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Who is Who: The Importance of an Org Structure when Delivering Projects

Written by Frankie Mouzon on . Posted in Articles. 1 Comment on Who is Who: The Importance of an Org Structure when Delivering Projects

When starting a new job or project, it is very important as a Project Manager or Business Analyst to have a good idea of how an organization or business operates.

This helps navigate the internal & external ways of the business, and understand how it affects the customer base. I currently work in the hospital healthcare industry, which acquires several hospitals each year. The more companies that the business acquires, there is a high chance that there will be more growth, responsibility, & opportunities (including problems), but the business can easily become chaotic if not properly structured. On my first day of the job, I did the typical project manager request by asking for an organization structure. Unfortunately, my request was rejected because employees either left, were laid off, promoted, or moved to different departments due to another recent acquisition purchase. As a result, I did not know who to go to for information or to execute certain tasks. Org charts are vital for the following reasons:

  1. It helps Project Managers & Business Analysts understand the different functions throughout the business, the team, and team members.
  2. It is very important to understand who needs to be involved or the appropriate audience when it comes to sharing information for projects or initiatives.
  3. There is always room for improvement.

If organization structures were more emphasized, there would be much more efficiency, productivity, and less stress & chaos for employees throughout the business.

Knowing Your Industry & Business

Knowing your industry and business are super-beneficial in so many ways.

  1. It helps boost productivity & performance. By understanding the organization and its structure, the Project Manager and Business Analyst will know exactly who to go to for tasks and get stuff done, instead of going around in circles. It is all about delivering & proving the return of investment (ROI) based what you delivered.
  2. It allows you to network outside your team and gain relationships. You probably hear this often, but your network is your net worth (internally [within your team and organization] & externally [the industry & working with vendors]). In a perfect world, everyone has a role and numerous responsibilities, and they are obligated to make sure they uphold their responsibility no matter what. But in the real world, that is not always the case. If a team member on a project does not know you well enough, there is a chance that he or she will be less motivated or enthusiastic to work with you, or even go above and beyond the call of duty to get last-minute extra tasks done for the project. It is also important for the organization to know who you are. You are a great professional, but now it is time for everyone else to know that you are great! Your reputation is everything. If no one knows who you are besides your team, what reputation do you really have?
  3. Exposure is key to taking advantage of new opportunities and gaining new insights of what is going on in the organization. If you constantly perform to your greatest height, and continue to have a great reputation across the organization, people will come to you for input & new opportunities. Being a Project Manager or Business Analyst is a wonderful role with great rewards, but always allow yourself to grow when the opportunity knocks. As human beings, we must challenge ourselves often in order to grow and not become stagnant. As you accomplish a major challenge, another will come and that is how you improve physically, mentally, and spiritually. Always aim higher and be better! In addition, if there is a change in operations or process for a department and you have a good working relationship, there’s a high chance that information will be communicated to you, which you can communicate to your team. Yes, spread the word! From a team perspective, you are trustworthy and reliable when it comes to your say-do ratio and knowledge of information.
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Putting the Pieces Together

During the initiation stage of a project after getting the project charter approved, it is the job of the Project Manager and/or Business Analyst to identify the stakeholders, and determine their expectations, influence, & impact of the project. In order to know the major and minor stakeholders, you must understand the structure, culture, existing systems, and project management processes of the company. Below are a few pointers when it comes to identifying the right stakeholders:

  1. Understand the problem that needs to be solved. This is very important because it provides an opportunity to understand the current state and the people who are involved in the current process that needs to change. By understanding the current state & pain points, you automatically get buy-in from the end-users, and it is perceived as if you are intrigued and determined to be solving the problem. Believe it or not, this will be in your favor as the project continues. After determining the people involved in the current process, they should be listed in the stakeholder register and evaluated based on their impact & influence of the project. Most importantly, they must be kept in the loop of what’s going on throughout the project no matter if it is a weekly or monthly project status update &/ or meeting.
  2. Ask your business sponsor and/or champion. Most of the time, the business sponsor/champion will let you know the details of the problem &/ or project that no one else will know or share, including the stakeholders who need to be involved. As you list these different stakeholders, try to understand their current role & responsibilities, and how they fit into the current business problem(s) that need to be resolved. By doing so, it will show their value & impact to the project. A “good” business sponsor/champion will be your best ally when it comes to the project, because they will provide as much support as possible to solve the problem because of the value added to the business.
    BUILD A RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR SPONSOR/CHAMPION! I cannot emphasize this enough. In order to build a relationship, you must gain trust. In order to gain trust, having a 100% say-do ratio is necessary. Always deliver what you say you are going to do, and then they will like you. Also, treat your champion how you want to be treated. Key words to apply are truth, respect, enthusiasm, reliability, inclusion, & help.
  3. After gathering your initial list of stakeholders, sit down with your manager and review the list to get feedback. This is very important to fill any gaps. Your manager is in that position for a reason, so use them for your benefit. If you are successful, your manager is successful. It is a win-win situation!

There are ALWAYS Opportunities for Improvement

Two of the greatest traits that a Project Manager or Business Analyst should have is being inquisitive & innovative by looking at how things are currently done and can be improved. As you get a better understanding of the organization, and the roles & responsibilities of all teams and their team members, ask questions. Why is the person doing this task? Why is the person doing the task this way? Is there an easier way to get the same output? As Project Managers & Business Analysts, it is our sole responsibility to create value, efficiency, and productivity throughout the entire organization. This might not be easy to get the top people (executives, senior management) on your side, but this is where your influencing skills apply.

Although eliminating waste and creating value should be coming from the top-down, that is not always the case. There are times where you must step up and be a change leader. Yes, you will have to open your mouth & communicate this to senior management, but you can back it up with facts, pain points that affect productivity, the potential solutions, and quantitative benefits (dollar amounts is highly suggested) when the pain points are resolved by one or more a combination of the solutions. By including these factors to your story while presenting the opportunity, you can make a difference & also shift the company culture to innovating constant improvement. So, let’s put on our capes and become change leaders!

Sum It Up

Organization structure is necessary in order to complete projects successfully. According to Rita Mulchay’s PMP Exam Prep Eighth Edition, the Project Manager must “determine company culture and existing systems”. Existing systems include an org chart where you must understand the roles and responsibilities for every team and team member. For business analysts, in order to conduct a successful strategy analysis, they must have the organization chart as part of understanding the current state. If there is no order, there is chaos; and this applies to projects or initiatives, which create tons of value.

Who is Who: The Importance of an Org Structure when Delivering Projects

Written by Frankie Mouzon on . Posted in Articles. 5 Comments on Who is Who: The Importance of an Org Structure when Delivering Projects

When starting a new job or project, it is very important as a Project Manager or Business Analyst to have a good idea of how an organization or business operates.

This helps navigate the internal & external ways of the business, and understand how it affects the customer base. I currently work in the hospital healthcare industry, which acquires several hospitals each year. The more companies that the business acquires, there is a high chance that there will be more growth, responsibility, & opportunities (including problems), but the business can easily become chaotic if not properly structured. On my first day of the job, I did the typical project manager request by asking for an organization structure. Unfortunately, my request was rejected because employees either left, were laid off, promoted, or moved to different departments due to another recent acquisition purchase. As a result, I did not know who to go to for information or to execute certain tasks. Org charts are vital for the following reasons:

1. It helps Project Managers & Business Analysts understand the different functions throughout the business, the team, and team members.
2. It is very important to understand who needs to be involved or the appropriate audience when it comes to sharing information for projects or initiatives.
3. There is always room for improvement.

If organization structures were more emphasized, there would be much more efficiency, productivity, and less stress & chaos for employees throughout the business.

Knowing Your Industry & Business

Knowing your industry and business are super-beneficial in so many ways.

1. It helps boost productivity & performance. By understanding the organization and its structure, the Project Manager and Business Analyst will know exactly who to go to for tasks and get stuff done, instead of going around in circles. It is all about delivering & proving the return of investment (ROI) based what you delivered.

2. It allows you to network outside your team and gain relationships. You probably hear this often, but your network is your net worth (internally [within your team and organization] & externally [the industry & working with vendors]). In a perfect world, everyone has a role and numerous responsibilities, and they are obligated to make sure they uphold their responsibility no matter what. But in the real world, that is not always the case. If a team member on a project does not know you well enough, there is a chance that he or she will be less motivated or enthusiastic to work with you, or even go above and beyond the call of duty to get last-minute extra tasks done for the project. It is also important for the organization to know who you are. You are a great professional, but now it is time for everyone else to know that you are great! Your reputation is everything. If no one knows who you are besides your team, what reputation do you really have?

3. Exposure is key to taking advantage of new opportunities and gaining new insights of what is going on in the organization. If you constantly perform to your greatest height, and continue to have a great reputation across the organization, people will come to you for input & new opportunities. Being a Project Manager or Business Analyst is a wonderful role with great rewards, but always allow yourself to grow when the opportunity knocks. As human beings, we must challenge ourselves often in order to grow and not become stagnant. As you accomplish a major challenge, another will come and that is how you improve physically, mentally, and spiritually. Always aim higher and be better! In addition, if there is a change in operations or process for a department and you have a good working relationship, there’s a high chance that information will be communicated to you, which you can communicate to your team. Yes, spread the word! From a team perspective, you are trustworthy and reliable when it comes to your say-do ratio and knowledge of information.

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Putting the Pieces Together

During the initiation stage of a project after getting the project charter approved, it is the job of the Project Manager and/or Business Analyst to identify the stakeholders, and determine their expectations, influence, & impact of the project. In order to know the major and minor stakeholders, you must understand the structure, culture, existing systems, and project management processes of the company. Below are a few pointers when it comes to identifying the right stakeholders:

1. Understand the problem that needs to be solved. This is very important because it provides an opportunity to understand the current state and the people who are involved in the current process that needs to change. By understanding the current state & pain points, you automatically get buy-in from the end-users, and it is perceived as if you are intrigued and determined to be solving the problem. Believe it or not, this will be in your favor as the project continues. After determining the people involved in the current process, they should be listed in the stakeholder register and evaluated based on their impact & influence of the project. Most importantly, they must be kept in the loop of what’s going on throughout the project no matter if it is a weekly or monthly project status update &/ or meeting.

2. Ask your business sponsor and/or champion. Most of the time, the business sponsor/champion will let you know the details of the problem &/ or project that no one else will know or share, including the stakeholders who need to be involved. As you list these different stakeholders, try to understand their current role & responsibilities, and how they fit into the current business problem(s) that need to be resolved. By doing so, it will show their value & impact to the project. A “good” business sponsor/champion will be your best ally when it comes to the project, because they will provide as much support as possible to solve the problem because of the value added to the business.

BUILD A RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR SPONSOR/CHAMPION! I cannot emphasize this enough. In order to build a relationship, you must gain trust. In order to gain trust, having a 100% say-do ratio is necessary. Always deliver what you say you are going to do, and then they will like you. Also, treat your champion how you want to be treated. Key words to apply are truth, respect, enthusiasm, reliability, inclusion, & help.

3. After gathering your initial list of stakeholders, sit down with your manager and review the list to get feedback. This is very important to fill any gaps. Your manager is in that position for a reason, so use them for your benefit. If you are successful, your manager is successful. It is a win-win situation!

There are ALWAYS Opportunities for Improvement

Two of the greatest traits that a Project Manager or Business Analyst should have is being inquisitive & innovative by looking at how things are currently done and can be improved. As you get a better understanding of the organization, and the roles & responsibilities of all teams and their team members, ask questions. Why is the person doing this task? Why is the person doing the task this way? Is there an easier way to get the same output? As Project Managers & Business Analysts, it is our sole responsibility to create value, efficiency, and productivity throughout the entire organization. This might not be easy to get the top people (executives, senior management) on your side, but this is where your influencing skills apply.

Although eliminating waste and creating value should be coming from the top-down, that is not always the case. There are times where you must step up and be a change leader. Yes, you will have to open your mouth & communicate this to senior management, but you can back it up with facts, pain points that affect productivity, the potential solutions, and quantitative benefits (dollar amounts is highly suggested) when the pain points are resolved by one or more a combination of the solutions. By including these factors to your story while presenting the opportunity, you can make a difference & also shift the company culture to innovating constant improvement. So, let’s put on our capes and become change leaders!

Sum It Up

Organization structure is necessary in order to complete projects successfully. According to Rita Mulchay’s PMP Exam Prep Eighth Edition, the Project Manager must “determine company culture and existing systems”. Existing systems include an org chart where you must understand the roles and responsibilities for every team and team member. For business analysts, in order to conduct a successful strategy analysis, they must have the organization chart as part of understanding the current state. If there is no order, there is chaos; and this applies to projects or initiatives, which create tons of value.

Analysis Paralysis vs Bias for Action vs Let’s Get Real

Written by John Vaught on . Posted in Articles. 3 Comments on Analysis Paralysis vs Bias for Action vs Let’s Get Real

I was playing a board game with my kids and my niece and at one point my niece was taking an extraordinarily long time to make a decision.

Like, so long that I was able to make a cup of coffee, get a dessert, and by the time I got back to the table heads were in hands and groaning was the main sound emanating from the room.

“Hold your horses, people,” was her response. “But,” I point out, “we don’t know what you are waiting for; you have no good options!” My niece’s next statement is the classic: “If I keep looking I may find one.”

I’m betting, like me, you have seen or been in a similar situation – playing Stuck by Norah Jones on repeat while staring at a too expensive notepad filled with meaningless doodles because a decision is looming and I don’t feel like I have enough intel.

It’s labeled Analysis Paralysis and is played out in houses, cars, meeting rooms, and in just about any situation where a group wants to make a decision but someone wants to keep researching options beyond the point of good sense. It is not a new phenomenon, having been recognized by Aesop, Shakespeare, and others across the centuries, and by anyone who has ever tried to decide where to have lunch with friends who can’t make up their mind.

Doing new things means some ambiguity. It is easy to search for a better solution than the ones that you have available, or find yourself chasing trails in the elusive search for certainty, in such a way that a decision or action is never taken. You may recognize sayings such as “perfect is the enemy of good enough” or “gilding the lilly” – all leaning towards the very popular public opinion of “enough already, let’s do this!”

But, to quote my niece, “Hold your horses, people!”

Just as it has been rightly recognized that too much analysis can be a bad thing, let’s not automatically jump on the bandwagon of the bias towards action. The same people who are asking us to “get on with it” may very well struggle with sunk cost because they started down the wrong path and now we’re stuck with something everyone hates. Frankly, I’ve seen just as much of Analysis Paralysis as I have with decisions gone wrong because they were made too quickly.

I cringe when I see articles that publish advice like “curb your curiosity” – really? Stop being curious? Let’s make sure we ask our kids to stop asking why as well. Or advice such as setting deadlines. Deadlines are fine if they are just that – the project is going to be dead in the water at this point. Setting a random deadline is just a way to set yourself up for frustration if the milestone doesn’t really mean anything. If there isn’t a true deadline, then when the decision is made is more of a question of comfort than it is of risk.

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Which gets me to this point: what you really want is a way to figure out The Real Question:

How to determine when to make a decision and take action?

It would be nice if there was an app for that, but in the meantime let me see if I can sum it up in a handy-dandy thought equation:

Time to Act = (Cost of Delaying)/(Benefit of Delaying) > 1

First, determine the cost of delaying the decision. If it doesn’t cost anything now, then take more time for analysis. At some time there will be a tipping point. Action is expensive if you are redoing work, and sometimes waiting means that value is lost or expenses can occur, such as not meeting a mandate.

All of this assumes that you have clarity on what you are actually trying to achieve. If you don’t know that, then any action, whether it is analysis or action, is just fuzzy math. It also assumes that you are not confusing certainty with clarity (more on this in a future post).

I like the way that Lon Roberts breaks up Analysis Paralysis into three categories, which can then help you make a more informed decision about the costs of action:

  • Analysis Process Paralysis
  • Risk Uncertainty Paralysis
  • Decision Precision Paralysis

In reality, the best advice is what Lon wittily calls Brainwidth Expansion but basically means get some help; the person slogging through the details often doesn’t have the viewpoint of someone who can see the big picture. Ask them to help you answer these two questions:

  • Can we answer this right now?
  • How could this go wrong if not answered?

So let’s help my niece know when to just play the game and stop looking for a better solution: when more than half of us at the table are ready to kick her out of the game if she takes any longer, it might be best if she picks a move quickly or risk getting no dessert.

New ERP, Why (x 5) ?

Written by Tom Lyttleton on . Posted in Articles. 3 Comments on New ERP, Why (x 5) ?

A couple of disclosures which bias my perspective ~

  • Worked with the ERP now known as Sage 300 since it was ACCPAC Dos.
  • Survived being a project accountant.
  • Learned programming with PUNCH cards and thought Fortran & Cobol were awesome.
  • Stopped using a slide rule in grade six.
  • Been Project Manager and Business Analyst for many Information System implementations, from early DOS based systems to current Microsoft Dynamics Nav systems.

My company, Facilitated Software Solutions, Inc., sells quality management and workflow tools for regulated industries, ISO, FDA, and FAA. We can communicate with virtually any ERP or CRM system, old or new, from SAP and Oracle to MAS90!

Having been a Vendor at times, and a Project Manager for many times, of ERP and CRM implementations, there is always a certain amount of pain and disruption with the implementation of new IS (Information Systems). SMB (Small to medium sized business) team members many times are over extended with job commitments as it is. Let alone, adding to the overload with a requirement to help implementation efforts for a new IS system. How much spare time does the CFO have to help design a new Chart of Accounts if needed? Or, how about the warehouse manager?

As I attend various meetings and forums throughout the “Tech”, Project Management and Quality/Six Sigma communities PMI and ASQ chapter meetings. LinkedIn and other online PMP/Six Sigma forums, I am wondering why, in many cases, SMB’s do not engage in even a few days of third-party experienced business process analysis.

In many cases I have found that by digging into the why’s of the new ERP system there is flawed logic in the hurry to dump the “old” Mas 90 (now known as, Sage 100), or (Navision now known as Microsoft Dynamics Nav) or for that matter, ACCPAC (now known as Sage 300 ERP)!

What is “Cloud Based”?

From a purely practical standpoint, what is the difference between me pointing my desktop computer at an on-premise server (the big box in the closet down the hall) and “The Cloud”? Really, if you step back from all the tech ‘speak’, it is the way your device, laptop, tablet, smartphone etc. connects to a “Server”. One method uses a copper or fiber cable to the server box and the other, your device, uses Wi-Fi or an on-premise modem box, that translates the same request (humor me) using basically similar addresses to find a server box in room 3000 miles away. At least, I’m really hoping it is in a big air-conditioned controlled access room on a well-built server. I’m not sure how you would even plug in a server on a cloud. Perhaps a long extension cord? How do you suspend it from that cloud? Wouldn’t the server fall or drift away? No folks, to me it is a server box stuck in a room somewhere.

Any of the older ERP designs mentioned above, to the best of my knowledge, will operate on a “Cloud Based” server. Where you locate the server or who’s service you use, such as Google, Amazon, or Microsoft, is a business-based decision. Where do you feel more secure? Do you serve multiple locations, etc. This requires extensive analysis. Perhaps in a separate discussion.

One of the other selling points is that newer systems allow you to slice and dice data in different ways. Which data, and in which different ways? It is important that the SMB have a clear understanding of the goal. Maybe it is similar to golf, get the ball in the hole with the fewest number of shots or least effort/cost?
What new data points will the new system store that business cannot report on or analyze now? Or perhaps, how is a business able to generate reports with several Excel worksheets or a workbook with the process taking hours or even days of an executives’ time? This is a reporting tool selection and database problem, not necessarily the current ERP systems. There may be far less expensive solutions if the problem is reporting or analysis gaps.

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What I am driving at, is that the core of the ERP financial system is no longer the center of the business ecosystem. By core, I am referring to the G/L, A/R, A/P, I/C, O/E and P/O reporting tools. These really provide past and snap shot of short-term future data, WIP, Orders etc. If these or just the center of the core; G/L, A/R and A/P, are working reasonably well and providing accurate information as to what business executives may want to examine through proper gap analysis. As well as where the holes or missing data resides and how best to incorporate it in reports or analytics.
Some of the reasons suggested for migration to a new ERP may be a set of newly adopted methods of doing business. The SMB, may want to provide access to some type of order entry and tracking system to existing customers. or to sell widgets though a web store. Perhaps a new customer relationship and integrated marketing system is needed. Again, none of these changes or add-ons necessarily require an ERP change.

The reasons for great caution in moving to a new system are many. I’m not going to suggest that some of the latest ERP’s aren’t great. They are. But, as I stated above, there is significant inconvenience to the stakeholders, if not planned correctly from the outset. That means before the SMB signs any contracts, a SMB can expect a challenging, and some might call it a rocky road ahead, without research and planning.

Many SMB’s neglect these critical steps.

Firstly, inventory all the ERP software and addons, make sure to have a complete list and the functionality of the addons described. i.e. Docusign for signing contracts etc.

Next, in my opinion;

  • The SMB should hold independent third-party facilitated elicitation meetings with their department heads and their primary assistant(s) recording their views of both the shortcomings and strong features of the current systems they work with.
  • Meet with each of the C-suite executives to determine any unmet needs or issues with performing their jobs.
  • Document findings.
  • Take the data and analyze.
    • Document each department’s business process as it is currently with a tool such as Visio so that the various stakeholders can clearly understand current conditions and business process.
    • Next, use Visio to display the new improved business process option(s). Examples: New reporting tools, vs addon databases vs addon integrated third party apps vs new ERP.
  • Also needed is cost analysis of the above options, estimated time to complete and plans to mitigate issues especially with change management. Include SMB staff time requirements for training and eliciting information.
  • Carefully evaluate the budgets and expected benefits from each possible process change. Examine the disruption to the enterprise and the attendant risks. Is there sufficient manpower on staff to take on a project of the suggested scope? Are trusted and vetted contractors required to help the business prepare data etc. for any conversions? Do we have enough room in the project budget with reserves?

In my opinion, based on many years in the industry, there are different best answers for each business. If an SMB has lasted through the last 10 or fifteen years of upheaval in business practices, it is certainly an established enterprise and must be both agile and lean. This underlines the need to preserve historical data. There is historical data that can be very valuable, providing baselines for product or services. What worked and what didn’t. Customer lists with buying history, vendor performance history, etc. Make sure any plan undertaken does not leave that information inaccessible. If the SMB is subject to quality audits (FAA, FDA, ISO etc.) there may be no option but to preserve the data due to legislation.

If, after all the above business analysis is done, a decision can be intelligently made to move forward with an ERP system, to change, thus much of the heavy lifting will already be completed for the basic system requirements (but certainly not all). With the collection of the above data, the SMB will have gathered a exhaustive list of “must have’s” and “would be nice to have’s”, etc. for the New ERP.

With this information the SMB can assemble a request for proposal. The SMB should do independent research of all prospective vendors and software publishers. Will there be multiple vendors providing different pieces of the solution? If so, have they worked together before? Have they worked together with the current versions of their respective software solutions?

A couple of words regarding who is going to act as the Project Manager and make sure all vendors are performing in a timely manner. If it is one of the vendors offering “Project Management”, make sure you are not buying “account management”. There is a huge difference between the two. One directs their in-house programmers and staff how to configure their part of the new ERP system. The other is the orchestra conductor insuring all parts of the puzzle are completed with data migration and systems tested and operating to the SMB’s satisfaction.

OUTSIDE THE BOX Forum: Becoming Customer-based and Technology-driven is a Survival Strategy for the Digital Economy

Written by Robert Wysocki on . Posted in Articles. 2 Comments on OUTSIDE THE BOX Forum: Becoming Customer-based and Technology-driven is a Survival Strategy for the Digital Economy

the digital world stand-out organizations are continuously evolving towards customer-based and technology-driven approaches.

These evolutions can be disruptive and to be successful demands an organized approach. Transformations needed to achieve this end state can have a disruptive impact on how projects, programs and portfolios are proposed, prioritized and managed. Perhaps with the exception of IT the project management communities have been slow to react. Many organizations are neither customer-based nor technology-driven. This might be their goal but they have no sense of how to do it. Their strategies are usually incremental strategies. That has to change to survive but how should or could that happen. There are lots of moving parts to consider. This article is a step outside that box to launch that conversation. It will identify the first of those challenges and how to address it.

What is a Digital Enterprise?

The transition to a customer-based and technology-driven organization requires a number of fundamental changes to how the organization operates. These transitions are not new and can be traced back to the 1970s under the label of End User Computing. Those who were there can attest to the confusions that resulted. Understand at the outset that this evolving world by its very nature is a high-risk world. It is a world populated by new products and processes and new partnerships both internal to the organization as well as external to the organization. To be successful requires project management approaches that are flexible, adaptive and creative. This is clearly some type of agile world but with new challenges. The first of those challenges is to become customer-based. The customer is no longer an after-thought but rather is seen as an active participant in all business processes.

Who is a Customer?

As for a working definition, the customer is the owner of the deliverables provided by the project. They could be internal or external customers.

Internal Customers

These customers are known. They have faces and names and you can communicate directly with them from the first day of their request to the last day of their use of the project deliverables. They could be individuals (C-level executives, directors, functional managers, LOB managers, resource managers, business unit managers, etc.) or groups of employees (sales representatives, trainers, etc.).

External Customers

These customers are generally not known unless they identify themselves through feedback (good or bad). Think of them as the end user of the product or service delivered by the project.

What is a Customer-based Enterprise?

At the highest level to be customer-based is to be an enterprise that practices meaningful customer involvement across the life span of projects, programs and portfolios. The life span is comprehensive. At the project level a 3-phase robust process can be defined as the architecture for a customer-based environment as follows:

  •  Ideation Phase
  •  Set-up Phase
  •  Execution Phase

However, you might define this process for a specific project in order to embrace meaningful customer involvement it must be:

  •  Adaptive
  •  Flexible
  •  Creative
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What is Meaningful Customer Involvement?

Having your customer sign-off on a specification document or acceptance test is involvement but it is not meaningful involvement. To be meaningful the customer involvement must include full-time participation in the project that will deliver a process or product for their direct use. That participation should include decision-making authority and responsibility. The Product Owner in a Scrum Project is the closest example of that meaningful involvement. However, their involvement does not extend beyond the planning activities of the project deliverables. If their involvement extended into the Execution Phase as a decision-maker, that comes closer to a customer-based environment. An example of that customer-based team environment is shown in Figure 1.

Wysocki 09052018 1
Figure 1: Co-Manager Model

The Process Co-Manager is much like the typical project manager we have had in place for some time with one exception. The Process Co-Manager share authority and decision-making responsibility with the Product Co-Manager. The Product Co-Manager represents the Customer and has the authority to act on behalf of the Customer whether internal or external.

On Becoming Customer-based and Technology-Driven

This is not an easy transformation. It won’t happen by next Tuesday. It is a process that requires a village to happen. The end state must be defined at the outset and supported throughout the enterprise. Its implementation can be top down or bottom up.

Top Down Implementation

It begins with a strategic plan. The Objective/Strategy/Tactics (OST) Model shown in Figure 2 is a good example of a top down approach.

Wysocki 09052018 2Figure 2: The OST Model

The OST Model can be used to completely reconfigure the enterprise to be a digital enterprise. It requires active support from the very top of the enterprise. It is a series of process steps that will usually occupy several planning cycles as the number of transformations will span the business processes and all lines of business.

Bottom Up Implementation

It begins with a demonstration project in a single line of business. It could be a new or existing line of business. A bottom up progression is a less aggressive form of transformation as it will involve probably a single line of business or a single functional area of the enterprise. It is a good learning experience for the organization too.

If the enterprise is entertaining a new line of business that is customer-driven and technology-based a bottom up implementation process might be the best choice. It can be done independent of the remaining business processes and practices. It can also be considered as a learning experience for the enterprise.

Putting It All Together

Let’s be very clear, despite the fact that the digital transformation can be dated to the 1970s its impact on both project management and business analysis processes and practices is just getting started. From a process perspective not much has been done. From a practice perspective most of what has been done is not published but remains as proprietary. This article is one of many designed to promote that process effort. The newsletter HPW Newsletter (see www.eiipubs.com) traces that history.

What is Meaningful Customer Involvement?
Having your customer sign-off on a specification document or acceptance test is involvement but it is not meaningful involvement. To be meaningful the customer involvement must include full-time participation in the project that will deliver a process or product for their direct use. That participation should include decision-making authority and responsibility. The Product Owner in a Scrum Project is the closest example of that meaningful involvement. However, their involvement does not extend beyond the planning activities of the project deliverables. If their involvement extended into the Execution Phase as a decision-maker, that comes closer to a customer-based environment. An example of that customer-based team environment is shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1: Co-Manager Model
The Process Co-Manager is much like the typical project manager we have had in place for some time with one exception. The Process Co-Manager share authority and decision-making responsibility with the Product Co-Manager. The Product Co-Manager represents the Customer and has the authority to act on behalf of the Customer whether internal or external.

On Becoming Customer-based and Technology-Driven
This is not an easy transformation. It won’t happen by next Tuesday. It is a process that requires a village to happen. The end state must be defined at the outset and supported throughout the enterprise. Its implementation can be top down or bottom up.

Top Down Implementation
It begins with a strategic plan. The Objective/Strategy/Tactics (OST) Model shown in Figure 2 is a good example of a top down approach.

Figure 2: The OST Model

The OST Model can be used to completely reconfigure the enterprise to be a digital enterprise. It requires active support from the very top of the enterprise. It is a series of process steps that will usually occupy several planning cycles as the number of transformations will span the business processes and all lines of business.

Bottom Up Implementation
It begins with a demonstration project in a single line of business. It could be a new or existing line of business. A bottom up progression is a less aggressive form of transformation as it will involve probably a single line of business or a single functional area of the enterprise. It is a good learning experience for the organization too.

If the enterprise is entertaining a new line of business that is customer-driven and technology-based a bottom up implementation process might be the best choice. It can be done independent of the remaining business processes and practices. It can also be considered as a learning experience for the enterprise.

Putting It All Together
Let’s be very clear, despite the fact that the digital transformation can be dated to the 1970s its impact on both project management and business analysis processes and practices is just getting started. From a process perspective not much has been done. From a practice perspective most of what has been done is not published but remains as proprietary. This article is one of many designed to promote that process effort. The newsletter HPW Newsletter (see www.eiipubs.com) traces that history.