Archive for category: IT

Prescription for a Healthy IT Project (Post 5 of 6)

Once you’ve established the basic expectations and defined who has responsibility for what, it’s time to clearly define what’s in and what’s out of the project.  In the world of Agile, this is choosing what to tackle in a project’s backlog.

With a high profile and highly political project like the federal health insurance website, it’s highly possible that the project terms were changed frequently to appease political forces. A mistake made was to draw a line in the sand around a specific date.  While project management methods have changed over time, the old adage is still true, “Time. Budget. Features. You get to choose two of the three.”  If the project was handled properly, changes – and their implications for the timeline and budget –would have been handled correctly.

It seems obvious that when project additions occur (and always they do), give and take must happen. If there are additions, the client needs to expect more time and/or budget.  If not, more features obviously translates into the need to let go of other aspects of the project to keep the bottom line from increasing.

Perhaps most important of all, is the establishment of sprints. Sprints keep projects moving forward smoothly.  Even small projects should have several sprints.

Finally, success is a two way street.  Not all the responsibility for making things work lies with the vendor.  In my last post in this series I will discuss the importance of being a good customer.

Prescription for a Healthy IT Project (Post 4 of 6)

If you have read my blog or my book Building a Winning Business, you probably already know that I’m a big believer in communication. Nowhere is this more critical than in the beginning of a new vendor engagement. New relationships, whether personal or professional, get off to the best start when the people involved communicate their expectations and listen to the expectations of others.

In the case of the new federal health insurance website, I wonder if the government agency clients were crystal clear about the launch deadline for the site. Conversely, did the vendor drill down to find out what “launch” meant to the client? Perhaps the vendor thought “soft launch” or “beta launch,” while the client meant “public launch to the entire country!” While we can’t discount the role of politics in the deadline pressure, both parties should have communicated expectations and realistic timelines from day one.

Among my other tips in this regard:

• Define clear lines of responsibility to stop turf wars before they start. After clearly defining the role of the vendor, be sure to share this information with your staff.
• Clearly state expectations to put everyone on the same page (see above!).
• Choose a central point of contact for both the vendor and your company or agency.
• Clearly state priorities when fleshing out functional requirements.
• Communicate constantly.

Next time: how to keep your project moving forward.

15 Funniest Real Computer Error Messages

Sometimes a computer error can transcend aggravation and make us laugh.  Check out this post on Intertech’s website for the 15 Funniest Real Computer Error Messages.