eProject Management 6/2001

Date: June 19th 2001
Topic: e-Project Management for the New Reality
Presented By: Glen Doss
Towson University: CAIT 630

Introduction

The "New Reality" that is today's e-business environment has fostered the need to redefine traditional project management practices in order to deliver solutions quickly. A study by McKinsey and Company found that technology projects completed on time but over budget were more profitable than projects completed on budget but late. This scenario illustrates how today's constantly evolving technology has amplified the need to deliver projects quickly. The "Internet Time" in which companies are now forced to operate in creates unique challenges and market conditions, which project managers must adapt to. Although the e-revolution has forced some to discard traditional business frameworks and methodologies in order to keep up, it hasn't eliminated the need for project management. This "New Reality" has further justified the need for flexible and effective project management processes.

What is an e-project?

As defined by Jim Highsmith in e-Project Management: Harnessing Innovation and Speed
e-Projects:

•  Must be delivered rapidly

•  Are both research-like and mission critical

•  Have to be managed in a turbulent business and technology environment

The first point he makes is that of delivering projects rapidly. It is imperative that project managers deliver e-projects on time, in order to keep up with the accelerated pace of business. Highsmith notes a recent email from an IT manager, "you can rant and rave all you want about software quality (or lack thereof), but the marketing guys run the world, and they want market share now -- period, end of discussion." Traditional project management involves balancing tradeoffs in time, cost, and quality. The nature of an e-project shifts the focus to time, with pressure for tradeoffs in cost and quality.

Highsmith mentions that e-projects are research-like. "Research projects are characterized by risk and uncertainty; risk relating to things you anticipate might go wrong, uncertainty relating to things that might go wrong that you don't even know about. The manifestation of risk and uncertainty is change, so research projects are typically "loosely" managed to accommodate the changes and explorations into the unknown. The anticipated "results" from research projects are often fuzzy. As such, research projects are not typically time constrained."

E-projects often exhibit this research-like characteristic. Many of today's e-projects are exploring the unknown, pushing the envelope, and forging through the uncertainty that exists on the leading edge of innovation. However, as mentioned e-projects are typically under strict time constraints and are often mission critical. Research projects are typically "loosely managed". Loosely managing a mission critical project wouldn't usually be a wise decision. These unique characteristics separate e-projects from traditional research projects. They also add to the challenges that e-project managers must effectively overcome.

Highsmith describes the turbulent environment in which e-project managers must operate. "Internet technology today is like having a 2,000-piece Lego set and no instruction manual -- with pieces continuously morphing into new shapes. Project teams are continuously learning about new technologies and new products, and the urge to incorporate them is always seductive. Business models are rapidly evolving as companies try one approach and then evolve it into something similar, or entirely different. Following a predetermined project plan in this environment may get you somewhere, but is it still where you need to be when you arrive?" This environment has initiated the need for a new generation of project management skills and techniques.

Managing an e-project

The unique characteristics of an e-project suggest the need for specialized project management processes and frameworks. These techniques should utilize proven traditional project management skills, and adapt them for use in the fast paced new economy.

E-projects typically fit into three classes: new construction, remodeling, and maintenance. This is evident in the world of web design and development. In most situations these projects are measured in months, weeks, and days respectively. New construction represents the initial redesign or development of an entire web site. This type of project has a large scope and is an infrequent release. However, the remodeling and maintenance projects that follow happen with much greater frequency and smaller scope. Remodeling projects occur when significant changes or additions to a web site are needed. These projects can range from weeks to months. Maintenance on most web sites and e-projects is done on a continuous basis. The scope is much smaller than in the other two classes, and releases can happen multiple times per day. These projects are measured in days, hours, or minutes.

One of the biggest challenges e-projects and e-project managers must face is the "apparent" abandonment of traditional internal processes. Typical project lifecycles and frameworks have been established over the years to reflect the culture and hierarchy of the organization. Existing standards are used to guide projects and gauge their success. Breaking and evolving this structure to better adapt to the needs of e-projects can be difficult and unpopular in some organizations. E-projects require project managers to generate three traditionally incompatible behaviors from within the same company; innovation, discipline, and adaptability.

The overriding importance of time constitutes the need for modifications in existing project management frameworks. Process steps must be reduced to three or four, and signature signoff layers must also be reduced. Internal processes must adapt to allow for the employee empowerment and organizational creativity necessary to keep up with today's speed of business. Traditional standards or inflexible processes cannot hinder innovation. Releasing new features and web site content ahead of competitors can increase site visits, improve stickiness, and drive increased sales and revenue. Schedule management, scope management, quality management, and release management are key aspects of managing e-projects that must be utilized in order to achieve these benefits.

Schedule management for major releases should be comprehensive, but can typically be streamlined for remodeling, and may be nonexistent for maintenance. Scope management is necessary in order to achieve the project schedule in place. Managing scope in e-projects involves avoiding scope creep, and moving additional features to future releases when necessary. Regular updates and releases can greatly aid in the scope management of an e-project. This frequency of releases also helps in quality management.

In order to accelerate time to market, an e-project can utilize the Internet environment to make risk based decisions. Having the benefit of "real time fixes" allows web developers to eliminate the most serious faults upfront (ensuring site functionality), and complete additional testing and modifications on the live site. This also helps developers leverage users as testers. Many times modifications must be made after user feedback is received, and in the shortened e-project development cycle, developers may not have time to accurately gauge user response before releasing. The benefits of releasing content quickly sometimes outweigh the benefits of thorough testing.

Release management is an important concept that e-project managers must effectively utilize. With the increased release frequency of e-projects it is important to determine when and why releases should happen. Many web sites such as MSNBC, CNN, etc. continuously update content. E-projects differ from traditional software development, in that additional releases don't usually have costs associated with the release itself. It doesn't cost money to make deployments to a web server, it does however cost money to burn a new version of a software CD.

Conclusion

E-projects are not absent of project management; rather a refined framework is required. E-project management processes should recognize the importance of speed, and streamline traditional practices to meet the needs of the "New Reality". This involves developing flexible structures to accommodate iterative releases, testing based on the relative level of risk associated with a release, and making tradeoffs for the sake of time when necessary.

"We have to keep in mind that, ultimately, e-project management is about only one thing -- innovation. We must have disciplined testing, of course. But delivering the "wrong" high-quality product has limited appeal to business executives. We must maintain some control over the project delivery process, but if we stifle innovation in our quest for "control," the results will be anemic at best. On-time, on-budget, boring applications won't help build new markets. Innovation comes in many forms -- technology, business models, operations -- and IT can be, and should be, at the center of that innovation". -Jim Highsmith