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http://foolab.ca @foolabca 10 warning signs in IT projects. Montreal.rb – January 21, 2014

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Some statistics • 70% of IT projects fail • 66% of projects go over budget • 33% go over schedule • 17 % under deliver value

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Yann Larrivée • Developer, consultant & manager at FooLab • I specialize in project rescue • Writing a book: 10 warning signs in IT projects. Y

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My objectives • Identify project threats early • Reduce the number of failures • Reduce stress, anxiety, headaches • More time with your family

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Vocabulary • Objectives • Metrics • Success • Failure

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Objectives - Signs • Stakeholders don't agree on business objectives • Goals are not communicated • Goals are not understood • Poorly defined goals

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Objectives - Solutions • Get stakeholders to agree and sign a contract • Kickoff meeting to explain the goals • Print the goals on a poster hang them in your office • Communicate them to all team members

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Deadline - Signs • Deadline too tight • Trying to make a project fit • Working overtime • Deadline too far

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Deadline - Solutions • Negotiate the delivery date • Negotiate deliverables based on objectives • Prioritize features based on objectives • Get more skilled developers • Plan time for the unexpected

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Progress - Signs • No demo within the first month • Missed demos

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Progress - Solutions • Weekly release and demo • Request developers to give development URL • Follow the GIT commits • Yellow-flag task at 50% of completion time • Red-flag task at 75% of completion

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Team Spirit - Signs • Pointing fingers • Poor or no collaboration • Negative attitude

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Team Spirit - Solutions • Break negative conversations • Change the focus on solutions • Meet team members with negative attitude • Remove bad team members • Get to know your team members

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Communication – Signs • No one ever reports problem • People provide excuses for the road blocks • People forward you to the documentation • Languages • Timezones

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Communication – Solutions • Find the root cause • Have someone bilingual • Re adjust your schedule • Talk one on one to get the real information

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Focus – Signs • Methodologies & Architecture • Tools and framework • Adding cool features • Last minute changes

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Focus – Solutions • Plan time for R&D outside of your project • Do R&D before project • Focus Delivering value, not feature • How does it bring us closer to the objective?

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Documentation – Signs • 50 pages+ novel style documentation • No documentation • No 10,000 foot view of the project • No or Poor Documentation technical and functional analysis

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Documentation – Solutions • Plan time for analysis • Centralize all documentation in source control • Write readable code • Have good tool to write documentation and specs • Keep it straight to the point

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Quality – Signs • The ghosts problem • Endless bugs list • No time for quality assurance • No time for performance testing

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Quality – Solutions • Have staging and product ready env. • Determine mission critical components • Write test for mission critical components • Have QA before each demo

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Metrics - Signs • No way to measure the expected outcome

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Metrics - Solutions • Level of success (business) • Level of quality • Level of performance

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Presentation take-away #1 • Situation appraisal • Objectives • Metrics • Joint accountability

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Presentation take-away #2 • How does it bring us closer to the objective • Break your projects into smaller ones • Socialize with your co-worker • Keep calm but stay alert

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Twitter: @ylarrivee E-mail: [email protected] Website: foolab.ca Through powerful advice, we help businesses maximize their investment and ship projects ahead of time. Questions?