Lessons Learnt from eBusiness Projects Are they any different

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Lessons Learnt from e-Business Projects Are they
any different?

• Dave Corlett (PMP) Jane Farley (PMP)

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Presentation Outline

• Five Reasons why e-Business projects Fail
• Lessons learnt
• General
• Business Integration
• Expectation Management
• Project Structure
• Project Management Disciplines
• Technology and skills
• Are e-business projects any different?

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Why do e-business Projects Fail?

• Five of common reasons that e-business projects
  will fail include
• theyre viewed as an end in themselves
• the projects are often managed poorly
• theyre launched without clearly defined business
  goals
• theyre not flexible enough to incorporate new
  technologies
• theyre launched with insufficient awareness of
  what competitors are doing in e-business

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Lessons Learnt

• Ensure Total Management Commitment before
  starting
• Identify the Compelling Business Event
• Solicit Organisation Commitment to succeed
• Continually evaluate the Business Strategy, the
  business case and the competitive landscape.
• Identify all parts of an organization, or
  external organisations required early in project
  planning
• Define resource requirements up front
• Due to limited/inexperienced resources
• Identify contingent resources
• Allow additional time

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Lessons Learnt Integrate with the Existing
Business

• Always look outside-in and think Single Customer
  Experience
• Involve all areas of the business from Day 1.
• Integrate and leverage current business processes
  and knowledge
• Adopt new processes across the business to
  integrate the e-business
• Remember e-business projects are not an end in
  themselves, rather a vehicle for improving
  overall business objectives.

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Lessons Learnt Manage Expectations

• Involve the other areas of the business early
• Plan to educate the stakeholders early
• Develop an internal communications plan that
  regularly updates all areas of the business
• Produce early produce often
• Plan to iterate prior to going live
• Consider phased implementations of functionality
• Remember the launch is only the beginning
• Consider soft launching to a selected audience

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Lessons Learnt Project Structure

• Project must be lead and managed by the business
• Ensure business commitment through a Steering
  Committee
• Delegate Authority to the Project team
• One small team - combined business and technical
  resources
• All resources available from the start
• Immerse business operations staff from the
  beginning
• Single location
• Ensure creative design and build go hand in hand
• Involve your legal experts early

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Lessons Learnt Project Management Disciplines

• Enforce PM disciplines more than ever but make
  sure the processes support the speed of the
  project
• Make decisions decisively
• Adopt an attitude of delivering early
• Consider segmenting functionality through
  releases or time boxing as a means of managing
  project results
• Continually review and manage the project and
  business risks (at least daily)
• Implement a process for sharing and managing
  creative ideas

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Lessons learnt Skills and Technology

• Design and plan for the future (Scalability)
• Ideally select and setup the development
  environment prior to commencement of the project
• Ensure you have knowledgeable resources in the
  technology
• Minimise risk by basing your solution on a
  completed solution
• Use n-1 Software level
• Dont underestimate the operational changes
  necessary to support a 24752 day systems
• Test thoroughly (performance, operationally and
  security) before going live
• Plan to stress test early. Know your limitations.

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Are e-business projects any different?

• Based on the lessons learnt, the issues
  associated with e-business projects are not new
  to projects or specific to e-business. However,
  the perceived need for rapid action with a fixed
  delivery date, the impact and public visibility
  of associated problems is likely to be much
  higher for e-business projects than a classic
  project of equivalent size and complexity.