SYNERGY
Collaborating Project Management for High Performance Business Insight
Oct 2015, Issue 15
a n d
busine$$ development
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Synergy Oct 2015, Page 1
Message from the President
3
From the editor’s desk
4
Mind Mapping Opportunities along the Project Life Cycle
5
Improving Business Value through lean-agile software development and IT operations
8
Design Driven Development – Powering Agility & Driving Innovation
12
Agile Contracting: Discovery, Fixed Budget, Variable Scope
15
Project That Demanded Agile
18
Role of Project Manager in Agile Framework
20
Change Management Strategy during ERP Implementations
24
Lean- Crossword
29
Chapter Events:
31
By Maneesh Dutt
By Naveen Kataria and Ajaibir Singh
By Sachin Kohli
By Avienaash Shiralige
By Parag Tipnis
By Rajesh Kumar Sud
By Praveen Anand
By Le Roi
Steering Project Success – What More is Possible?
Plan it Right to Get it Right
Challenges in Project Execution in Govt./Public Sector
Empowering Self and Teams to drive Project Success
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Synergy Oct 2015, Page 2
Message from the President
Dear Chapter Members and Practitioners,
Pritam D. Gautam
Welcome to this quarter full of festivals and we at PMI NIC Board would like
to wish you all in advance our best wishes for all the festivals and HAPPY Diwali!!
PMI NIC Board is currently undergoing elections for the VP Communications,
VP - Professional Development, VP - Volunteer Management and VP Membership.
This year we have initiated early elections to provide better handholding between incoming and outgoing board members. Elections are being governed
and managed by the Nominations Committee headed by Past President Manoj K. Gupta. Other committee members include Mr. Ajay Malik, IBM, and
Prof. (Dr.) Abhay Bansal, Amity School of Engg. & Tech.
The election results will be announced in the first week of November, and
there will an overlap period till 31st December 2015. The newly elected board
members will take over the portfolio from 1st January 2016.
We are sure project management practitioners are gaining from the monthly
knowledge sharing sessions being conducted by the chapter.
We invite feedback from you on the events being organized, and any other
suggestions / queries.
With best regards
Pritam D. Gautam
President
PMI North India Chapter
pritam@pminorthindia.org
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Synergy Oct 2015, Page 3
From the editor’s desk
Hello PM Practitioner,
T
Nirmallya Kar
he theme of this issue of synergy is Agile and business development. Astrosat, India's first Multi-wavelength Space Observatory
was successfully launched by ISRO's workhorse launch vehicle PSLV
into a 650km orbit on September 28, 2015. Lately ISRO is delivering
success after success, specially worth mentioning is the launch of Mangalyaan
and in return it has generated a lots of business value out of it. Any process
or framework only have meaning if it generates the intended business, otherwise it is of no value.
In this issue we have an interesting article dealing with one of the latest
topic in the software development world “DevOps”. It is straight from the
practitioner’s desk. It talks about how to generate business value rapidly.
Then there is a article on “ Design driven development “, also not to forget
the article on mind map, which is second in the series of 3 part article. This
time we also introduced a cross-word on “Lean “, please try your skills in
solving the same.
In this quarter there was a continuous stream of activities on the
“Leadership event” front. We had total of four events in the quarter, which
generated a lots of enthusiasm in the PM community. Please keep on attending these events as you are exposed to the experiences of PM community and
a great opportunity for networking. Apart from these they are also source of
your PDU earnings and mostly free of charge for PMI North India Chapter
member.
The festival season is round the corner, we from the editorial team wishes
our readers a great Durga puja and happy Deepawali.
With best regards
Nirmallya Kar
Vice President - Communications
PMI North India Chapter
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Synergy Oct 2015, Page 4
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Synergy Oct 2015, Page 5
MIND MAPPING OPPORTUNITIES
ALONG
THE PROJECT LIFE CYCLE
(Part 2)
By
Maneesh Dutt
(This is part two of a three part series of articles based on the book “Mind Maps for Effective Project Management” by Maneesh Dutt. In the first part we focused on Mind Mapping opportunities during project initiation.
Now we discover how Mind Mapping can add value during the Project Execution phase. Both Project Communication and Scope Management play an important role in successful project execution. In this article we see
how Mind Maps can help strengthen both these important PM aspects i.e. enabling effective communication
and determining accurately the impact of a change on the project scope. )
In
the part one of this article we understood what Mind Maps are, and discovered opportunities for Mind Mapping
during the critical starting phase of the
project. In this part two of the article we look at opportunities for Mind Mapping during the busy execution phase of the project.
The execution phase of the project is a bridge between the start from nebulous thoughts to a tangible
end i.e. the desired product or service. As we proceed
deeper into execution the cloud of ideas start taking
shape and the increased clarity of the end goal acts
as a wonderful motivational fuel.
In this phase the activities are intense and hence the
rate of consumption of resources is the maximum in
comparison to the other phases of the project. The
keywords for this phase, in addition to execution, are
monitoring, reporting, control and risk management.
There is no area of Project Management which remains untouched during project execution and there
are opportunities galore for using Mind Maps. Visibility & Transparency is key in this phase of the project
where hundreds of decisions are taken using available
facts and figures. Mind Maps can offer that vital help
of capturing all the relevant data and allow for easy
and quick communication of the same to a large audience in an engaging manner.
We look at two specific and important opportunities
during project execution for using Mind Maps with
wonderful benefits:
from different cultures participate to the teleconference and thus there could be possibilities of
mis-understandings happening.
Figure 1: Using Mind Mapping for preparing and conducting a tele-conference
A Mind Map as indicated in figure 1 could
help reduce such errors during communications especially during tele-conferences. Let’s see in detail
how?
The project manager (or anybody else coordinating the meeting) can prepare such a Mind Map
prior to the call. The first branch captures the agenda points and the approximate
Project Communications
Mind Map is a simple crea- time it would take to discuss
them. The second branch identitivity enhancing “thinking”
Communication is the ingredient
tool which is based on prin- fies the participants most suited
which can make or break relations
ciples which help our brain to contributing to the agenda
and hence in projects or for that learn and create better
points and those who are influmatter in general in life communicaenced by the outcome of the detion is of vital importance. Every communication op- cisions. Next each agenda point is detailed on a sepportunity is a means of strengthening the partnership arate branch with sub-branches on aspects such as
with project stakeholders to meet the desired end defining the problem/issue on hand, the desired outoutcome. Given the multi-site location of project come, who could be the best contributor to this
teams, there is a heavy reliance on tele-conferences agenda, what will be coordinators action if there is
while executing projects. Also many times people no outcome or conclusion and finally the actions that
A
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Synergy Oct 2015, Page 6
emerge out of the discussions. In a similar fashion
the other agenda points are also detailed on individual branches. As the call progresses the project manager keeps on recording the development on the subbranches and if required creates more branches. At
the end of the meeting clear actions plans must
emerge for all the agenda points and the essential
one’s recorded in the last summary branch. This Mind
Maps allows the project manager to present the problem in a systematic way to the other participants &
additionally all inputs received during the call can
very easily be plugged into the existing Mind Map.
tating a quick decision forward on the project.
Similarly Mind Mapping can additionally be used
across the following vital areas of project execution:
Time Management
Cost Management
Quality Management
Risk & Opportunities Management
Procurement Management
The book “Mind Maps for Effective Project Management” elaborates the above opportunities (and
more) with suggested Mind Map templates for each
Scope Management
areas. For reading sample pages of the book you
could visit the following link: https://notionpress.com/
The Project Scope need to be clearly defined read/Mind-Maps-for-effective-project-management
at project initiation. However the unavoidable challenge while executing a project is not to avoid the
changes but to minimize their negative impact on the About the Author
key project metrics.
Maneesh
DUTT
(maneesh.dutt@outlook.com);
www.inlightenconsultancy.com)
Maneesh Dutt, is a B.Tech from IIT
-D and a MBA from ENI University,
Italy. He is a certified PMP, Certified
Scrum Master (CSM), Think Buzan
Licensed Instructor (TLI) for Mind Maps and Lead Auditor for OHSAS 18001 standards. He is Founder, Inlighten Consultancy which focuses on providing high
value add workshops around Project Management &
Mind Mapping. He has 20 years of experience in the
industry working with various organisations across
sectors. In his last assignment he was Head, Business
Excellence & Innovation for STMicroelectronics India
operations. He is also an author of the book “Mind
Maps for Effective Project Management”
Figure 2: Mind Map for impact analysis of a change to
the project.
Thus in managing scope the challenge is to
assess correctly the impact of the change and then
decide whether to accept or reject. A quick Mind Map
for assessing the change is shown in figure 2. The
branches on the right of the Mind Map assess the impact of the change on the Time, Cost, Quality & any
other factor. On the other hand the impact of not accepting the change may not always mean that the status quo of the project is maintained. Thus the branches on the left of the Mind Map capture the impact on
the same set of parameters if the change is not accepted. It is important that each of the factors therein
are quantified to the extent possible. On the same
Map we also analyze mitigation action if any for the
individual impacts identified on a separate sub-branch
and their related cost.
Though this process may seem a little obvious
it has two big benefits. First it systematically helps to
avoid missing any impact of the change/no-change by
looking at the project constraint (and other) factors
one by one. Secondly, it allows for easy communication of the impact analysis in an extremely clear &
concise way to all the stakeholders involved thus faciliFeedback: pminicmag@pminorthindia.org
Synergy Oct 2015, Page 7
Improving Business Value
through
Le an
Software development and
IT Operations
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Synergy Oct 2015, Page 8
Improving Business Value through lean-agile software development and IT
operations
By
Naveen Kataria and Ajaibir Singh
B
usiness value delivery drives decisionmaking associated with IT portfolio management
and service delivery. Those associated with software development find themselves at odds while
working in / with IT operations. There have been
some encouraging trends and success stories including in large organizations where software development and IT operations functions are finding
ways to collaborate more effectively to improve
business value. In fact reacting rapidly to shifting
business priorities that are often manifested via
frequent software deployments, with the support
of stable and predictable IT services has seen an
uprising trend among organizations. This proves
that development and operations functions can
partner effectively.
Most importantly, this article provides insight into
how IT can help organizations achieve the business
outcomes they wish to achieve, by leveraging the
best that lean-agile software development and Service Delivery have to offer.
Examining the Sources of relationship between Software Development and IT Operations
The relationship between software development
teams, which focus on creating and modifying software, and IT operations groups, which have responsibilities that include deployment of software
packages to production environments is often contentious. For instance, to look at things from an IT
operations perspective, operations
are evaluated largely on the extent to which the systems
they manage are stable. Given this fact, it is understandable that there is a desire to restrict deployment of software to a production environment as
much as possible, to avoid the instability that is so
often associated with software releases (Humble &
Molesky, 2011, p. 6). Organizations are discovering
ways to make the relationship between software
development (“Dev”) and operations (“Ops”) much
less contentious, and a term that is often used to
describe this evolving relationship is DevOps. This
article seeks to provide further evidence that it is
not only possible to bridge the perceived divide between the Dev and Ops communities, but also to
show how their shared interest in the delivery of
business value makes Dev and Ops natural allies.
One of the changes in the IT industry that is
prompting organizations to change their perspective on the DevOps relationship is a shift from traFeedback: pminicmag@pminorthindia.org
ditional software development approaches, based
on a phase-based, or “waterfall” model, to agile
software development. In sharp contrast to waterfall development, which for larger implementations
tends to produce working software relatively infrequently, agile software development makes it possible to deliver working software much more rapidly, and at a predictable cadence. Although from a
business perspective the rapid delivery of software
may seem like a good problem to have, from a
technical perspective, frequent deployments of
software to production environments find many
organizations unprepared for such a profound shift
in their internal operations.
There is no better illustration of the importance of
the Dev-Ops relationship to the health and wellbeing of an organization than the story that is told
in The Phoenix Project (Kim, Behr, & Spafford,
2013). The story begins with an organization that
is clearly in trouble, beset with financial problems
and organizational dysfunction, with a high degree
of conflict among business and IT stakeholders.
Given this backdrop, a mid-level IT manager suddenly finds himself in very senior position where he
is given a mandate (more of an ultimatum, really)
to address many of the organization’s most dire
problems. During his early days in the new position
he discovers just how central a healthy Dev-Ops
relationship is to being able to make the sort of
improvements he has been asked to make. Kim,
Behr, and Stafford not only tell a fascinating story,
they describe realities that they have observed in
many different organizations, and even more importantly, they illustrate that it truly is possible for
an organization to realize the benefits of lean-agile
software development along with IT operations,
and to build a healthy, collaborative relationship
among those in software development and those in
IT operations that works to the benefit of the organization as a whole.
For organizations considering an agile transformation consider the difference in terms of the likelihood of success between an organization that
takes the time to do a proper assessment of its culture, its values, and its principles, versus an organization that makes no such effort. In the former
case, it would be typical for a broad spectrum of
stakeholders to be involved in the planning, design,
implementation, and continuous improvement of
the agile transformation initiative, and those stakeholders would most certainly include individuals
representing various business functions, along with
staff working in software development and IT operations roles. By way of contrast, in the latter
case, where an organization rushes into an agile
Synergy Oct 2015, Page 9
transformation, it is all too frequent an occurrence
that key stakeholders, including those in IT operations, are not adequately consulted, often with disastrous consequences. To put it in more concrete
business terms, “IT organizations that fail to confront and reconcile the widening gap between their
development and operations teams stand to lose
their footing in today’s competitive business environment” (Orr, 2012, p. 1). The fact is, in organizations where an agile transformation not only survives but thrives, the agile mindset, values, and
principles span the entire organizational value
stream, from concept to cash.
Exhibit 1 shows the
nature of the cyclical
relationship
among
business stakeholders
(application owners),
the software development function, and
the IT operations
function.
DevOps
Exhibit
1–
The
This simple diagram is also a good metaphorical
representation of the four agile values, as articulated in the Agile Manifesto (Beck et al., 2001). The
four values are: Individuals and interactions over
processes and tools; Working software over comprehensive documentation; Customer collaboration
over contract negotiation; and Responding to
change over following a plan. Imagine how well
such a cycle would work if there were insufficient
interaction and collaboration among the parties involved, or if they did not all see the delivery of
working software as important. These four values,
along with twelve principles (which constitute the
second part of the Agile Manifesto), must be at the
very core of every agile initiative, regardless of
which set of practices an organization decides to
adopt. In other words, an agile mindset is needed
for an organization to be agile, as opposed to just
doing some agile practices without the accompanying mindset, values, and principles.
Shifting focus to another Lean principle, a concept
that is relevant to those working in both software
IT operations, is the need to keep
batch sizes as small as possible. To start with a reasonably simple definition, batch size is synonymous
with the size of a software module or similar work
product that moves from one environment to another. Thus, every time a developer checks in code,
they are batching a certain amount of work. Leanagile software development employs various prac-
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tices to keep batch size reasonably small, such as
Continuous Integration (CI), where relatively small
sets of changes are run against a set of tests that
ensure build integrity is maintained. Some of the
benefits of smaller batch size and CI include faster
feedback to developers, keeping any problems that
do occur localized, and reduced code integration
risk, all of which benefit parties involved with software development and deployment (Ries, 2009, ¶ 2
–7).
Stated slightly differently, CI is an excellent illustration of how lean and agile concepts, when used in
combination, can produce superb results. And, CI
can benefit both software development and IT operations staff, in the former case by catching defects early, along with making the build process
more robust, and in the latter case by making it
easier to migrate software from one environment to
another in a much more predictable fashion. “In
lean thinking terminology, CI replaces big batches
and long cycle times of integration (the practice of
traditional configuration management) with small
batches and short cycles of integration—a repeating
lean theme” .
So ,on lean software development, as with agile,
there are many lean success stories. And, just as it
is with agile, successful lean implementations tend
to follow certain patterns. Lean inherits ideas from
the world of manufacturing to drive efficiency and
effectiveness, ideas that are particularly relevant in
IT operations. Lean ideas can work very nicely in
tandem with agile, given its strong alignment with
the thought processes
patterns associated
with software development. “What is really behind
companies that succeed at sustained lean implementation is the level of thinking driven by lean
principles and rules. Thinking is powerful in changing an organization. Thinking drives behaviors. Behaviors
drive
action.
Action
drives
results.” (Flinchbaugh, 2012, p. 4)
Conclusion
To sum up this when it comes to realizing the benefits of lean-agile software development, some of the
more obvious benefits include faster development
of features but it is important not to lose sight of
the most important benefit, which is the ability to
rapidly deliver business value, in whatever form
business value might be realized for an organization. When viewed from the perspective of one of
the most critical manifestations of business value
delivery — competitive advantage — organizations
that practice
development and
that “… have the ability to quickly and inexpensively
evolve a product closest to the end of the development lifecycle will have a tremendous competitive
advantage. Ultimate customer value is delivered at
the point-of-sale, not the point-of-plan” (Highsmith,
Synergy Oct 2015, Page 10
2010, p. 44). It is well within the grasp of any organization to build a foundation of collaboration and
trust that enables those in software development to
partner with those in IT operations (Service Delivery) to the mutual benefit of everyone in the organization.
About the Author(s)
Naveen Kataria (PMI – ID : 1230639)
Naveen Kataria is retired from India
Navy and currently working as
Transition & Transformation Leader
at IBM India for over 5 years complimented by M.Tech from IIT Kharagpur , PgDBA from IIFT Delhi &
certification from PMI.. He has over
27 years of professional experience
of providing Leadership and Excellence in Delivery. He has been instrumental in overall direction to the
Transition teams & responsible for execution of diverse
range of large and complex Transition projects for key outsourcing contracts
in.linkedin.com/pub/naveen-kataria/8/807/195/
Ajaibir Singh (PMI ID- 904927)
References
Beck, K., et al. (2001). The Manifesto for Agile Software Development [Online]. Retrieved from http://
www.agilealliance.org/the-alliance/the-agilemanifesto/.
Ajaibir Singh is working as Delivery Portfolio Manager in IBM India
and has 23 years of experience .
He has served as the catalyst for
successful completion of Program,
Project and Technical Services
initiatives in
IT / ITES /
Construction Industry, complimented by PMI Certifications.
Flinchbaugh, J., (2012). A3 Problem Solving: Apply- in.linkedin.com/pub/ajaibir-singh/4/498/88
ing Lean Thinking. Vancouver, British Columbia:
Leanpub.com
(Ruboss Technology Corporation). Retrieved on from
https://leanpub.com/a3problemsolving.
Highsmith, J. (2010). Agile Project Management:
Creating Innovative Products, 2nd Edition. Upper
Saddle River, NJ: Addison-Wesley.
Humble, J., & Molesky, J. (August 2011). "Continous
Delivery," Cutter IT Journal, vol. 11, no. 8, pp. 6-12
[Online].
Retrieved
from
http://nobelium.se/
itj1108.pdf.
Kim, G., Behr, K., & Spafford, G. (2013). The Phoenix
Project: A Novel About IT, DevOps, and Helping Your
Business Win. Portland, Oregon: IT Revolution
Press.
Larman, C., & Vodde, B. (2008). Scaling Lean & Agile
Development: Thinking and Organizational Tools for
Large-scale Scrum. Upper Saddle River, NJ: AddisonWesley.
Orr, A. (December 2012). “Maximize the Synergies
between IT and DevOps” [Online]. Retrieved from
http://documents.bmc.com/products/
documents/52/40/435240/435240.pdf.
Ries, E. (February 20, 2009). “Work in small batches,” Startup Lessons Learned [Online]. Retrieved
from
http://www.startuplessonslearned.com/2009/02/
work-in-small-batches.html.
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Synergy Oct 2015, Page 11
Design Driven Development
Powering
Driving Innovation
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Synergy Oct 2015, Page 12
Design Driven Development – Powering Agility & Driving Innovation
By
Sachin Kohli
“If you can’t explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough”.
“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning”.
- Albert Einstein
I
n the rapid changing software development, agile has become an indispensable part of the development methodology. Agile is well adapted everywhere
and its importance is unleased by many companies and
they have been benefitted by reducing the cost and delivering in a short span of time. However, there are
many instances when the requirements of the user are
not met by the products even though following agile.
This problem can be overcome with the help of Design
Driven Development (D3), which can develop innovative products which will lead to the better user experience and ultimately running successful solutions, thus
enhancing the benefits of agility.
D3 is an agile paradigm which aims at developing innovative solution to provide more value to the user and
simultaneously improving the processes of developing
the products. The greatness of software lies in the fact
how much people like using it. In times not so old,
there used to be huge user manual dictating users on
how to use an application, but as the time passed, applications became self-explanatory and easy to use. User feedback has played an important role in modelling
such changes.
Let’s take an example of mobile phones. There used to
be big user manuals for early launched mobile phones.
Now, user manuals have been replaced by almost zero
documentation as w hat has happened in case of
smartphones. Devices are going plug and play
mode. Since, world is changing fast, so do the need
and expectations of the users, D3 can certainly help the
enterprises to cope with the challenges of rapid development with a focus of using innovation to build innovative solutions.
A common question comes into mind, since design was
always there as part of software development lifecycle
then why it could not be leveraged to create better applications? The answer can be seen by doing retrospection of most of the companies- big or small. Leaders or
decision makers of such companies are too technically
inclined and feel that design is inherit feature of product and they do not need to do anything explicitly for it,
thus they do not invest in design of the product, rather
their focus is to build products. Essentially they do not
understand what value a design will provide to their
business. This philosophy is not only creating design
legacy but also product debts [1]. The code legacy becom es unavoidable w here products are created out of design legacy.
Agile is iterative and incremental that gives opportunity
to greatly reduce cost and deliver in time to the market.
But many a times, solutions do not meet the expectaFeedback: pminicmag@pminorthindia.org
tions of the users. One of the major drawbacks is the
improper design. With design centric focus, D3 offers
creating innovative requirements in agile process,
thereby enhancing its capability to yield better solutions. Design, Engineering and Management are
important pillars of an organization and they are equally
important for its growth. Though each of these domains
has an effective role to play, yet there are issues while
integrating them. There is a need of an effective collaboration among them so as to create not only better
products but also better processes, work places and
environment for people to work. This is depicted in Figure 1. [2]
Fig 1: Design, Engineering and M anagem ent [2]
Agile’s methodologies - Scrum and Extreme Programming w ork very w ell and closely w ith D3. D3 provides agility to the design of the application and innovation side of the application. Having design in the start
of the scrum process helps to decide future course of
development with a special focus on customer requirements and satisfaction [3].
Synergy Oct 2015, Page 13
Figure 1: D3 w ith Scrum and Ex trem e Program - About the Author
ming (XP) [3]
Sachin Kohli is currently w orkThe main focus of D3 is to generate a solution rather
than the problem itself. Doing this, it brings the high
ing in SAP Labs India as Project
level design of the product whereas traditionally design
Manager and has more than 12
focused on either the code or the architecture. D3 conyears of experience in IT industry.
verts the design practices into set of games, which
His area of expertise includes Project
brings people with different skills set and experience
Management, Architecture, Design,
together to take a collaborative decision on the design.
Commodity Management, SCM, UI
D3 defines Innovation, Intelligence, information
technologies and Programming. He
and Interaction as four fundamental elements of a
good design. Innovation is regarded as a solution is a keen traveler and indulges into exploring the nabreakthrough aiming at solving a problem yet not com- ture and his surroundings.
prising the simplicity. Intelligence is something which
focuses on the intricacies which improves the usability.
Information is how the screen elements are rendered
on the user interface; while how well the users interact
with the application is termed as interaction. D3 says
that there is no process which can produce an effective
design... It lays emphasis on people, their environment
and culture to achieve this and thus it has coined a
term – Design Cube for this effective collaboration. [4]
Many companies are changing their approach of developing software and lots of them have been benefitted
from the adaption of agile. They can take extra step in
investing in D3. Here are some of the values where D3
can possibly create improvements in the way organizations work:
Iterative process of simplification and refinement
generate powerful designs
Better design are the outcome of the right set of
people working in a flourishing environment,
this provides them a platform to collaborate and
innovate
Product owners, customers and users need to understand their requirements and prioritize them
so that they can be organized in better way.
Design is something which starts at the start of the
development process and having it at the imitation gives advantage of exploring maximum opportunities
References
“How to Foster Design-Driven Development in Your
Company”, Jess Eddy, January 2014. Available at
http://jesseddy.com/downloads/
Design_Driven_Development.pdf
Henry Jacob, D3: Design Foundation, Available at
http://www.designdrivendevelopment.org/explore/
designfoundation.html
Henry Jacob, D3 and Agile, available at http://
www.designdrivendevelopment.org/explore/
d3agile.html
Design Driven Development, Mobile Camp Brussels
2010, Available at http://highestpoint.biz/topics/
software-engineering/
Feedback: pminicmag@pminorthindia.org
Synergy Oct 2015, Page 14
contracting
Discovery, Fixed Budget, Variable Scope
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Synergy Oct 2015, Page 15
Agile Contracting: Discovery, Fixed Budget,
Variable Scope
By
Avienaash Shiralige
I
n the article “Agile for Fixed Bid Projects“ by
Shrikant Vashishtha [1], he discussed about committing fixed number of story points and swapping
any additional scope with existing backlog. This is a
great way to maximize value with minimal change in
timelines and budget. This works well when there is
a trust existing between product and engineering,
and client/product team understands this agile approach. Still, fixing size, undermines one major aspect of an agile team – “applying learning
back into the project”. Development teams while
doing size estimation give higher points where there
are uncertainties and risks. Known unknowns,
new technology, unclear requirements etc.
are few reasons for providing higher story
points. As project progresses, team s get m ore
knowledgeable (both technology and business) and
hence some tasks now look smaller than before.
Recently, a team estimated the backlog to be around
250 points for beta release. But as soon as they finished two sprints team realized that some of the stories in the backlog are of lesser size than estimated. Hence team w ent ahead and reestimated some of them which brought backlog size
to 220+ points. Here, if team had a fixed size contract of 250 points, then they would be discouraged from saying that rest of the backlog
is lesser than earlier. This refutes one of the
values of a scrum team – Honesty and transparency.
By doing so, team here built great level of trust
with the client.
So then how do we solve this agile contract
thing? How do we execute in an agile manner
when there is less trust between product (read
client in services) and engineering?
It is tough for new client or in-fact even clients with
decent agile knowledge to sign a contract based on
story points. Many of them feel it is random number
which can be gamed. We all know that only language
every business owner understands is MONEY. How
Feedback: pminicmag@pminorthindia.org
about then fixing a budget and keeping scope
(size) variable? So this m eans you have tentative understanding of how many points you can approximately achieve but it can change keeping budget fixed. Budget is fixed by fixing team capacity which
is the biggest variable.
This means, we have to tweak the approach to team
based staffing model. A quick list of steps to arrive at
the budget:
1. Define the product backlog
2. Estimate the size (I prefer one sizing to arrive at
quick estimates over poker at project start or during proposal stage).
3. Identify a team(Dev, QA, Designer, BA etc.) and
team size – team based staffing model
4. Forecast a velocity by team mocking sprint execution(do at-least for first 2 sprints)
5. Plan the number of sprints needed with this average velocity to meet the product backlog size. With
this fixed team size and with number of
sprints, you can calculate the budget
Example: So a backlog size of 250 points, with average forecasted velocity from step 4 coming to say 25
points, then we need 10 sprints with a team size of 7
people assuming a fixed sprint duration, say, 2
weeks. Now fix a budget as per your billing rate and
propose this budget to the client. Team and client
can now work within this budget to deliver high priority features. I prefer now or later prioritization approach here.
It is a major mind-set shift for clients to move away
from Fixed price, Fixed scope and almost fixed time
kind of engagements where only variable was quality
Throwing a random number on a long requirements
document in short time, eventually leads to lot of
overtime, low morale, scope misunderstanding and
what not. These kind of engagements call for sweat
and blood project management and execution. Projects starts to bleed in such contracts. Companies
who value this are saying NO to those clients where
you have to throw a fixed number on a 200 page requirements document in short time. This is the big-
gest bane of the services sector – committing
numbers when you know least about the project. Foot-in-the-door thinking is other reason
why many companies can’t say NO the clients
even if they know it is risky to provide numbers so early.
Can we do discovery first?
Go for discovery workshop rather than comSynergy Oct 2015, Page 16
mitting numbers upfront discourages vendor
selection just based on costing. Asking clients to
enter into a discovery phase with them for 1-2
weeks to understand business problem very well, to
brainstorm solutions together, and to come-up with
a more clear understanding of the system which
guides in providing confident estimates makes
sense. This also gives the client a first taste of the
company, their working model, culture and lot
more. Also this is a good time to take client through
this team based staffing with variable scope and
fixed budget (a narrow range).
Creating a good team which focusses on maximizing
value is what agile organizations look for. Then our
contract model should reflect this thinking
too. Exploring multiple contracts incrementally with
the same client is a good idea too.
1. First contract – Only discovery phase. Ex pected outcome is ordered, sized product backlog
with supporting artifacts. Then,
2. Second contract – A fixed price and scope
contract just for couple of sprints. This gives a
peek into agile way of working, sprint model, team
culture etc. This is great place to build trust provided
teams does good delivery and work as thought partners with the client. Then,
Third Contract – Fixed budget + variable
scope, w hich w e discussed above, for rest of
the project.
Early client education is key. Convincing clients to go
for a discovery workshop is the need and hence your
sales team must have deep knowledge about agile
too.
About the Author
Avienaash Shiralige is having 17+
years experience in IT Product and
Service Companies. He is Agile/Lean
Coach, Scrum Trainer, Writerwww.agilebuddha.com,
CoachingSrijan Technologies, and at present
Heads - Srijan Goa.
He is has bootstrapping business units and teams
from scratch and has taken product to market ontime and on-quality . He is also involved in Agile
Consulting/Coaching different teams in India, Australia, Europe and US. He has conducted various
basic and advanced Agile/Scrum Trainings and
Workshops for teams and management in many
companies
Feedback: pminicmag@pminorthindia.org
Synergy Oct 2015, Page 17
project that demanded
Feedback: pminicmag@pminorthindia.org
Synergy Oct 2015, Page 18
Project That Demanded Agile
By
Parag Tipnis
P
roject Management is both a ‘Science’ and an
‘Art’. There are thumb rules, principles, laws and guidelines but there are also analogies and intuition. And
one of the most intuitive tasks in Project Management
is selecting the right Project Management methodology. There is a let’s just do it approach, there is the
traditional waterfall method of Project Management
and then there are agile methodologies like Lean, Kanban, Scrum and Extreme Programming. Essentially,
sometimes the camps get divided into the supporters
of traditional or waterfall methods with focus on detailed planning (more time spent planning, less time
spent worrying) and the proponents of Agile methodologies with more responsiveness to changing requirements. Most often the choice of the Project Management methodology is a factor of type of project, organizational policies, legal requirements (especially in fixed
cost contracts where the scope has to be defined in
advance) and the personalities and preferences of the
PMO director and project managers. However some
projects demand a certain Project Management methodology.
One such project was with a multi country development organization which worked with governments of different countries on development projects.
This organization was the client of the company I work
with and our role was to provide a software solution to
the client. The technical specifications had been prepared by a reputable consultancy firm which also saw
the vendor selection process in which we emerged as
the successful bidders. The same consultancy firm was
selected as the principal project manager for the project. The approach that this firm took was that of following the traditional waterfall method and we received
a detailed scope document. Nothing was left out, every
process, every screen, every field and every user role
was described in detail. They could have sent the document halfway across the globe and got the system developed from someone who had never even heard of
the country that the client organization worked with,
that too without any face to face or video/audio interaction. It was possible to build the system just by reading the document. But, one of the activities we had
proposed was scope validation. Our team went onsite
and discussed with the client the scope which was provided to us. It turned out that all the stakeholders in
the client organization had not been involved in the
process. We raised the concern to the consultant acting
as the project manager. It was decided that a new
round of system requirement study would be undertaken and we would receive a new scope document. Negotiations were held on how much variation could be
allowed in the scope since it was a fixed price bid.
The new scope document arrived in some time, this
time signed by all the stakeholders in the client organiFeedback: pminicmag@pminorthindia.org
zation (even now some stakeholders had given verbal
approval). We worked as per the new scope and created a prototype system. We hosted the prototype system in our test environment and went onsite for scope
verification. The meetings that happened were stormy
and full of passionate energy. As can be expected in
software projects, it is always difficult for the users to
envision the system before they actually see it, and
when they saw the system, they did not feel like their
requirements were captured correctly. The client refused to sign the acceptance documents and for a
while contract dispute loomed large on our heads. The
project had already been delayed and we had incurred
more cost than originally planned including unpaid onsite travel (yes it’s a real life scenario!!).
We realized we had to do something quick to allay the
situation and to successfully close the projects. We
could not perpetually keep investing time, money and
technical resources to the project and the prospect of
arbitration or legal proceedings did not seem appealing
although the result might have been in our favor (given
the fact that we had worked on a detailed Request for
Proposal and a signed scope). Any such action could
result in loss of reputation or erosion of goodwill in our
customer community. We decided to positively influence the result of the project. We proposed that the
Project Management methodology be changed to Agile.
We committed to sending few experts of our development team onsite for three weeks. The client organization agreed to pay for the travel and boarding expenses of our team. We planned three day iterations, where
every three days we showcased the client our progress
on requested changes. And as time progress we saw
that the client became more and more satisfied with
the result. Just three weeks of Agile development resolved a conflict and completed a project which had
exceeded its planned time by three months. If we had
followed Agile from day 1, we might have completed
the project before time and saved on costs. This was a
project that demanded Agile!!
About the Author
Parag Tipnis is a Project Manager
with over 9 years of experience of
managing complex multi country and
multi-year projects involving remote
teams and numerous stakeholders,
strong technical understanding and
significant exposure to finance and
procurement. He has led project teams, handling multiple projects at same time. His skill set includes strong
interpersonal skills
Synergy Oct 2015, Page 19
role of project manager in
framework
Feedback: pminicmag@pminorthindia.org
Synergy Oct 2015, Page 20
Role of Project Manager in Agile Framework
By
Rajesh Kumar Sud
nical, interpersonal and conceptual skills. Project manager needs to determine the optimal management of
leader style to be used based on the type of project,
team composition etc. Project Manager is In-charge of
he Theme of this issue of SYNERGY is Agile the project (is not a technical expert) and responsible
and Business Development. SYNERGY literally means to controls project processes, managing expectations
interaction or cooperation of two or more to produce a and for project deliverables. Project Manager is excombined effect greater than the sum of their separate pected to let the team focus on results and not too
effects. The term SYNERGY comes from the Attic Greek much worry about process. Project manager along with
word synergia meaning "working together". Synergism the team is to decide what part of the process is the
is the potential ability on cooperation of individual or- best fit for the project and apply the same. Project
ganizations or groups to be more successful or produc- Manager is responsible for ‘tailoring’ i.e. ‘to determine
tive. A project brings together many individuals (people what is appropriate for any project’ and develops the
with multiple skills). To coordinate work among team Project Management Plan. Interpersonal skills (which
members in a collaborative way is challenging. In a per- are more art than science) play a crucial part and confect world, what so ever methodology is adopted, be it tribute to the success or failure of a project. Key skills
Waterfall or Agile, the project is not likely to fail, but it required to manage the project team include leaderis not so in practice, Project Management Methodolo- ship, influencing and effective decision making. Project
gies have gaps.
Manager’s interpersonal skills are an important tools. In
Management is a profession that helps to achieve goals PMF role, Project Manager is to best assess the individset for the business. One can use different methodolo- ual capabilities and consume those for the benefit of
gies and tools (e.g. Agile, waterfall, PRINCE2) to imple- project. PMBOK Guide may be used as a resource in
ment the Project Management Framework.
managing a project while considering the
anagement is a
PMI’s five process group’s (initiating, planprofession that overall approach and methodology to be
ning, executing, monitor and control &
followed for the project, the effort is
helps to
achieve goals known as ‘tailoring’.
closing), based upon proven PMI’s Project
Management Framework (PMF) model con- set for the business
sisting of 10 Knowledge Areas, enhances
Project Manager is also responsible for
the chances of managing a project towards a successful providing an effective interface for interaction among
completion. The standard is a guide rather than a spe- team members. Project Manager also provides feedback
cific methodology. Before discussing the role of Project to all team members. The first process group initiating
Managers in Agile Framework, it is essential to under- key deliverable are project charter and identifying
stand duties, functions and responsibilities of Project stockholders. PMI (PMF) highly recommends ParticipaManagers. The role of Project Manager can be under- tion of the project manager in the development of prostood with the use and understanding of Project Man- ject charter. The Project charter provides the project
agement Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) as primary manager with the authority to plan and executes the
guide.
project. Project Manager must define roles and responEffective Collaboration among team members is a skill. sibilities early in project and identify all stakeholders,
As Per Project Management Institute (PMI) Frame- determine stakeholder’s requirements and expectations.
work’s leadership requirements, it calls for a person to Discovering new stakeholder’s requirements through
manage, i.e. a Project Manager. Project Manager is a the course of the project, is a costly endeavor, (cost of
person assigned by the performing organization to lead changes increases as the project progresses). Project
the team that is responsible for achieving project objec- Manager also communicates and manages stakeholders
tives. In general, project managers have the responsi- influence. Stakeholder influence is highest at the beginbility to satisfy the needs: task needs, team needs and ning of a Project and reduces over time.
individual needs. Project Managers coordinate work PMI recommends that 90% of a Project Manager’s time
among the project team members and stakeholders. be spent on communicating. Project communication is
Effective project managers require a balance of tech- the glue that holds the bricks of project management
T
M
Feedback: pminicmag@pminorthindia.org
Synergy Oct 2015, Page 21
together. Communication is acknowledged as a great cost). Agile is a time boxed, iterative approach and
method of controlling stakeholders influence. One of most agile methods also differ by treating their time
the Project Manager’s main goal is to filter rumors, pro- period as a strict timebox. Agile project management
vide and maintain veracity of a project. The Project defines requirements using a ‘user story’ which include
Manager controls the communication to a large extent, Role, Need, Value. Iterative and incremental developif a Project Manager does not control communications, ment are essential parts of the Modified Waterfall Modcommunications will control the Project Manager. Pro- els, Rational Unified Process, Extreme Programming
ject Managers also resolves conflicting expectations and other Agile Software Development Frameworks. It
through collaboration with team and stakeholders, finds follows business improvement process Plan-Do-Checkbalance and determines which constrain is most im- Act (PDCA) cycle project phases. Project may be broken
portant to project success. Conflicts happen and Project into logically related project activities known as ‘phases’
Manager must control it. Project Manager should also
conduct meetings to discuss risk and plan risk manage- Per Agile Methodologies, there is a need for a Coach/
ment to be accomplished as early in the project as pos- Facilitator, but no mention of a project manager. Agile
sible due to potential impact of risks on all other pro- coined a new term called ‘self-organizing team'. Scrum
cess groups and knowledge areas. Time, scope, cost focus is self-organizing teams and manages authority
objectives along with communication, quality and hu- with ‘team members' authority to manage each other,
man resource considerations all are potentially impact- but self-organizing does not mean no supervision and
ed by risks. Almost everything on the project is likely to no coaching. When people deviate a little from being
change, be it tangible or intangible. Integrated Change self-organizing, coach/facilitator may have to widen his
Control process is conducted from project inception scope. This is where coach/facilitator would move more
through completion and an imperative
towards being project manager. The
f a Project Manager
does not control comresponsibility of Project Manager. Every
project manager can then facilitate efmunications, communi- fective utilization of the member rechange request needs to be either apcations will control the sources for the benefit of the project.
proved or denied by a defined authority,
Project Manager
usually the project sponsor or project
Agile uses the term ‘coach/facilitator' for
manager thereby assuring that only approved changes this kind of role. The scope of coach/ facilitator needs
are incorporated into the revised baseline. Project Man- to be widen and given authority to outline the ‘dos and
ager also ensures project charter to be approved, Logs don'ts'. This is where the role of project manager role
all issues and also manages the change logs and becomes prominent. The leadership style skills elabochange process.
rates, a good project manager is facilitative. Teamwork
is a critical factor for project success. Project Manager
PMI framework is an example of Predictive life cycles should create an environment that facilitates teamwork.
also known as ‘Plan Driven’. Scope, time and cost are Project Managers should have a good understanding of
identified early in the project and drive all the planning team dynamics in order to move their team members
and implementation activities. PMI framework is itera- through all stages in an effective manner. Lack of comtive also. Executing, monitoring and controlling and munication causes gaps and conflicts. Unresolved conclosing may go simultaneously. Projects are developed flicts can escalate and the project manager should help
in steps and continue in increments. Team building is facilitate a satisfactory resolution. So given a contextual
not a onetime activity, it continues throughout the life situation, the role of a coach/facilitator may command
of the project. The earlier the team building begins the more authority.
better! The projects with predictive life cycles may use
the concept of rolling wave planning. Rolling wave plan- To elaborate further the effect of agile adoption among
ning or ‘Plan as you Go’. Rolling wave planning is an project managers, we can look further at the motivaiterative planning technique (form of progressive elabo- tional driver of team members, which is affiliation. In
ration) where work performed in the near term is 1960s, Douglas McGregor proposed two theories relatplanned at a low level of WBS while work far in the fu- ed to employee motivation and management. ‘Theory
ture is planned at a very high level. The last activity X’ Manger’s believe people are not to be trusted and
which can be planned is called ‘Planning Component’.
must be watched. ‘Theory Y’ Manger’s believe people
want to achieve and can be self-directed. ‘Theory Z’,
‘Agile’ Framework uses Adoptive type of life cycle. was developed by Dr. William Ouchi. It encourages
Adaptive life cycles (also known as ‘Change Driven’ or group work and social interaction to motivate employ‘Agile’ methods) are intended to respond to high levels ees in the workplace. In Theory Z, Ouchi describes the
of change. Adaptive methods are iterative and incre- art of Japanese Management and shows how it can be
mental (iterations are very rapid and fixed in time and adapted to American Companies. Believers in ‘Theory Y’
I
Feedback: pminicmag@pminorthindia.org
Synergy Oct 2015, Page 22
Project Managers when shift to an Agile environment,
there is likely to be no or very less negative impact on
such project managers, because they already support
empowered teams and consequently in this transition
they should feel in their natural environment. In Agile
environment Project Managers favoring Y theory will
feel comfortable in equally good role as Product Owner
or Scrum Master. Going Agile, it is very important to
identify product owner who should understand the project’s big picture, know how sprints fit together and act
as the go between ‘delivery teams’ and ‘management’.
If all members of the team comprehend the overall
goals, adopting should be easy. The Project Managers
who align more strongly with ‘Theory X’ may have
tough times and limited choices for future viz. either to
understand theory Y and change himself accordingly or
to search for the location at PMO or to find work in an
alternative organization which is presently not going
Agile. But, it is difficult to run from one organization to
other, moreover, Agile Coaches in the organization may
identify Project Managers supporting ‘Theory X’ and
bring to the knowledge of organization management.
There are still several organizations not going Agile, but
in the near future the number of these will likely decrease. Organizations before switching to Agile shall
consider and evaluate major issues and be sure that all
key players are on-board. If Agile not working, revert
to old methodology and work process.
About the Author:
Rajesh Kumar Sud, Freelancer,
Member of Project Management
Institute, Pennsylvania. 35+
years of Professional Experience
in various aspects of Training,
Quality Control, Construction
and Consultancy of Infrastructure Projects (SME – Soils, Bridges, Foundations) and broad experience in Project Management. Holds a Masters in
Engineering (1979) and Graduate in Engineering with
Honor’s (1975) from REC (Now NIT) Kurukshetra, Haryana, India. Past work experiences include RITES Limited, India and U P State Bridge Corporation, India.
Waterfall methodology is associated with planning, understanding and defining work. The project goals are
equally important in Agile. No methodology can make a
Project Manager redundant unless executed by perfect
people. Working with human minds is very complex. It
is better to use leadership than authority whenever
possible. A process is a set of guidelines. When there is
a process, it is to be executed by group there will be
deviations. To manage all this and to control changes
beyond certain limits the organizations has to take help
of Project Managers & Management Profession.
Feedback: pminicmag@pminorthindia.org
Synergy Oct 2015, Page 23
Change Management Strategy during ERP
Implementations
By
Praveen Anand
1.0 UNDERSTANDING CHANGE MANAGEMENT
E
nterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Project in
organizations are all about business transformations
and are intended to create change of one kind or another, no matter how small or large. Implementation
of ERP cannot be carried out in an isolated manner in
the organizations. ERP projects bring about changes
within and across the various Business Units and cut
across departmental boundaries. They also affect people from across the entire organization. Such changes
can hamper productivity and generate resistance
across the board. To ensure smooth and successful
implementation, Project Management and leadership
need to define and establish the overall strategic direction for the management of such change within the
organization. The Project Management must ensure a
smooth and successful transition from the old environment to a new environment. The strategy to manage
this transition is referred to as Change Management
(CM).
CM is the process of realigning an organization to meet
Feedback: pminicmag@pminorthindia.org
the changing demands of its business environment,
including improving service delivery and capitalizing on
business opportunities. This change is generally underpinned by improvement to the business processes and
newer better suited technologies.
Effective CM ensures that the inevitable changes that
occur in the organization are due to changes in the
Processes, Roles & Responsibilities are mitigated in an
organized and positive manner.
From the Project Managements perspective, CM is
therefore a key element in the successful management
and completion of ERP implementation projects. Effective CM along with effective communications can make
the difference between failure and success.
2.0 CHANGE MANAGEMENT STRATEGY
A survey of ERP implementation sites reveals that
change management is one of the most important aspects of success.
Even though the best minds work together and every
technical aspect is carefully scrutinized, projects can
fail. WHY? Fortune 500 executives and chief inforSynergy Oct 2015, Page 24
mation officers report that resistance is the primary reason why so many good ideas fail. But it's the people
who can make or break the success of a project. Without their buy-in and support, projects are
doomed.
mation, managing user expectation and convincing the
‘end users’ to change the way they undertake the current roles and responsibilities are often a big challenge
in any ERP project.
2.2 NEW ENTERPRISE ARCHITECTURE – APPLICATION AND BUSINESS
It's not resistance itself that leads to failure; it's the
way we handle it. To respond to resistance in an effec- ERP systems can bring about quantum improvement in
tive and proactive manner, we must first understand the quality of decision-making process at various levels
the root cause of the same.
of management namely strategic, tactical & operational.
The major factors which contribute to the need for exe- Such systems come bundled with industry specific best
cuting CM for the ERP implementation projects include management practices. Quantum benefits are attributuser expectations, new integrated architecture, new ed to process oriented approach enabled by an intebusiness processes and a change in roles and responsi- grated system and improved management practices.
bilities. Each of these factors is briefly discussed below: Often salient features of ERP are summed up as below:
2.1 USER EXPECTATIONS
ERP is an integrated software connecting all departments and critical processes of an organization
Managing change is really about managing the stakeholders’ expectations. ERP implementation projects face
ERP comes bundled with best business practices
expectations issues as organizations are enthusiastic
about the new system. In reality, major system changWhen we implement ERP, we land up improving the
es (especially ERP) take time (including post go-live
business processes in the company
time) to be fully implemented and to work out the
kinks. This is primary need for expectation manageERP provides significant business benefit
ment. The organization users may similarly feel that
their expectations from the ERP implementation pro- Implementing the ERP system will transform the enterprise architecture in two ways: (1) Changes in Product
jects have not been completely met.
All the stakeholders have functional expectations from Architecture (IT systems) and (2) Changes in the BusiERP. The Business Unit users are used to working in a ness Processes. The primary changes that will affect
legacy system environment that has been highly cus- the users are:
tomized to meet their needs. They have also developed Changes in product architecture
their business processes around the legacy systems.
Organizations traditionally have multiple comDue to the standard implementation approach, the
puterised systems may be termed as ‘island of
functionality may not exist in standard ERP or may not
information systems’. Many of these systems
exactly match their needs or may exists in a different
were developed from the perspective of autoway.
mation through capturing of user reThe above factor could contribute to resistance
anaging
quirements. Some of these systems
change is (being not an integrated system) proto the new system. This will gradually subside as
really about
the users understand the greater functionality
managing vide users high degree of flexibility and
and flexibility that the ERP provide them. To ease the
stakeholders’ freedom from a departmental perspecthe users into the new system and ensure a expectations
tive.
smooth transition, the CM strategy must ensure
Working in an integrated environment,
that all the above factors are addressed and disconnected through a centralized archicussed.
tecture involves major change in the ‘mindset’ of
End users would often look at ERP project as an autoend users. Users will often be expected to
mation exercise of their current business processes. On
change the way they do their current business
the other hand ERP is all about working in an integrat(perform their roles and responsibilities). This
ed environment with process orientation and adopting
will involve training of users on the new system
significant changes in the way the current business pro(ERP system) and appreciate their new role decesses are managed to facilitate adoption of best busimanded by integrated architecture environment.
ness practices. Limiting the scope, discouraging auto-
M
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Synergy Oct 2015, Page 25
Change in Business Processes
Implementation of ERP system will involve
adoption of many good management practices.
Certain business processes will require major
changes. This will demand that users in certain
areas change the way they currently function.
Therefore, users will have to understand the
new business processes to ensure the successful
implementation of the ERP system.
Due to the above two aspects, the users will be subjected to a steep learning curve. They will have to simultaneously deal with a new Product Architecture and a
modified Business Process. This will require unlearning
the old product and learning the ERP system with an
open mind.
2.3 CHANGE IN ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES
An important reason for apprehension and resistance is
the change in the roles and responsibilities. During ERP
implementation projects, the change in Business Processes will bring about changes to the roles and responsibilities of the users. This may lead to confusion
and resistance; both are to be managed by a welldefined CM strategy.
New Roles & Responsibilities
will be expected to do more self-service tasks
including creation & printing of reports which
may be currently being done by central IT team.
This step which is designed to empower the users can be construed as an increase in the work
load. Furthermore, unlike in the legacy environment wherein users are used to access formatted reports (computer generated hardcopy), in
the new ERP paradigm, users will be expected
to access on-line information for decision making process often through use of ‘dynamic query’. There may be a tendency to look for the
‘current set of reports’ available in the legacy
system also from the ERP system. However,
since implementation of ERP system is not automation but a business transformation project to
enable organizations cope up with the need arising from exponential growth plan, many such
reports will not be available in the ERP system
and may not be required due to strong query
features of leading ERPs. On the other hand, the
set of information provided by the ERP system
may be different from the current legacy system, hence learning the new way of accessing
information will be an important aspect of
change management process.
All of the above are critical soft issues that need to be
appreciated for successful implementation of ERP system.
The re-design will introduce well-defined roles
and associated responsibilities. The process redesign may mean that tasks need to be done
differently than the current legacy system. It
could also mean that users will have to take on 2.4 RECOMMENDATIONS
additional responsibility that they may not cur- It is but expected that implementation of ERP system
rently have.
will involve ‘change’. Execution of ‘change’ will receive
Change in Access
resistance of different degrees from different corners.
Access control is often considered as a very im- ‘Change Management Program’ has to take into considportant aspect of change management strategy eration the aspect of ‘resistance’ to successfully implein an ERP implementation project. The ERP sys- ment the ERP system at organizations. It's not retem will allow the system administrators to fine sistance itself that leads to failure; it's the way the
tune the access to the system based on the best same is handled. To respond to resistance in an effecpractices. This could result in users feeling the tive and proactive manner, it is important to first underloss of access and control. The access structure stand the cause of resistance.
will have to be fine-tuned over a period of time It is important to listen to the common fears and anxiedepending on the definition or change in the ties, since through the answers often one comes to
roles and responsibilities of individual users. Till know what’s behind their (users at different levels) rethe access structure is finalized, the users may sistance and how strong their opposition is. Knowing
not be able to complete their regular tasks while the intensity can help assess how best to approach rebeing able to access areas or functions that they sistance and to transform it into support for change.
should not have an access to. The transition To examine the human angle in ERP, let us revisit Newton’s laws of motion. The first law states, ‘Every object
plan must take this into consideration.
in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that
Increased self service
state unless an external force is applied to it.’ The third
In the light of the process redesign, the users
Feedback: pminicmag@pminorthindia.org
Synergy Oct 2015, Page 26
one states, ‘For every action there is an equal and opthe process of IT enabled business transforposite reaction.’
mation. Degree of involvement of business usBut what has this to do with the implementation of ERP
ers often influences the degree of success. Acsystem at organizations? The answer is ‘everything’,
tive involvement of business users helps in getwhen it comes to dealing with human resources inting ‘buy in’ for the ‘ERP driven business provolved in the ERP project. Generally, people tend to recesses which are often expected to be different
main in a state of inertia. When an external force (ERP
from the prevailing processes in the legacy sysproject) is applied on them, the most expected and imtem.
mediate reaction is resistance. To be successful in an
It is important to identify the change agents
ERP implementation, it is important to overcome this
early in the project. Change agents are people
resistance which manifests in various forms. General
that know the business well, embrace change,
reasons of resistance are as follows:
and are well-respected in the organization. This
group of people, which should represent all the
1. Lack of understanding about ERP
functional areas affected by ERP, will serve as
2. Lack of process orientation
champions of the project.
3. Fear of unknown
They will also be in helping other employees
4. Fear of integrated IT environment in a centralized
understand and learn the value of the ERP sysdatabase
tem and how it affects their jobs.
5. Fear of non-performance getting exposed
Communication
6. Transparency of data and information
Effective and Timely communication to all the
7. Increase in accountability
stakeholders is the key for the Change Manage8. Fear that importance will get reduced
ment process. A document on the need for com9. Ego
munication should be prepared in the beginning
10. Not understanding the strategic importance of the
of the project. The more the people know
ERP implementation project within the organization
about why the organization is implementing
Fear of loosing job
ERP, how it will benefit the company, and what
it means to them and their jobs, the less likely
A few concrete recommendations to implement an efthat they will resist the changes when they are
fective ‘change management strategy’ during the impleimplemented. Awareness about the ERP implementation of ERP system at organizations are given bementation program has to be carried out as eflow::
fectively as possible. Some of the important
User Involvement
modes of communication are as follows:
Employee involvement is a very important aspect of successful change management program
in any ERP implementation. It is important to
involve people from all levels who are likely to
be affected by ERP. Involvement of employees
is important because:
The more the involvement , the more the
ownership
Involvement results into increased ownership and buy-in for the ERP implementation project
Overall impact is experienced in the form of
Publishing of ‘Newsletter’ at regular intervals providreduced resistance
ing wide publicity about the ERP implementation
Also in the context of majority of the organizaproject. Such ‘Newsletters’ must contain issues retions, involvement of business users (core
lated to need for change, message from top manteam), not just IT users but representatives
agement about the strategic importance of the profrom key business areas is very crucial. Involveject, highlights of major process changes, responsiment of business users during the entire life cybilities of users in the context of ERP paradigm etc.
cle of the ERP implementation project facilitates
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Synergy Oct 2015, Page 27
Bulletin boards through intranet
Publicity about ERP through visual management
system
Periodic workshops on ERP
Seminars on ERP at enterprise level (attempt
should be made to involve various members of
the value chain viz., contractors, suppliers, customers, technology collaborators etc.)
Multi-lingual communication to all employees
about the need for change and strategic importance assigned to the ERP project
Creation of video films about the ERP project
Organizing competition on ERP
Participation in external seminars and conferences
and presentation about the ERP project at organization
Media coverage about the ERP implementation
project in the organization. Employees often get
attracted to external coverage received about internal positive initiatives and feel proud to be associated with such program
Significant positive mindset essential for successful ERP implementation can be experienced
through initiatives such as above.
Training
Training & education is a very important aspect of the
change management process during the ERP implementation program. Training enables to create awareness about the ERP project and need for change.
Training is essential for all levels of management including:
Top management
Senior management team including heads of departments
Execution team (core users)
End users
During the training program it is very essential to expose employees on ‘How to use the new system?’ and
most importantly on ‘How key business processes will
be affected by the ERP system?’
Often resistance is experienced during the ERP implementation because of lack of knowledge about the ERP
system. Benefit of ERP system is influenced by the
ability of the organization to impart effective training
program for the ERP users to enable them use the
best business practices built into the ERP system.
Smooth transaction of the business processes through
an ERP system (post go live) can be facilitated through
effective training of the end users prior to ‘go live’.
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Executive Leadership
Top management plays an important role in supporting
an effective change management program. A very positive impact can be created through top management
commitment for the ERP project. Messages of Chairman, managing Director and other senior management
through various Newsletters and communication meeting will create positive impact on the ERP implementation project.
Substantial involvement of top management during the
entire life cycle of the ERP implementation project is
essential for effective change management. Top management can express its support through measures
such as:
Active involvement in the ERP project
Conducting formal review through planned ‘Steering
Committee’ meeting
Assigning resources for the project and motivating
them with rewards on successful accomplishments
Monitoring availability of infrastructure for the project
and ensuring that required infrastructure (e.g., client
PCs, network connectivity, servers, printers etc.) is
mobilized on a timely basis
Addressing issues escalated to ‘top management’ and
‘steering committee’
Discouraging customization wherever possible
In summary, degree of success during an ERP implementation project is often influenced by the ability of
the organization to adopt new business processes and
this calls for an effective change management program
described above.
About the Author:
Praveen Anand is a certified P roject management Professional (PMP)
since 2008 with over 25 years of experience in IT Industry. Last 18 years
mostly involved in the delivery of
Complex ERP implementation Projects. He is currently working as a Director of IFS India
Solutions Pvt. Ltd (www.ifsworld.com), a leading ERP
Application provider. He also holds the volunteer position as Vice Presidents – Programs with PMI North India Chapter.
You can connect him at https://www.linkedin.com/
profile/view?id=44481657
Synergy Oct 2015, Page 28
LEAN
Feedback: pminicmag@pminorthindia.org
Synergy Oct 2015, Page 29
L E A N - CROSSWORD
By
Le Roi
6
9
11
12
13
14
15
1
2
3
4
5
7
8
10
12
ACROSS
He fills trash in Indian Airlines as a just in time principle (8)
Cooked up master game plan VI for a lean management tool (5,6,7)
Tame Kitt turns wild to provide cadence in lean production (4,4)
Masjid Okachimachi hides a TPS pillar (6)
Zia is topsy-turvy invested in knowledge for continuous improvement (6)
Beaten Dan working indicates abnormal work stoppage situation (5)
Nudge about alright for an error proofing method (4-4)
DOWN
Anti-push method for maintaining least inventory (4,6)
Rumi confused is an excess burden (4)
7 types of waste found in Bermuda (4)
HIJKLMNO street rider is one assigned to maintain correct inventories (12)
Few opine Cole in disarray is fundamental to becoming lean (3,5,4)
I rise in a mess to form 5S organization (5)
Lankan banks contain signboard for a pull event (6)
Go see Game B being played (5)
Solution at
the end
Zimbabwean dance music is an lean inventory strategy (3)
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Synergy Oct 2015, Page 30
Chapter Geographical Mapping
Haryana
Himachal Pradesh
Uttarakhand
Jammu and Kashmir
Delhi NCR
Punjab
Uttar Pradesh
Chapter Events
Summary of Events
Event: Steering Project Success – What More
is Possible?
Conceptualized By: Manoj K Gupta
Hosted by: Commercial
Date & Place : 18th July ’15, Gurgaon, Haryana
Volunteer: Shivender Vats, AVP Program
Event: Plan it Right to Get it Right
Conceptualized By: Manoj K Gupta
Hosted by: Ericsson
Volunteers: Shivender Vats, AVP Program
Tripti Dubey - IBM
Pooja Gandhi – Aricent
Neetu Sharma - DB Schenker
Date & Place : 7th Aug’15, Noida, UP
Event: Challenges in Project Execution in
Govt./Public Sector
Hosted by: Uttarakhand Energy Deptt
Date & Place : 185h Sep’15, Dehradun,
Uttarakhand
Event: Empowering Self and Teams to drive
Project Success
Hosted by: IRIS Software
Date & Place : 23rd Sep’15, NSEZ, Noida
Feedback: pminicmag@pminorthindia.org
Conceptualized By: B C K Mishra , Region Connect Ambassador, Dehradun.
Manoj K Gupta
Volunteer: Lt. Col. Ajay Bhattacharya
Chapter Ambassador: B C K Mishra
Conceptualized By: Manoj K Gupta
Volunteer: Shivender Vats, AVP Program
Synergy Oct 2015, Page 31
“Steering Project Success – What More is Possible?”
1 day Practitioner’s workshop conducted by PMI North India Chapter at Gurgaon
Chapter Event (1/4)
18th July 2015
This practitioner’s program, designed to go beyond the
conventional PM Body of Knowledge and Process,
brought in a unique perspective by approaching the
Project Challenges from a different perspective; that is
to do with the entrepreneurial thinking to steer projects to further success.
The program was conducted by Mr. Madhavan S Rao.
He is a PMP certified Project Manager with over 2 decades of Industry experience in providing Leadership for
Delivery, Business Performance Management, Project
Management Competencies and Innovation Enablers
businesses.
There were several pseudo
projects that were done by the
participants with full enthusiasm, brainstorming and parallel
equating these to project challenges like – Scope Creep, Estimation, Expectation mismatch,
attrition and many of the grey
areas and vulnerabilities that
we usually encounter in Projects.
What emerged as a consensus was that – Only applying the best of Processes and ‘slogging’ is not a guarantee of achieving Project success. Much More needs
to be done and much more is Possible? These additional Action points (referred to as the Process++ Action
points) would be generated out of a Mindset that practices the 7 simple Mantras that were shared. Reflecting
on the examples shared of applying these 7 Mantras by
the Project team, would help imbibe the ‘Assurance
Mindset’ as a part of one’s Thinking DNA.
The workshop was graced by Chapter President Pritam
as well as the Past President Manoj, VP Programs
Praveen Anand and other Chapter Board members.
Key Takeaways from the workshop:
















Have an Open Mind
Snowballing
Try, Try, Try again - Solutions will emerge
Communication with Customer
Validate your Assumptions
Think beyond boundaries
Encourage out of the box thinking and different
possible solutions to problems
Opportunities are always there - It needs to be
identified and expanded
Importance of Perception Management
Negotiate for expectations
Foresee bigger picture with Clients and educate
them
Information seeding is good
Don't take client statement on face value, ask and
clarify further.
Cost benefit analysis for Value add decision
Innovate solutions and processes
Learn from others
The key learning take-away was reinforced excellently
by the day’s interactive workshop.
In addition to 7 PDU’s the Chapter also provided
each participant with a Publication: Steering Project
Success – What More is Possible? W hich had
100 project examples of applying the Program insights.
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Synergy Oct 2015, Page 32
“Plan it Right to Get it Right”
1/2 day Practitioner’s event conducted by PMI North India Chapter in partnership with Ericsson India
Global Services
Chapter Event (2/4)
7th Aug 2015
PMI North India Chapter in partnership with Ericsson
India Global Services conducted a 1/2 day event. The
event was held in Ericsson premises at Noida. The
agenda of the even was as follows:
02:00 PM
Registration and Networking
02:30 PM
Event Inauguration & Inaugural Address
02:45 PM
Chapter Presentation and Event Introduction
- PMI North India Board Member
03:00 PM
Ericsson Introduction & Keynote Presentation
- Abhay Vaish, SVP and Chief Technology Officer (CTO), EGI
03:30 PM
Journey of Just Dial & Entrepreneurship Scenario Today
- V Krishnan, Co-founder Just Dial
04:10 PM
Networking & High Tea
04:25 PM
Challenges in Transition Projects
- Iqbal Singh, Head of Delivery for SDE TAS Nokia
05:05 PM
Complexities in executing Telecom Projects
- Sanjay Bharti, Group General Manager, TCIL
05:45 PM
The Ecosystem to plan it Right
- Anand Prakash, VP Quality, HCL Infosystems,
Noida
06:25 PM
Vote Of Thanks & Networking
Presenters
V Krishnan
Iqbal
Sanjay
Anand
Team
Feedback: pminicmag@pminorthindia.org
Registration
Synergy Oct 2015, Page 33
Challenges in Project Execution in Govt. / Public Sector
1/2 day Practitioner’s event conducted by PMI North India Chapter
Chapter Event (3/4)
15th Sep 2015
The Program emphasized on the reasons attributable
to Time & Cost Overrun in Government Sector Projects.
Live examples of successful & unsuccessful Projects
were discussed in detail and participants expressed
their views on the reasons for the failure of the Projects. Case Study of Delhi Metro Rail Projects was presented by Mr. Bhattacharya in favor of successful execution of the Projects. He emphasized on how important is the Planning Stage to avoid surprises in Execution Phase. He also provided in sight on ‘Back End
Loading’ in Government Sector Project as against
‘Front End Loading’ to be followed as per PMI.
Mr. A.K. Singh has provided in depth knowledge and
attributes of being a successful ‘Project Manager’.
Mr. B.C.K Mishra, PMP, Ambassador for North India
Chapter has shared his experience on successful execution of a Hydro Electric Power Station from Planning
to Execution (Water to Wire). A highly positive feedback was given by the participants as well as from the
Directors and they appreciated the presentations
made. Most of the participants expressed their desire
to organize full day seminar on the subject.
Feedback: pminicmag@pminorthindia.org
Program Schedule
2.30- 2.40 pm
Welcome to the Chief Guest & Delegates
2.40-2.50pm
Objectives & Overview of the program- By
Mr. B.C.K.Mishra, Director-Operations, UJVNL
2.50-3.00pm
Inaugural Lecture- By Mr. S.N. Verma, MDUJVNL, Chief Guest
3.00-4.00pm
Theme Lecture- By Lt. Col Ajay Bhattacharya,
PMI- NI Chapter
4.00-4.45pm
Theme lecture- By Mr. A.K.Singh, ONGC, D/
Dun
4.45pm-5.15
Theme Lecture- By Mr.B.C.K.Mishra, DirectorOpr, UJVNL
5.15-5.30pm
Valediction, Vote of thanks& presentation of
mementoes.
5.30pm
Tea
Synergy Oct 2015, Page 34
Empowering Self and Teams to drive Project Success
1/2 day Practitioner’s event conducted by PMI North India Chapter in partnership with IRIS Software
Chapter Event (4/4)
23rd Sep 2015
PMI North India in collaboration with IRIS Software
presents an opportunity for professionals to empower
themselves and their teams by creating the right team
structure, enhancing creativity and understanding importance of appropriate solution design. These tools
provide the necessary foundation for the projects to
succeed. The agenda was as follows:
02:00 PM
02:30 PM
02:45 PM
Registration and Networking
Chapter Presentation & Event Introduction (by PMI North India
Board Member)
Presentation by the facilitating organization � IRIS
Capacity building in terms of right team structure, and capability at
PL / PM level to groom them to manage larger teams and role
02:50 PM
expectations
from
them
- Ajay Malik ( M.Sc. Computer Science, PMP, ITIL V3), IBM certified Senior Project Manager, Delivery Head, DC Delhi, IBM India
03:35 PM
03:55 PM
04:35 PM
Networking and Tea
Mind Maps, a simple creativity enhancing tool to help manage
projects better - The principles of Mind Mapping, real life success
stories and a quick intro to a mind mapping tool will be covered
session.
- Maneesh Dutt ( Engineer from IITD, MBA with specialization in
HR and Project Management from ENI university, Milan, Italy. 20
years of rich industry experience, Ex Head Business Excellence
and Innovation, STMicroelectronics
Low Level Design (LLD) in software development an overhead?"
this presentation will cover some myth about LLD and discuss with
data about the subject
- Bibhuti Das, Certified Six Sigma Black Belt from ASQ, Certified
Scrum Master, Certified ISO 9000 lead auditor, Certified ITIL V3
foundation for IT Service Management, Certified ISO27000 Internal auditor
05:20 PM
Feedback: pminicmag@pminorthindia.org
Synergy Oct 2015, Page 35
L E A N - CROSSWORD
By
Le Roi
Solution
Rangarajan Ramanujam is an SoC FE Group Manager at STMicroelectronics. An aluminus
of BITS Pilani and IIM Lucknow, he has a passion for solving cryptic crosswords from The
Hindu and The Guardian. He is also an amateur setter and has set crosswords for the
Hindu Crossword Corner under the pen name Le Roi.
Feedback: pminicmag@pminorthindia.org
Synergy Oct 2015, Page 36
Ajay Bhargove
Nirmallya Kar
Pooja Kapoor
Feedback: pminicmag@pminorthindia.org
Hemant Seigell
Parul Choudhary
Shashank Neppalli
Neelima Chakara
Prashant Malhotra
Lieutenant Colonel Manu Chaudhary,(retired)
Synergy Oct 2015, Page 37