10 warning signs in IT projects

It is know that in the IT industry project have a high percentage of failure. But what if we could see the warning signs before it is too late?

In this presentation, Yann Larrivée will explain through story telling the 10 warning signs you should look for throughout the implementation of your project in order to prevent many sleepless nights and project failure. For each warning signs one or more solutions will be given.

Transcript

1. foolab.ca | @foolabca 10 warning signs in IT projects. OpenWest, Orem – May 8th, 2015
2. foolab.ca | @foolabca Lessons learned from my journey through Mordor.
3. 3 Some statistics • 70% of IT projects fail • 66% of projects go over budget • 33% go over schedule • 17 % under deliver value
4. 4 Yann Larrivée • Consultant at FooLab • Project rescue & bring projects to success • I organize ConFoo.ca • I founded PHP Quebec user group • Twitter: @ylarrivee • Email : yann@foolab.ca
5. 5 Presentation objectives • Identify project threats early • Reduce the number of failures • Reduce stress, anxiety, headaches • More time with your family
6. 6 Vocabulary • Objectives • Metrics • Success • Failure
7. 7 Objectives - Signs • Stakeholders don't agree on business objectives • Goals are not communicated • Goals are not understood • Poorly defined goals
8. 8 Objectives - Solutions Ask these questions: • Why are we doing this? • What are we trying to improve?
9. 9 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
10. 10 Deadline - Signs • Deadline too tight • Trying to make a project fit • Working overtime • Deadline is too far
11. 11 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
12. 12 Progress - Signs • No demo within the first month • Missed demos • You don't even have demos
13. 13 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
14. 14 Team Spirit - Signs • Pointing fingers • Poor or no collaboration • Negative attitude
15. 15 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
16. 16 Communication – Signs • No one ever reports problem • People provide excuses for the road blocks • People forward you to the documentation • Languages • Timezones
17. 17 Communication – Solutions • Find the root cause • Have someone bilingual • Re adjust your schedule • Talk one on one to get the real information • Don't be shy pick up the phone!
18. 18 Focus – Signs • Methodologies & Architecture • Tools and framework • Adding cool features • Gold platting • Last minute changes
19. 19 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?
20. 20 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
21. 21 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
22. 22 Quality – Signs • The ghosts problem • Endless bugs list • No time for quality assurance • No time for performance testing
23. 23 Quality – Solutions • Have staging and product ready env. • Determine mission critical components • Write test for mission critical components • How many users at peak hours • Have QA before each demo
24. 24 Metrics - Signs • No way to measure the expected outcome
25. 25 Metrics – Solutions • Level of success (business) • Level of quality • Level of performance
26. 26 Other things to watch for: For your project success, leave these at home: • Office politics • Feelings • Ego
27. 27 Presentation take-away #1 • Situation appraisal • Objectives • Metrics • Joint accountability
28. 28 Presentation take-away #2 • How does it bring us closer to the objective • Break your projects into smaller ones • Socialize with your co-worker • Stay alert Remember: A project fails one day at a time
29. 29 Questions? Twitter: @ylarrivee E-mail: yann@foolab.ca Website: foolab.ca Through powerful advice, I help businesses maximize their investment and ship projects ahead of time.