zero to apps in 135 days. maslow’s hierarchy of needs physiological needs safety needs social...

Zero To Apps In Zero To Apps In 135 Days135 Days

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Physiological Needs

Safety Needs

Social Needs

Esteem Needs

Self-Fulfillment

Conferences Hierarchy of Needs

When can I have sex?

This chair is too hard

Is there a party tonight?

Who is this bloke anyway?

Ideserve

promotion

So Why Should We Listen To You?

Just an ordinary guy who knows how to do a few very cool things

Giles Letheren MBAHead of Defence Information Services

andChief Information Officer

British Embassy, Washington DC

3100 Mass Ave NWWashington DC20008

Telephone: 202 588 6538Facsimile: 202 588 7888Email: [email protected]

British Defence StaffWashington


600 personnel:

400 military, 200 civilian, located in 37 states

Operating budget of $50M

Turnover exceeds $500M

Military liaison, Officer Exchange, Science and Technology,Procurement, Integrated Projects


The requirement:

Replace the bespoke, legacy ‘Happy’ database.

Happy provides fully integrated

• Finance• HR• Commercial Procurement• Foreign Military Sales


Why Replace It?

Increasingly unreliable

No documentation

De-supported software and hardware

Changes to UK financial systems COA

10 years of continual development andusers still hate it!!

Accounts Payable Fixed AssetsAccounts Receivable Property ManagerGeneral Ledger HRCash Management Portal

Timeline:

Budget:

$600,000

Including hardware, software licenses and integration partner

Project Goal

To deliver a fully tested and operational

financial and HR system, together with revised

business processes on 1st April 2004..

The system will be fully documented and all

users trained to the standard necessary to

perform their tasks without assistance. The

system will be delivered on or below budget.

“If you fail, you get fired”

A Government Department Implementing a Major Software Project On Time And On Budget?

…..Yeah, Right.

Why Projects Fail

•Lack of senior level support

•Poor communication

•Lack of quality control

•Lack of change control (scope creep)

•Insufficient measurables

•Poor planning, requirements gathering or

setting of scope

•Forgetting that even IT projects are

predominantly about people

•Failure to manage project risk

So What Happened?

135 days, 60,800 air miles, 4 speeding tickets, 2 parking fines and $584,415.00 later we went live.

On Time, Under Budget.

Using a Project Manager who (still) knows nothing about Oracle.

Top Ten Lessons Learned

1. The Show Must Go On

2. Steal From Me, You’ve Stolen Twice

3. Method Is Better Than Madness

4. Don’t Get Involved

5. TARget Your Problems

6. Be Good Friends With Your Implementation Partner

7. Nobody Wants To Clean

8. Always Let The Truth Get In The Way Of A Good Story

9. Love Linux

10. Manage Your Risks

11. It’s A People Project!

Lesson One: The Show Must Go On

Lesson Two: Steal From Me, You’ve Stolen Twice

Wednesday 15th September 2004

PRINCE: Projects In A Controlled Environment

Lesson Three: Method Is Better Than Madness

http://www.ogc.gov.uk/


http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/subst/home/redirect.html/ref=nh_books/102-1926117-6179369

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/index.asp?userid=mHu1ZmZF1I


http://www.ogc.gov.uk/prince

Lesson Four: Don’t Get Involved


SeniorResponsible

Owner

InvestmentDecision Maker

Project Sponsor

ContractorsProject Manager

BDS(W) ProjectManager

Project TeamStakeholder

Project BoardUsers


Project Manager

Deputy ProjectManager

FinanceCustomer

HR Customer

Cash Office User

Sys Admin

Budgets User HRAccomodation

User

Contract Admin

Project Support

Portal Customer 3rd Party Advisor

Development Team

StakeholderProject Board

End Users DBA

Lesson 5: TARget Your Problems

Sev 1 is supposed to get you the best Oracle response but it comes with its own problems:

•Call gets passed from analyst to analyst

•Each analyst has to read into the problem

•For a big issue this can easily take up the whole day

•When they finally understand…

•It’s time for a new analyst

Escalate your TARs often if you feel that you are not getting enough help. Ask the Duty Manager to help and set out a resolution timetable.

Sev 1 may actually result in a slower resolution slower than Sev 2!

Lesson Five: Be Good Friends With Your Implementation Partner

Lesson Five: Be Good Friends With Your implementation Partner

What is an Integrated Project Team (IPT)?

'Integrated Project Team' is our term for a fully integrated collaborative team:

• a single team focused on a common set of goals and objectives delivering benefit for all concerned

• a team so seamless, that it appears to operate as if it were a company in its own right

• a team, with no apparent boundaries, in which all the members have the same opportunity to contribute and all the skills and capabilities on offer can be utilized to maximum effect.

Lesson Seven: Nobody Wants To Clean Data

Lesson Seven: Always Let The Truth Get In The Way Of A Good Story

‘Managing Expectations’Or……

Lesson Nine: Love Linux


Costs Go Down


Bonus Goes Up


We bought:

Four Dell Linux boxes

Test/DevProd (App)Prod (DB)Portal

$45,000

‘Equivalent’ spec hardware estimate from big-five consultancy using Unix and HP Servers

$1,000,000

Lesson Ten: Establish a Risk Balance

• Formally identifying and documenting risks may seem likea waste of both effort and paper.

• Avoiding risk is just common sense right?

• In our case, doing this gave us the opportunity to mitigate some of the risks that we might otherwise have ignored or assumed would ‘be OK’.

• When you have immoveable deadlines you cannot afford to ignore major risks. • If the risk cannot be mitigated – or the mitigation cost is too high then you have the opportunity to develop a contingency plan.

Lesson Eleven: Technology Is Way Cool But..

Lesson Eleven: Projects Are About People, Not Technology

Giles Letheren MBAHead of Defence Information Services

andChief Information Officer

British Embassy, Washington DC

3100 Mass Ave NWWashington DC20008

Telephone: 202 588 6538Facsimile: 202 588 7888Email: [email protected]

zero to apps in 135 days. maslow’s hierarchy of needs physiological needs safety needs social...

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