Project Direction
Merced and Canidium announce upcoming ICM Webinar: Solution Assessment and Road Mapping
Monday, April 12th, 2010 | EIM, Merced, Project Direction, SPM | No Comments
Canidium and partner Merced Systems will host a webinar at noon Eastern / 9:00 A.M. Pacific on Tuesday, May 11th. The key speakers will be Canidium Principal Consultant (and frequent Alpha Comp contributor), Jason Kearns, and Merced’s VP of Business Consulting, Matthew Katz. Kearns and Katz will be discussing the classic progression of incentive compensation automation within organizations including how organizations can assess their current process and effectively road map for future success. Those who will most benefit from attending include sales VPs, IT directors, compensation managers and other compensation and sales professionals. More information and registration is available here.
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- There’s Value in the Journey - JasonKearns
- Beware of unneeded system flexibility - MichaelStus
#5: You put lipstick on a pig
Wednesday, April 15th, 2009 | EIM, Project Direction, Top 'n' Lists, Top 5 Mistakes Collecting SPM / EIM Project Requirements, large projects, requirements | 2 Comments
#5 of 5: Top 5 Mistakes Collecting SPM / EIM Project Requirements
You shied away from real improvement opportunities by falling back into the old way of doing things. It’s nice to upgrade parts of your system so they perform better, but if you don’t redesign around the new capabilities you may not see any real benefits. Your new system will still be a pig, even if it’s got a shiny new coat of lipstick.
The Problem
You’re fighting human nature again. The selection of a fancy new enterprise software package is a big deal. A lot of promises are made and due diligence is done around making sure the investment is worthy. Rarely is there the directive to “keep our processes exactly as they are.” In fact, many times the introduction of a new system is identified as the perfect catalyst for implementing the many changes management desires.
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- #1: You took the buffalo for a walk - JasonKearns
- Beware of unneeded system flexibility - MichaelStus
#3: You asked the tourist for directions
Tuesday, March 31st, 2009 | EIM, Project Direction, SPM, Top 'n' Lists, Top 5 Mistakes Collecting SPM / EIM Project Requirements, large projects, requirements | No Comments
#3 of 5: Top 5 Mistakes Collecting SPM / EIM Project Requirements
It’s important to identify the true subject matter experts and speak to them. There are a lot of tourists roaming the streets eager to share what they know. Tourists have read all the guides and made a couple of day trips. They know more than you and they can sound very confident, but beware, they don’t live here. They don’t know that 5th Street is a one-way going south of Elm or that the Bob’s Big Boy landmark they’re using burned down two months ago. You need a native to give you details; only a native knows everything. At companies, there are many tourists roaming the halls with abundant enthusiasm and misinformation.
The Problem
Once again we like to pull information from those willing to give it. A fundamental problem with this approach is that it’s often the busiest and least available individuals to whom we really need to speak. I learned my lesson the hard way. This is a true story.
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Similar Posts:
- #2: You painted the wall from bottom to top - JasonKearns
- #1: You took the buffalo for a walk - JasonKearns
#2: You painted the wall from bottom to top
Wednesday, March 25th, 2009 | EIM, Project Direction, Top 'n' Lists, Top 5 Mistakes Collecting SPM / EIM Project Requirements, large projects, requirements | No Comments
#2 of 5: Top 5 Mistakes Collecting SPM / EIM Project Requirements
It is possible to collect requirements out of order, and it often happens. Just like painting a wall, there is some strategy involved. When you paint, you typically want to start at the top and work your way down. The reason is simple, drips. Even the most experienced painters aren’t going to be able to prevent all drips, streams and splatters. As you coat the wall you inevitably get streams of paint running down via gravity. If you are painting from top to bottom, it’s no big deal. You just paint over and smooth out the drips as you work your way down. But if you are painting from bottom to top, you have a problem. In order to smooth out the drips you have to go back and re-brush some areas that have already been covered. This amounts to a lot of wasted time and effort.
The Problem
When things get done out of order, it’s usually for good reason. Human nature is to do what you can, as soon as you can, with the least amount of effort. When you painted your first wall you probably started at eye level. You don’t have to bend over and you don’t have to climb a ladder. When collecting requirements, it’s typical to start with the easiest and most readily available information. This wouldn’t be so bad if everything was fully documented and available from Day One. However, in most case this just means you schedule whoever is available and forthcoming. Beggars can’t be choosers when it comes to getting client subject matter expert (SME) time.
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Similar Posts:
- #5: You put lipstick on a pig - JasonKearns
- #3: You asked the tourist for directions - JasonKearns