NZ-PHP :10 Warning signs in IT projects

Transcript

1. foolab.ca | @foolabca 10 warning signs in IT projects. PHP New Zealand, Wellington – August 28, 2014
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 • Developer & consultant at FooLab • I specialize in project rescue • Writing a book: 10 warning signs in IT projects • Twitter: @ylarrivee
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 • 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
9. 9 Deadline - Signs • Deadline too tight • Trying to make a project fit • Working overtime • Deadline too far
10. 10 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
11. 11 Progress - Signs • No demo within the first month • Missed demos
12. 12 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
13. 13 Team Spirit - Signs • Pointing fingers • Poor or no collaboration • Negative attitude
14. 14 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
15. 15 Communication – Signs • No one ever reports problem • People provide excuses for the road blocks • People forward you to the documentation • Languages • Timezones
16. 16 Communication – Solutions • Find the root cause • Have someone bilingual • Re adjust your schedule • Talk one on one to get the real information
17. 17 Focus – Signs • Methodologies & Architecture • Tools and framework • Adding cool features • Last minute changes
18. 18 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?
19. 19 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
20. 20 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
21. 21 Quality – Signs • The ghosts problem • Endless bugs list • No time for quality assurance • No time for performance testing
22. 22 Quality – Solutions • Have staging and product ready env. • Determine mission critical components • Write test for mission critical components • Have QA before each demo
23. 23 Metrics - Signs • No way to measure the expected outcome
24. 24 Metrics – Solutions • Level of success (business) • Level of quality • Level of performance
25. 25 Presentation take-away #1 • Situation appraisal • Objectives • Metrics • Joint accountability
26. 26 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
27. 27 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.