The 4 Secrets of Project Success

By Carl Breunlin
Director Project Office
Software Architects, Inc.
602.776.9555

Chicago l Cincinnati l Columbus l Dallas l Denver l Fort Lauderdale l Houston l Indianapolis l Phoenix l Tallahassee l Tampa l www.sark.com
 Premise:
What you do before a project
starts significantly influences
the success or failure of your
effort.

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 With that said, there are 4 secrets to project
success
And
They are easy to implement

Focus on Feasible
Get the Numbers Right
Never Second Guess the Estimate
Dont Loose Control

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 Focus On Feasibility
FACT:
You cant determine feasibility until you
know the details of a project.
Based on the details you can determine:
Technical feasibility
Financial feasibility
Schedule feasibility
Organizational feasibility

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The Easiest Way to Get the Details is to Write a
System Description

System Description - Table of Contents

1.0 System overview

2.0 Current system definition
3.0 New system definition
4.0 Impacts of the new system (organizationally, financially, etc.)
5.0 Advantages and disadvantages of new system
6.0 Notes

SARK recommends writing a System Description as a

first step in project planning.

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 System Description Table of Contents Technical Feasibility
1.0 System overview
2.0 Current system definition
Is the network OK?
3.0 New system definition
4.0 Impacts of the new system
Do we have enough
(organizationally, financially, etc.) processing power?
5.0 Advantages and disadvantages of new
system Are we pushing the state
6.0 Notes
of the art?

YES NO
Will performance be an
Technical X
issue?
Financial Are there technical
Schedule limitations?
Organizational
Has this been done
before?

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 System Description Table of Contents Financial Feasibility
1.0 System overview
2.0 Current system definition Is the total budget
3.0 New system definition adequate?
4.0 Impacts of the new system
(organizationally, financially, etc.)
Is the budget per period
5.0 Advantages and disadvantages of new
system adequate?
6.0 Notes
What is the ROI?

YES NO
When is Break Even?
Technical X Are there hidden costs?
Financial X
What are the intangible
Schedule
benefits
Organizational

What is the TCO?

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 System Description Table of Contents Schedule Feasibility
1.0 System overview
2.0 Current system definition What is the drop dead
3.0 New system definition date?
4.0 Impacts of the new system
(organizationally, financially, etc.)
Can the project be
5.0 Advantages and disadvantages of new
system completed by then?
6.0 Notes
When do major
milestones need to be
completed?
YES NO

Technical X Can they be completed

Financial X on time?
Schedule X
What happens if the
Organizational
project is late?

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 System Description Table of Contents Organizational Feasibility
1.0 System overview
2.0 Current system definition Does the IT team have the
3.0 New system definition experience for a project of this
4.0 Impacts of the new system size?
(organizationally, financially, etc.)
5.0 Advantages and disadvantages of new Do we have a world-class
system
6.0 Notes
Project Manager?
Do we have experience with
YES NO
this technology?
Technical X How will the new system
Financial X impact the organization?
Schedule X
What impacts are there to
Organizational X
vendors/partners, etc.?
How much training is
required?
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 System Description
Table of Contents
1.0 System overview Feasibility Analysis Once feasibility
2.0 Current system analysis is
definition Technical complete, it is
3.0 New system
definition
Financial easy to put
4.0 Impacts of the new
system
together a plan for
(organizationally, Schedule any item not
financially, etc.)
5.0 Advantages and Organizational feasible or
disadvantages of new marginally feasible
system
6.0 Notes

To be successful we need to hire a world class

project manager by June who has these skills..

Feasibility is the cornerstone of early project planning.

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If Feasible, the Next Step is to Get the
Numbers Right

If the estimate is wrong, 9 times out of

10 the project is doomed.

SARK has developed a world class approach to

estimating that is:
Totally transparent
Extremely accurate
Ties the estimate directly to what users want
Is the basis for cost and schedule control
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 Before we discuss estimating, a few
thoughts:
You have to spend time
up front getting
requirements

Only after you have

requirements can you
create an accurate
estimate

The better the

requirements, the better Analysis is becoming a larger
the estimate percent of total development time!

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 Suppose You Collected These Requirements and
Grouped Them As Follows
Requirement Design Element
Shall be able to view general ledger entries in multiple
currencies Accounting
Shall allow viewing of general ledger entries by invoice

Shall be able to select consumer accounts Order Entry

Shall be able to select business accounts

Shall be able to create source codes

Marketing
Shall be able to modify source codes

Shall be able to perform product catalog entry Fulfillment

Shall be able to perform product catalog changes

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It Would Then Be Straightforward to Create an
Accurate Estimate As Follow:

The project estimate is based on determining how

long it will take to implement each requirements
based on a given life cycle.
For example:

Total effort to implement this requirement: 170 Hrs.

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 This is How SARK Creates Accurate Estimates
Your life
What needs to be built
cycle

How much effort

is required

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 Now that we know about
feasibility and estimating,
theres one more project
sinking torpedo to address
namely second guessing the
estimate.

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 Imaging the Following Conversation

Estimator/PM/Director Etc. Itll take $3M and 18 months to do this

project.
Boss/C-Level Somebody Nope, Nope, Nope not acceptable. Gotta
have it done by year end, and by the way the budget is $1.5M. Period
Estimator/PM/Director Etc. (after a long pause) Ok.
Later alone in the office to himself/herself
Estimator/PM/Director Etc. Never going to happen!!!!! Period.
Later either alone or to some higher level boss
Boss/C-Level Somebody Boy did I do a good job managing those
out of control development costs!!!!
How often does this happen in your organization?

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 This is called
Second Guessing the Estimate

The idea is to somehow fit more requirements

into the development effort than the budget
supports.

IT NEVER WORKS!

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Instead of Second Guessing - Use SARKs
Approach to Reconcile Wants with Budget
1. First, double check the estimate for accuracy be careful
2. Next, analyze expensive features are they worth it?
3. Then prioritize expensive features or get rid of them
4. If necessary schedule multiple releases plan a multi-
period roll-out to match budget with needs

You can do the

same if you use our
estimating
approach!

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With this approach, your project is much,
much more likely to succeed.

Butcompromises must be made.

Butthats better than having the project

overrun.

THE BOTTOM LINE:

If the estimate is accurate and it should be, dont
demand more for less.

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 Now We Can Turn Our Attention
to the Last Secret:
Dont Loose Control
Control Cost & Schedule
Control Changes
Control Quality

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Controlling Cost and Schedule
$80,000

$60,000

$40,000

$20,000

$0
Jan Feb. Mch. April May
BCWS $20,000 $28,000 $36,000 $52,000 $68,000
BCWP $16,000 $20,000
ACWP $22,000 $28,000

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 Controlling Changes

A rigorous change control

process assures that all
changes are documented
and that the impact of
approved changes are
reflected in the cost and
schedule baseline.

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Controlling Quality

Building quality into

your project from
day one will
significantly
contribute to overall
project success.

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 Summary
The premise of our discussion today is
that what you do before a project starts
significantly influences the success or
failure of your effort.

We have discussed 4 easy to implement

strategies to help guarantee that your
project completes successfully.

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 Questions?
Thank you for your time.
Need More Info?
Contact:
Carl Breunlin
cbreunlin@sark.com
602.776.9555
Software Architects Inc. is a full service software consulting firm
specializing in custom application development and application
integration. Please visit our web site at:

www.sark.com

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