Planning Considerations to Avoid Issues and Risks in Adverse Situations

Transcription

1 Planning Cnsideratins t Avid Issues and Risks in Adverse Situatins Abstract Authr - Preeti Jain Mishra, PMP C Authr - Swadhin Mishra, PMP A prject with 6 resurces and 3 mnths strict schedule, and tw resurces left in between. A big setback but still managed t pull the prject neatly withut cst and schedule verruns. The task verlap amng at least 2 resurces and pririty based scheduling saved it frm a spiler t be a success. The wrst case scenaris and crrespnding respnses were cnsidered in the planning phase. This article will cver fllwing items, if well taken care in planning, can save the prject even in adverse situatins. While estimating the prject we had kept a buffer f 15% fr risk mitigatin Task assignment was dne such that at least 2 resurces had the knwledge f each task Knwledge sharing sessin were planned within and acrss the teams Effective use f lags in the tasks Prper priritizatin f tasks, a very imprtant aspect in planning Abve pints are utcme f varius prjects experience and learning. These when applied t prject in discussin, prved beneficial. Intrductin A new IT prject fr a financial cmpany was t be initiated. It was a regulatry cmpliance prject, that had t be implemented by a specific date therwise the implicatins may be severe and financial cmpany has t live up t its expectatin. The prject was apprved and given t my team fr planning and implementatin. It was a small prject with effrt f 350 man days which was scheduled with 6 resurces ver 3 mnth s timeframe. This was a hard deadline which had t be met because f cmpliance requirements. I had t play a rle f n-barding my team and ensuring delivery within timeframe with the desired quality. Anther challenge was t execute the prject with available resurces because the kind f resurced I had, I was nt very cnfident abut few f them, as there was a risk f lsing them. I had t g back t my memry lane and remember all the tricks that I can apply here s that I can meet the prject gals. Here are sme majr pints that I wuld like t highlight at the beginning itself Since the time was a majr cnstraint, resurces were expected t put extra effrts t cmplete the wrk s expectatins were set accrdingly. Cmmunicatin amng all the Stakehlders was very critical as there was nt spare time t d any rewrk. Planning Cnsideratins t Avid Issues and Risks in Adverse Situatins 1

2 We had sme dependency n Vendr t deliver a certain phase cmpnents. Training f resurces was very much required as sme f them did nt have prir experience f such kind f prject. T have the resurce back up at the beginning itself as few f them had sme r ther grievances that was nt practical t meet s there was a risk f attritin. Requirement It was a cmpliance requirement t implement a functinality that wuld prvide mre facilities t internet banking users by displaying the additinal fields n screen and assciated reprting and prcessing. The mdules had t be implemented and delivered fr User Acceptance in next 3 mnths. Sme f the requirements were nt very clear and the stakehlders had t be taken in lp s that bth the functinal and delivery teams will be n same page. Backgrund / Key Challenges I was respnsible fr cming up with the plan that wuld incrprate all the risks invlved and still meet the hard deadline. Many factrs had t be cnsidered in the plan s that we can ensure a successful delivery. Needless t say that Quality cannt be cmprmised as any live issues during prductin will nt be welcmed.. As it always happens, the prject plan is utdated as sn as the prject starts. Exceptins started happening frm the very first day and we had t update the prject plan quite frequently. The mment a prjects starts, issues start cming up and it s the respnsibility f us (prject managers) t deal with them. S this prject was nt an exceptin. It is nt pssible t think f all the issues / risks but mst f them shuld be cnsidered and planned practively. Key challenges faced during the prject planning and executin - Strict deadline but n ther ptin as it was a cmpliance requirement. Backup resurces had t be identified as few f the team members may leave but due t their gd technical skills, they were a part f the prject team. Backup resurces fr each mdule had t be identified and trained within the prject team. In rder t avid dependency n single resurce, task allcatin was dne by ensuring that there are mre than ne resurces invlved in any area. Change in requirement is inevitable but handling thse requirement changes within the timeframe was a difficult task. Replacing the tw prject team members by new resurces when they left the rganizatin in the middle f the prject. Full utilizatin f resurces as n luxury f any waiting time / idle time. High quality standards had t be met. Planning Cnsideratins t Avid Issues and Risks in Adverse Situatins 2

3 Methdlgy / Prcess Fllwed The wrst case scenaris were cnsidered during planning. Redundancy f knwledge, fast tracking, pririty based scheduling were given utmst imprtance which played an imprtant part in the success f the prject despite having many risks and cnstraints. This article is nt cvering all the risks that we came up in the plan. Here we are mentining nly thse risks fr which we used a tl r mechanism and incrprated it in the plan. Let s g thrugh the tls that made ur plan mre rbust. Figure 1: Effective Planning Tls Fast tracking it is very effective while wrking n such a tight deadline prject. A gd thumb rule says that sequential activities can smetimes be fast tracked by up t 33%. The prject schedule was analyzed fr dependency and lags t lk fr pprtunities where verlapping was pssible and withut the risk f rewrk. Initially these tasks were sequenced but we underlined few tasks that culd be executed in parallel. Thugh this apprach may smetimes slightly increase the amunt f rewrk but it was wrth taking the risk t meet the deadline. Planning Cnsideratins t Avid Issues and Risks in Adverse Situatins 3

4 We als had sme general tasks like database setup, auditing, dcumentatin etc that culd nt started early in the cycle but after identifying the lag and lking at the resurce utilizatin in that perid, we started fast tracking thse tasks as well. Mitigatin plan was in hand, because the task that were first t start had very clear requirements and there was n change expected. This was the nly place where we disregarded the priritizatin f tasks but lked mre at stability f tasks. Design started even befre the requirement analysis was cmpleted, cnstructin started even befre the design was cmpleted, and testing / quality assurance als in the similar fashin. Idea was t lad the team as quickly as pssible and assign the tasks t them as they shuld nt wait until planning / designing is dne fr all the wrk. Obviusly next phase tasks were taken up nly when the relevant earlier phase tasks were dne. Dependency management played a gd rle here in deciding the tasks that can be fast tracked. Since the fast tracking was dne in all the phases, the testing / quality assurance team gt invlved at a very early stage s that they get sufficient time t understand the requirements and prepare the test cases. Then verlapping was dne and testing started f varius mdules as and when they were ready t be tested. Task Redundancy Task allcatin - It was dne keeping redundancy in mind. In rder nt t have dependency n any single individual, each mdule was divided lgically and assigned t mre than ne resurce. This methd ensured that at least tw resurces had the knwledge f each task, and ther persn culd take ver in case anyne is absent r leaves, withut causing any delay t the prject. Knwledge Sharing It plays a very crucial rle in rder t remve dependency frm the certain peple. Knwledge sharing sessins were planned within and acrss the teams twice per week. Invite had been sent t all the team members t attend the sessin and share their knwledge, learning and discuss issues if any. Team was recgnized fr putting extra effrts and was rewarded as well. It helped in mtivating the team and t keep the spirits high. Infrmal tea / cffee parties were rganized n weekly basis. Overall bjective was sharing and learning with all, alng with recgnitin f team s cntributin. Dependency analysis - Identificatin f independent tasks and dependency analysis. The mre independent tasks we have the mre flexibility and ptins t adjust the plan. We identified the critical tasks, and ensured if there is n dependency n ther tasks. Sme f the tasks did have dependency but after particular event/tasks became independent; these were als recrded and treated as independent after the event ccurred. These independent tasks were used in fast tracking and during lags and delays. Buffer Management - While estimating the prject we had kept a buffer f 15% fr risk mitigatin. This buffer was utilized in tw ways Additinal resurce we had added an extra resurce (during develpment) t supprt ur redundancy and t avid any delays because f unplanned leaves r issues. Planning Cnsideratins t Avid Issues and Risks in Adverse Situatins 4

5 Schedule t buy extra time in case f minr slippages happen. We als brke the buffer dwn and pririties the tasks t be dne while using the buffer in case risk des nt ccur. By ding this, we gt the privilege f perfrming the Grup reviews, t duble check the cde quality and standards. Agile Style Daily Stand Up Meeting - Ensured that prject includes all stakehlders needs t avid any last mment chas. Althugh we had the mandate t adpt waterfall methdlgy in this prject but cnsidering the fact that duratin was shrt and sme changes were expected in between, I preferred t put in sme agile methdlgy cncepts here. Mst helpful tl was stand up meeting every mrning with the team and available stakehlders, reducing the chances f any kind f cmmunicatin gap r requirement issues. Stand up meetings ensured that stakehlders expectatins are taken int accunt and all the parties have the cmmn understanding and everyne is in sync. These meeting were very beneficial t take up the decisin and escalate the issues quickly. It reduced the cst f changes as issues / changes were identified at earlier stage. Iteratin wise planning We used milestnes as iteratins and planned accrdingly. Quick Resurce Lading - It s all abut juggling the resurces. Since we had nly 6 resurces it was nt very easy t break dwn the things int tw categries time and available resurces. Time was a bigger cnstraint, s during the resurce leveling it was ensured that the critical path desn t get delayed at any cst. Als we had a risk f lsing few resurces but that was taken care f well in advance by prviding the training t redundant resurces and ensured their availability as well fr the specified perid. In rder t ensure the timely deliveries we needed t stay ahead f time, the critical path tasks were crashed by adding extra resurce. Any delay in the critical path culd have created a majr chas s extra care was taken t avid it. Resurce lading was dne differently than the ideal scenari. We increased the team size t peak just after the requirement gathering stage. We used few cncepts f agile methdlgy in rder t get the effective utilizatin f resurces. Internal release was planned in every 2 weeks and Milestnes were used as iteratins, planning was dne arund them and different phases f mre than ne iteratins, dne in parallel, ensured maximum utilizatin f the resurces. Planning Cnsideratins t Avid Issues and Risks in Adverse Situatins 5

6 Figure 2: Classical Resurce lading with leveling fr each phase Figure 3: Resurce lading with fast tracking and iteratins Vendr dependency reductin - We als had a vendr cmpany that was respnsible fr delivering a cmpnent. Our prgress might have been hampered as there was sme dependency n that cmpnent, had the vendr delayed the delivery. This dependency had created sme lag in the verall plan. We tk the fllwing apprach A testing interface stub was created t reduce the dependency. Overlapping f tasks / activities was dne t avid any waiting time. Planning Cnsideratins t Avid Issues and Risks in Adverse Situatins 6

7 Task Priritizatin The prper priritizatin f task is a very imprtant aspect in planning and at times it can decide the Making r Breaking f the prject. Higher pririty tasks shuld always be taken up first t reduce the risk f the prject rapidly. In ur prject, we priritized the tasks in cnsultatin with the stakehlders and scheduled them accrdingly. During later stage f the prject, ne lw pririty task came up with lt f changes and issues, the impact f which culd have affected the deadlines. As this was lw pririty task we discussed with stakehlders and pushed it t next release. There was ne exceptin t priritizatin which was at the beginning f the prject. There were sme requirements which were very clear and n further changes were expected. Design tasks were assigned fr thse requirements while ther requirements were yet t be finalized. We did nt want t put effrt n task where less clarity was. When the team gt sme wrk t d, we analyzed the pririty f different tasks. Achieving success requires analyzing setbacks and failures in rder t imprve further. These methds are utcme f experiences with the previus prjects and these learning applied t prjects prved very beneficial. Critical Success factrs N Schedule Overrun Time was the mst imprtant success factr as it was a cmpliance prject. There was n slippage in schedule and all the deliveries were made in time. Custmer Satisfactin Custmer was happy with the gd quality and timely delivery. Using the additinal buffer, the grup reviews were perfrmed and even the minr review cmments were identified and fixed befre the final delivery. It imprved the verall quality and increased the custmer satisfactin. Cst Effectiveness The internal grup reviews were planned and perfrmed by experienced resurces befre the delivery, s mst f the things were taken care f and external rewrk cst was less. Als few cncepts taken frm agile methdlgy ensured the lesser rewrk and lw cst f changes. Lw defect leakage Keeping pace with the schedule and early invlvement f testing and QA ensured that reviews and testing was dne rigrusly resulting in lw defect leakage. Resurce utilizatin Dependency analysis, fast tracking, effective analysis f lags and delays helped in maintaining resurce utilizatin t its peak. Quantified Benefits t Business Successful Implementatin withut any schedule slippage made the rganizatin cmpliant as per regulatins. Imprved user satisfactin resulting in reduced number f user cmplaints and queries as they were able t view the desired details n their internet banking screens. The incming calls in the custmer care unit was reduced by the cnsiderable amunt, hence reduced the verall running cst. Custmer was happy with the successful handling f prject and its executin. The quality was high with lw defect leakage. This verall resulted in an imprved Custmer Rating and feedback in the satisfactin survey. Planning Cnsideratins t Avid Issues and Risks in Adverse Situatins 7

8 Lessns Learnt This prject was a majr learning in terms f planning and resurce allcatin. Visinary and practive planning can save prject even in adverse situatin. Knwledge sharing sessins helped in ensuring the timely deliveries. Mving resurces frm ne mdule t anther was nt much difficult as secndary resurces were already prepared. There was less time taken by them t pick up the new tasks, and this is hw lags were avided in the schedule in spite f tw resurces parting frm the team. Cncepts that we implemented frm Agile methdlgy were very helpful in prgressing fast especially the stand up meetings with stakehlders present and iteratin planning helped a lt in rder t manage the changes. The mst critical functinality t be implemented first t reduce the risk at later stage. The buffer included in the prject fr risk must be effectively utilized. This buffer is the additinal cst and we can utilize it in varius frms. As in this case, we used it fr bth, Time and Resurce. Sme additinal resurce fr giving supprt fr redundancy and sme extra time fr adjusting any minr delays. Pririty based scheduling is very imprtant. High pririty tasks shuld be taken up first because withut them release will nt be accepted. Lwer pririty tasks shuld be dne later and in case f shrtage f time can be negtiated fr the next release. Prductivity imprvement Mre interactin with stakehlders and knwledge sharing sessin helped t increase the prductivity f the team. Als the appreciatin f the team members at the end f the knwledge sessins helped in increasing the mtivatin and hence prductivity. Cnclusin The methds and tls discussed in this article are few imprtant pints which have prved very beneficial fr me every nw and then. Fcusing and sharing f each prject's challenges and learning helps t build a mre capable and successful prject management skill-set. I hpe ther managers, my clleagues and friends use these tls t their advantage. These methds may be included as checklist fr a plan t ensure that manager s reap benefits frm it. By using them prperly we can deliver prjects even in adverse situatin. Planning Cnsideratins t Avid Issues and Risks in Adverse Situatins 8

9 Authr s Prfile Pstal Address - T-5, Farrjeste Apartments, 3 Bat Club Rad, Pune. PIN preetijain05@gmail.cm, bubblypj@yah.cm Phne , [DISCLAIMER: The views expressed in this dcument are the persnal views f the authr/writer and are nt necessarily the views f rganizatin authr wrks in. The authr f this dcument is slely respnsible fr abiding by all relevant laws and plicies, including thse cncerning cpyright.] Published by Prject Smart n 18 th March Planning Cnsideratins t Avid Issues and Risks in Adverse Situatins 9