What I Know It’s About Experience

The Burden of planning

Hi and سلام to All

Or rather, why there should be a Planning Phase in the project plan?

From all the staff at whatiknow.net a great Eid Muburak to all our Islamic readers and greetings to all others.

I have been asked to blog about the requirement for planning in IT, that is; what is planning? what does it do? and why should I do it? The reason for this topic is extremely funny (to me that is) but not to my fearless project manager friend who eats, breathes and sleeps according to PMBOK. Yes, I would like to call him 'grasshopper'. His story goes along the line of (from the horse's mouth so to say);

I am engaged at a client who wanted some documentation done, simple stuff. Operational processes and procedures, you know what I mean? How difficult is it to run a project for and to deliver documentation?

At this stage, I nearly drowned on the sip of tea I had taken. Ha, a project that has the deliverable 'documentation' hidden somewhere in it's Charter and Scope is more of a nightmare than say meeting your bank manager in the unemployment queue. So, how is documentation related to planning? Well, put it this way, remember the carpenter/dress making saying; 'Measure twice, cut once'?

Planning allows you to do this. Measure what is expected and plan the delivery.

Now, the client has a Quality Management System (QMS) in place (ISO 9002) which stipulates certain requirements for documentation, how it is created, stored, distributed and communicated. Yes, the company actually has a 'template' for an operational process and procedure that was signed off by the QMS board. So? What's the problem? Nothing if you are the client, aches and pains if you are my friend!

My friend then went on to tell me that his company had been given the work to "Compile, Approve and Implement" the processess and procedures and you guessed it, the sales person did not even ask the subject matter expert for expected time frames. After all, you can write a process in say 3 days, 10 processess equals 30 days less 5 as you will not have to do all from scratch. So, total man-days is 25 (including discount). And the deliverables? Draft, Approve and Implement 10 business processes and procedures (process and procedure seen as 1 document).

Simple? Yes. Understandable? Yes. Doable? Yes!

The question is, will it meet the client's expectations? No. Why? The client's QMS requires all documents to be reviewed by relevant internal parties and to follow a change management process. One of the requirements of the change management process is the 'Reason to create and/or modify the document' and this is where the tremors started, went to 9.5 on the Richter Scale and ended up with a Tsunami with the different departments at the client getting along like a house on fire, No survivors!

Lets see, my friend has been there for 4 months now, he is running the project at a loss and his company can not withdraw due to contractual obligations. I estimate that they will be at the client for another 3 months.

So, what will planning have told us?

1. That there was a QMS in place and what was required.
2. The process to follow to create, modify or delete a document.
3. Certain default document requirements as in, Who, What, Where, When, Why and How?
4. Identified all relevant parties and departments.
5. Confirmed the template.
6. Confirmed the content.
7. Confirmed the 'Implementation' process.
8. Confirmed that the client did all processes and procedures following Business Process Management principles.
9. Allowed my friend to motivate why 3 days per document was not sufficient and to request a 'Change of Scope'. That is, to manage the project by Scope Change .

So, what would the planning phase have included?

1. Meet with the client, Subject Matter Expert NOT Salesperson.
2. Identify documents to be delivered with the client (their buy-in and agreement).
3. Understand client's methodology and requirements (QMS and DMS).
4. Agree on the content of the documents (what has to be in, their buy-in and agreement).
5. Roles and Responsibilities (you can not have the QMS board meet to agree on a document).
6. Get the client to understand why the project is bigger than what was specified.
7. Identify key role players.
8. Schedule the meetings in advance.
9. Agree on the deliverable template (Word, Excel, Visio, Open Office etc).
10. Know the dynamics of the client's site. Who sits higher in the tree and who may prevent you from getting paid.

Taking this into account, what do you charge the client? I believe that all work done at a client for the client is chargable, maybe at a lessor rate as no intellectual property should be required. Shjould it be free? No, as the client may see this as a business process management exercise and delay the start of the project resulting in a delay to your payment.

What are your thoughts, next up, planning for technology roleout.