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Plan and Manage for Assured Success by Ric Lobosco When you think of new goals for yourself and your business, have you backed them up with brand new thinking? Planned completely, from scratch, with new methods, resources, and capabilities? Or are you expecting last year's thinking and activities to get you into new territory? Maybe they will, and maybe they won't. We see many people who carry on business (and life) as usual, expecting different results. (This fits a definition of crazy you've probably heard.) Others expect circumstances to remain static, so they get blindsided by avoidable situations, and miss out on exciting opportunities. Still others are habitually in reaction to external pressures (those of you in hi-tech, listen up!). Costly mistakes, declining quality, burnout, attrition (customers and staff), losing big market share or opportunities, constant crises, flared tempers, missed deadlines... these and other symptoms are calling attention to a need to revamp your practices and reexamine what's really important. According to a study, 31% of US software projects are canceled before they are completed, 53% of them overrun their cost estimates by 189% and only 16% are considered truly successful. The total loss is estimated at $140 billion annually. Any parallels with your business? The world of software project management has lessons for everyone. The government got tired of flaky products that cost more than their budget, arriving late, if at all (think of NASA). A process was devised to eliminate these recurring headaches that came straight out of time-tested project management methodology. The Capability Maturity Model was developed by Carnegie Mellon University. It is a model used to determine the level at which a company is developing software. The CMM can be used to identify and improve the processes of any organization. There are five CMM levels: Level 1: Initial Level At least 80% of all companies operate here: achieving mediocre results by operating by the seat-of-the-pants. Processes are ad hoc, poorly defined, undocumented, haphazard and chaotic. Success depends on exceptional individual effort, and blame is often passed around, generously. Employees are indispensable, usually expensive, and often yield inconsistent results. Problems, shortcomings and variations are usually not anticipated. There is no effective management of staff, processes or changes, and there are no clearly predictable costs, time, or outcome. Many companies fail because of this lack of effective management. Level 2: Repeatable Level Most businesses will receive the most benefit by moving from Level One to Level Two. Basic processes related to the delivery of your product or service are established to track costs, define and schedule work, and make many routine tasks predictably consistent. Less individual heroism is needed, fewer high-salary employees are required. Success can begin to be assured by this level of planning, attention and management. A process is established for capturing specific client needs and managing any change to those requirements. When a change is requested, it is documented, along with an analysis and projected impacts. Only then is the decision made to change a product or process or create a separate "version" to respond to specific needs. The client is informed and clear about what to expect, and the people working closest with the client carry the most weight in deciding whether to make the change. Sufficient resources are allocated and scheduling is designed for successful completion. Your staff reviews processes for effective delivery of the desired results, to avail you of greater resources, and to get their "buy-in". Tracking and oversight of the work begins with dividing tasks into small steps with clear outcomes, and includes regular updates on progress. Quality is assured by measuring the results against the customer expectations and defined processes. The entire staff knows what's expected, and are kept informed about the results. Focus is on effectiveness of the process and delivering what's promised to the customer, not on finding fault with individuals. Methods are defined for handling defects in processes or end product. Outside resources are handled with the same processes and standards as the internal staff. Each person has different tasks and responsibilities, but everyone is aligned on a common outcome, and everyone is a resource. Think of the world's largest hamburger chain: they have equipment, procedures and training to assure consistent products and delivery all over the world. Level 3: Defined Level Processes are documented, standardized, and integrated for the whole organization, for every kind of work, at every level. You can hire exactly the expertise necessary for the job, pay talented high performers well, and predict consistent results. Your firm is efficient, at every level, with each employee. Every person is trained to operate at this level. The aforementioned fast food company has a defined structure for hiring, for franchising, for product testing and roll out, for choosing new locations. They *know* they will be successful every time. Level 4: Managed Level Detailed measurement of the processes and product quality are collected. Highly successful firms know everything that can be know about how they are doing, and this level of measurement allows for predictable effectiveness and efficiency. The improvements indicated at this level of managing are often incremental, but leveraged over a large scale, can provide significant gains and cause the firm to stand out from its peers. The companies that operate here are highly successful, often the winner in a category. This level separates those firms that are top-tier players and minor-leaguers. Level 5: Optimizing Level Continuous improvement, as pioneered by Deming, is enabled by adding feedback from front line personnel and instituting innovation into every part of your product and business process. The consistently recognized leaders in excellent quality (or performance) operate here. Only 4% of US software companies are certified at Level Five. The process of raising the level of consistency and reliability your firm operates at is more detailed and difficult than outlined here, but this should inspire ideas for beginning your firm's transformation. Allies has great skill and experience in helping firms redesign themselves for greater success. We would be glad to help you plan and manage your firm for assured success. (NOTE: Allies Consulting offers a variety of programs that can help you create an organization that will be more effective than ever. Our programs will meet or exceed your expectations: they are designed to deliver real results. They each leverage our other programs, magnifying your ROI!)   | Home page | Site Map | © Copyright 1999, All Rights Reserved Allies Consulting POBox 9635 San Rafael, CA 94912 (415) 459-2272 www.AlliesConsulting.com