year, and even if they don t, I find most people
are ready for the Christmas break about two weeks before it arrives. As
such, they very rarely schedule any new projects to start during this time
frame, and if a project is near completion, every effort is made to wrap
it up before the holidays.
When I arrived at my office on Monday morning following the Thanks-
giving break, I was surprised to find a voicemail message from Sally
White. Sally and I had been e-mailing back and forth about her team s
T. Mochal et al., Lessons in Project Management
© Tom Mochal and Jeff Mochal 2011
202
Don t Deliver More Than the Client Requested
project to enhance one of our purchasing systems. When we spoke last,
Sally was trying to implement some structured project management
processes to ensure this effort didn t become any larger. I decided to
swing by her office after grabbing a cup of coffee.
Sally was in her mid-30s and happily single. She had light brown hair
and hazel eyes, and she was an avid reader. She had three bookcases
in her office, and they all were full to the point of overflowing.
You re going to be able to open that public library very soon, I said af-
ter walking into her office.
I know, right? I ordered a third book case only three years ago. Now it
looks like I ll need to order a fourth.
Or you could just unload some of the books you have. Have you ever
thought about purchasing a Kindle or an iPad? I have an iPad with
iBooks if you d like to give that a try.
I actually have a Kindle already, and I do use that for reading, espe-
cially when I travel. I don t know, though. There s just something about a
physical book. I don t think you can beat it.
I took a few minutes to peruse Sally s bookcases. They were mostly filled
with business books, although she also had some American literature
classics and even the complete Harry Potter series. Needless to say, she
appeared to read everything.
Tom, I have some good news today, Sally began as I sat down in front
of her desk. We were able to formally gain agreement on the business
requirements for this work. I think the problems I e-mailed you about
regarding change are all in the past.
That s good news, I replied. As I said in one of my replies, you can t
manage scope effectively if you haven t defined the scope to begin with.
We talked some more about the requirements. Sally was able to gain
agreement on a minimum set of requirements from the manufacturing
client. During the discussions, however, Sally uncovered other features
that the client wanted. These were not included in the project for the
sake of getting the initial work completed and implemented.
When does it look like you will be done?
203
Lessons in Project Management
We have some more good news on that front, Sally said excitedly.
We initially told the client it would take an additional six weeks to
complete the work. But, when we got into the initial programming, we
discovered some of the work was not nearly as complex as we first
feared. We have about two weeks less work than we thought.
Great news! I agreed. I m sure your client will be happy to imple-
ment this work earlier.
Well, that is one option, Sally countered. However, remember we
uncovered a number of additional features the client wanted but didn t
include in this enhancement. Now that we have some extra time, we
can include this additional work as well. I think the client will be very
happy when they see the extra features we will be able to implement
and still deliver within the deadline they have already agreed to.
Has your client approved the extra features? I asked.
Sally looked a little puzzled. Well, we didn t ask them officially. We
thought it would be a nice surprise if we delivered the extra features.
We know they wanted them initially.
On the surface, this sounded great. But I knew from experience and
training this was not the right way to go. Sally was about to get into a
case of gold plating.
LESSON
During the project planning process the project team understands the na-
ture of the project in terms of deliverables, budget, duration, risk, etc. This
information is used to set common expectations between the project team
and the sponsor. Setting expectations is one of the reasons we ask the
sponsor and key stakeholders to approve the Project Charter and the busi-
ness requirements. If the project manager can then deliver within those ex-
pectations, the project is typically considered a success. However, like Sally,
you may also have heard it is good to under-promise and over-deliver. Let s
look at what it means to under-promise, since there is a good way and a
bad way to do this.
The project manager has some options when setting expectations using one
of three scenarios worst case, most likely, and best case. The worst-case
option means you assume everything will go wrong. Work will take longer
than you expect, issues will come up, potential risks will occur, etc. If you
204
Don t Deliver More Than the Client Requested
set expectations based on the worst-case scenario, you are not under-
promising you are sandbagging. This means you are purposely setting very
low expectations you know you can exceed. Sandbagging is not good be-
cause you are not presenting accurate information to the sponsor and
therefore the sponsor does not have the right information to make the best
business decisions.
The best-case scenario is just the opposite. If you present the best case, you
are assuming everything will go according to plan and everything will work
great the first time. This is also not a good way to set expectations and for
the same reason. The sponsor can t make the best business decisions if in-
formation is skewed. Of course, you are also much more likely to be unsuc-
cessful in meeting your expectations and this will cause trouble all around.
You can see that the best course of action is to set expectations based on
events that are most likely to occur. This includes most likely estimates of
schedule and budget, most likely risks, most likely constraints, etc.
With that in mind, let s look back at Sally s desire to under-promise and [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]