best practices for successful projects

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Best Practices for Successful Projects By: Cathy Brunsting & Jeanna Balistreri

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How many times have you worked on a project and felt it was doomed from the beginning? Do you often feel that your business stakeholders are out of alignment? That the development team has no idea what the business stakeholders really want? That project estimates are done by picking numbers randomly? Come explore techniques that can be used to help your stakeholders get aligned on the scope of the project and to define in a clear way what success looks like. By getting alignment and defining success at the very beginning a project, the project team can make commitment- based estimates and release planning that makes sense in a reasonable (2 - 6 week) timeframe.

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: Best Practices for Successful Projects

Best Practices for Successful Projects

By: Cathy Brunsting & JeannaBalistreri

Page 2: Best Practices for Successful Projects

Learning Points

• Learn how to get alignment and a common

definition of success at the beginning of your

project.

• Understand how this definition can be used

to create a commitment-based estimate and

release plan before detailed requirements

• Understand how to use the definition

artifacts to control change throughout the

project lifecycle

Page 3: Best Practices for Successful Projects

Start of Project

• “The Project will cost $1.3 million and will take 7 months to deliver.”

• “The project will deliver 25 new business features”

Page 4: Best Practices for Successful Projects

7 Months Later – Project Not Done

• How much is it really going to cost?

• How much longer will the project really take?

• What’s left to do?

Page 5: Best Practices for Successful Projects

7 Months Later – Issues in UAT

• Who defines success?

• How do we ensure that what the business expects is what IT delivers?

• How do we align IT with the business vision?

Page 6: Best Practices for Successful Projects

7 Months Later – “Done” with Reduced Scope

• Who determines which features to include?

• Who determines which features to delay?

• How do we know business value is achieved?

Page 7: Best Practices for Successful Projects

How do we turn these situations around and bring predictability

into what is delivered and when it is delivered?

Page 8: Best Practices for Successful Projects

Getting Predictable is a collection of best practices that set project

teams up for success from the very start

Page 9: Best Practices for Successful Projects

We focus in 3 areas to help us answer:WHEN IS THE PROJECT DONE?

Page 10: Best Practices for Successful Projects

WHEN IS THE PROJECT DONE?

1) Alignment and Agreement across the business;Common Definition of Success in the Form of Business

Objectives/Scenarios

Page 11: Best Practices for Successful Projects

Common Objectives Across the Organization

1. Drive alignment across business

stakeholders creating agreement

around project success in the form of

business objectives and business

scenarios.

Page 12: Best Practices for Successful Projects

WHEN IS THE PROJECT DONE?

2) Commitment Based Estimation

Page 13: Best Practices for Successful Projects

Common Objectives Across the Organization

2. Facilitate the project team to create

an approach they can commit to and

hold themselves accountable to deliver

on the business objectives stated in

the business scenarios. We do this using

the Commitment Based Estimation.

Page 14: Best Practices for Successful Projects

WHEN IS THE PROJECT DONE?

3) Agreed Upon Approach To Tracking Progress

Page 15: Best Practices for Successful Projects

Common Objectives Across the Organization

3. Define a common approach and

metrics, between the business and

delivery team, that will track the

progress of the project against the

business objectives. These agreed-upon-

milestones will be driven by business

objectives and will be recorded and

tracked in a Commitment-Based-Release-

Plan.

Page 16: Best Practices for Successful Projects

Alignment on a

Common Vision

Page 17: Best Practices for Successful Projects

Creating Alignment

• Drive alignment across Business Stakeholders• Facilitated sessions

• Make sure everyone is heard

• Get buy in from all impacted stakeholders

• Create a Common Vision of Success• Based on business objectives

• Understood by both Business & IT

• Call out spell checkers• Transparency

Page 18: Best Practices for Successful Projects

Goals of a Common Vision

• Define success in a measurable way

• Reasonably accurate in a reasonable amount of time

• Definition in weeks, not months

• Define scope, not detailed requirements

• Alignment and ownership created amongst the business stakeholders

• Expressed from the business perspective, in business terminology

• Foster a partnership between business and technology

Page 19: Best Practices for Successful Projects

Common Vision: 3 Core Techniques

• Business Process Analysis

• Business Process Scenarios

• Lo-fi Complex Scenarios

Page 20: Best Practices for Successful Projects

Business Process Analysis

• Define the business objectives

• Facilitated discussion to create a common vision

• 2-4 half day sessions

• Identifies the width of project

• Language is business-oriented, not technical

Page 21: Best Practices for Successful Projects

Business Process Diagram (BPD)

• Visio diagram showing the process areas and activities for the client’s business

• Project charter statement that includes what is in scope, out of scope, and undecided

Page 22: Best Practices for Successful Projects

Business Process Activity (BPA) Document

• Word document, defining the process areas and activities

• One BPA per process area

Business Process Analysis

Project: Smartphone 1.0 Example

Business Process: Phone

Author: Joe Smith

Participants: Susan Williams, Joe Smith, Steven Jones

EXECUTIVE OVERVIEW

The phone process allows the user to make simple phone calls. Phone functionality includes call waiting, traces the

callers information such as name and caller Id. This process excludes speaker phone functionality.

BUSINESS PROCESS ACTIVITIES

1. Make and receive calls.

The user can make or receive phone calls.

2. Call Waiting

The user can receive a call while already on another call, and choose whether or not to answer it

3. Caller ID w/number and name

The phone displays the number and name of the calling person.

4. Ignore Call

User can decide not to answer a call, either during a previous call or not. The new caller will be sent to voice mail

5. Call History

User can look at a historic list of calls, and tell if they were incoming, outgoing, or missed

6. Voice Activation – Out of Scope

User can perform phone functions, such as calling or looking up contact information, by speaking into the phone

ASSUMPTIONS

ISSUES

1. Will voice activation require “training” the phone?

2. Will phone get phone number from the phone system network, as well as the name? If the name is not

available from the network, will the phone search for the number in the Contacts database, and display the

associated name?

Page 23: Best Practices for Successful Projects

Business Process Scenarios

• Identify the business scenarios and workflows that capture the intent of the system

• Define what success looks like• Provide the critical acceptance criteria for UAT

• Created in facilitated sessions• 5-10 half day sessions

• From Business stakeholders, not IT

Page 24: Best Practices for Successful Projects

Business Process Scenario (BPS) Document

• Word document, defining all business scenarios for the solution

• One BPS per process area

BPA – Smartphone

Version: 1.0

February 11, 2008

Business Process Scenario

Project: Smartphone 1.0

Business Process: Phone

Author: Joe Lanasa

Participants: Bob Zimmerman, Joe Lanasa, Jenya Steinberg

PURPOSE

The phone process allows the user to make simple phone calls. Phone functionality includes call waiting, traces the

callers information such as name and caller Id. This process excludes speaker phone functionality.

SCENARIOS

SCENARIO #1: Make a call using keypad.

a. Dial a number, press call and connect.

b. Have a conversation and disconnect.

SCENARIO #2: Make a call using Contacts option.

a. Select Contacts option,

b. A list of existing contacts gets displayed.

c. Select a name of the contact. The screen with the phone numbers for that name is displayed.

d. Select the phone number and press dial.

e. Have a conversation and disconnect.

SCENARIO #3: Make a call using Voice Activation option.

a. Initiate voice activation by selecting voice activation option.

b. Say a name of the person of interest.

c. The voice system prompts for the confirmation of the name and the location of the number (home,

work, etc). Confirm name.

d. The system dials the selected number.

Have a conversation and disconnect.

SCENARIO #4: Make a call using Call History.

a. Select Call History.

b. Select a number from Call History List.

c. Dial a number, press call and connect.

d. Have a conversation and disconnect.

SCENARIO #5: Receive a Call.

a. The phone rings.

b. The user presses talk and answers the call.

c. Have a conversation and disconnect.

Page 25: Best Practices for Successful Projects

BPS – Assumptions and Issues

• Capture assumptions and issues for each BPS

ASSUMPTIONS 1.

2.

ISSUES

1. Will this phone have speaker phone functionality?

2. Should the Caller ID on call history display just a phone number or all of the information: number, name, and

the location identification (e.g. home, cell, work)?

Page 26: Best Practices for Successful Projects

Lo-Fi Complex Business Scenarios

• Low-fidelity (paper) prototype of a scenario (screen or report) in a system

• Lo-fis for all screens/reports are not necessary• Ambiguous business scenarios

• High risk business scenarios

• An example of each type of interface

• Created in facilitated sessions • Users illustrate intent of a system

• 2 – 4 half day sessions

Page 27: Best Practices for Successful Projects

Example Lo-Fi

• Use paper, scissors, post it notes and a pen

• Business user creates their vision of the solution

• Not intended to be a final design for the screens

Page 28: Best Practices for Successful Projects

Commitment Based

Estimating

Page 29: Best Practices for Successful Projects

Commitment Based Estimating

• Define work effort using an Interface Catalog by identifying:

• User Interfaces

• System Interfaces (APIs)

• Engines

• Reports

• Identify effort level (high, medium, low)

• Adjust estimation values based on the environment

• Driven by Technical Architect

• Supported by Facilitator/Scribe

Page 30: Best Practices for Successful Projects

What is an Interface Catalog?

• A complete list of artifacts required to complete construction

• Record of assumptions related to the artifacts

• A tool used to estimate development time to be used as input to the Release Plan and proposal

• Takes into account functional requirements as well as non-functional requirements

Page 31: Best Practices for Successful Projects

What does an Interface Catalog look like?

Page 32: Best Practices for Successful Projects

Create the Plan

Page 33: Best Practices for Successful Projects

Agreed Upon Approach to Tracking Progress

• Create a Release Plan based on the common vision

• Track business functionality, not IT tasks

• Agreed to by both business and IT

• Focus on development effort

• Adjust for other factors• Detailed Requirements

• Testing (Integration, Performance, UAT)

• Deployment

• Vacations and Holidays

Page 34: Best Practices for Successful Projects

What is a Release Plan?

• A high-level plan showing:• The expected cost of the project

• The expected duration of the project

• Resources needed to support the plan

• Created by Project Manager • In collaboration with BA and Architect

• Successful Release Plans:• Account for system and

organizational constraints

• State assumptions clearly

• Traceability to BPA, BPS and Interface Catalog

Page 35: Best Practices for Successful Projects

What does a Release Plan look like?

Page 36: Best Practices for Successful Projects

Team Roles and Accountabilities

Page 37: Best Practices for Successful Projects

Business Accountable For:• Defining what the project is

• Prioritization of features

• Budget / Time constraints

• Choosing options to implement

• Scope changes

Page 38: Best Practices for Successful Projects

IT Accountable For:• How to build the project

• How long it takes to build

• Presenting Options for implementation

• Communicating the cost of scope changes

• Assigning the right team

Photo from muir.ceardach’s photos stream on Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/ceardach/4549898798/

Page 39: Best Practices for Successful Projects

Definition Team Key Roles

• Facilitator

• Identify and clarify spellcheckers

• Foster collaboration

• Business Stakeholders

• Provide input about their vision & needs

• Empowered to make decisions and commitments

• Scribe

• Capture processes & scenarios

• Create definition artifacts

• Architect

• Commitment-based estimates

• Technical assumptions & constraints

Page 40: Best Practices for Successful Projects

IT Team Key Roles & Responsibilities

• Senior Business Analyst

• What are we building…

• Business Proxy; Empowered

• Senior Quality Analyst

• Is It Ready?

• Defines and Protects SLAs: What is “Good Enough”

• Architect

• Technical Approach & Does It Work

• Project Manager

• Transparency; Schedule & Cost

• Traffic Cop; Communication

• Holds Roles Accountable

Page 41: Best Practices for Successful Projects

IT Team Execution Key Responsibilities

• Senior Business Analyst

• BPD / BPS Documents &

• Detail Requirements

• Senior Quality Analyst

• Test Plans, Scripts,

• Defect Management,

• UAT

• Architect

• Interface Catalog,

• Logical Architecture, Frameworks, Builds, etc…

• Project Manager

• Release Plan,

• Project Plan,

• State of the Union

Page 42: Best Practices for Successful Projects

Execute on Plan

Page 43: Best Practices for Successful Projects

Now What Happens?

By Marekventur (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

By Peter Kemp / Paul Smith (Adapted from Paul Smith's work at wikipedia) [CC-BY-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Page 44: Best Practices for Successful Projects

Manage to the Vision and Plan

• Know your destination -your Business Scenarios which define success

• Tie detailed requirements to the Business Scenarios

• Tie UAT test scenarios to Business Scenarios

• Manage change to the defined vision

• Make course corrections as you go

Page 45: Best Practices for Successful Projects

Extra Work Uncovered in Detailed Requirements

Page 46: Best Practices for Successful Projects

Staff Changes

During the Project

Page 47: Best Practices for Successful Projects

Technical Issues Discovered

Page 48: Best Practices for Successful Projects

Outside Influences

Impact Your Project

Page 49: Best Practices for Successful Projects

Business Plans

Change

Page 50: Best Practices for Successful Projects

Mistakes Happen

Page 51: Best Practices for Successful Projects

Teams Get Behind

Page 52: Best Practices for Successful Projects

Update the BDP When:

• Scope of the project changes

• Process or activities are added or removed

Page 53: Best Practices for Successful Projects

Update the BPS When:

• New scenarios are added

• Scenarios are removed from a release

• Flow of the scenario changes

BPA – Smartphone

Version: 1.0

February 11, 2008

Business Process Scenario

Project: Smartphone 1.0

Business Process: Phone

Author: Joe Lanasa

Participants: Bob Zimmerman, Joe Lanasa, Jenya Steinberg

PURPOSE

The phone process allows the user to make simple phone calls. Phone functionality includes call waiting, traces the

callers information such as name and caller Id. This process excludes speaker phone functionality.

SCENARIOS

SCENARIO #1: Make a call using keypad.

a. Dial a number, press call and connect.

b. Have a conversation and disconnect.

SCENARIO #2: Make a call using Contacts option.

a. Select Contacts option,

b. A list of existing contacts gets displayed.

c. Select a name of the contact. The screen with the phone numbers for that name is displayed.

d. Select the phone number and press dial.

e. Have a conversation and disconnect.

SCENARIO #3: Make a call using Voice Activation option.

a. Initiate voice activation by selecting voice activation option.

b. Say a name of the person of interest.

c. The voice system prompts for the confirmation of the name and the location of the number (home,

work, etc). Confirm name.

d. The system dials the selected number.

Have a conversation and disconnect.

SCENARIO #4: Make a call using Call History.

a. Select Call History.

b. Select a number from Call History List.

c. Dial a number, press call and connect.

d. Have a conversation and disconnect.

SCENARIO #5: Receive a Call.

a. The phone rings.

b. The user presses talk and answers the call.

c. Have a conversation and disconnect.

Page 54: Best Practices for Successful Projects

Update the Interface Catalog When:

• Technical assumptions change

• Scenarios change

• Detailed requirements uncover additional technical work that was not accounted for

Page 55: Best Practices for Successful Projects

Update the Release Plan When:

• Staffing changes

• Scenarios change

• Interface Catalog changes

• Any delays occur

• With actuals as work is completed

Page 56: Best Practices for Successful Projects

• Be open & transparent about issues, delays

• Collaboratively solve the problems

• Celebrate successes as you go

Page 57: Best Practices for Successful Projects

Learning Points

• Learn how to get alignment and a common

definition of success at the beginning of your

project.

• Understand how this definition can be used

to create a commitment-based estimate and

release plan before detailed requirements

• Understand how to use the definition

artifacts to control change throughout the

project lifecycle

Page 58: Best Practices for Successful Projects