Case Study Examples

Big companies are killing big projects with big losses and are "kicking them off the raft," and it is costing their shareholders major bucks. The government is doing the same thing, and that is costing all of us big bucks. Things are being oversold, poorly managed, unmanaged, delayed, ramped down and ramped up, underscoped, poorly staffed, and unrewarded.

Case I—Cost Thirty Million Dollars

• Twelve years of development.
• No module ever put into production.
• Serious design flaws
• No integration
• No value added
• Code incompatibilities between year one and twelve
• High turnover
• Ramped down and up with budget swings
• No end vision

Case II—Cost Thirteen Million Dollars

• Replacement of all the business software and conver­sion from one platform to another treated as "no big deal."
• Hardware swap out
• Software swap out
• System expansion and integration
• Long cleanup and redefinition phase
• Not correctly scoped
• Inexperienced team
Case III—Cost Thirty Million Dollars
• Seven year in-house custom development
• Failure of first plant implementation
• No reengineering phase
• No user education plan
• Very low transaction accuracy
• Low management buy-in

Summary

Webster defines dilemma as "predicament with only two solutions, both unpleasant." Because of prior pain, many people fear being assigned to projects. Their careers come to a halt, their promotions get curtailed, their pay and bonus get reclassified, and their peer structures are jeopardized.

So this is the dilemma:

1. Be sure that work is work and that it has appropriate metrics. (Remember the concept of work as we know it is changing.)
2. If a project structure is needed to achieve a deliverable or reengineer a process or implement a business scope redefinition, then the dilemma is:

• How should it be structured
• How can technology be maximized
• How and when should resources be scheduled onto the project
• What level of cleanup and reengineeringis needed
• What milestones trigger the relief of resources
• What impact will team training have on estimates
• How to manage and lead the effort uniquely
• How to reward the effort uniquely
• How to assure achievement of desired end points in a timely and cost-effective manner
• How to build on the team's efforts without having to keep the team fully intact for another re-up like the Army
• What are the rules of the game for teaming partners
• How will the steering committee be organized to maximize control

These issues cannot be ignored. If they are not addressed at the beginning, then they will be addressed in the middle or the end when someone is "brought in" to turn it around.