Lessons learned “pre-mortem” to understand project risks

This is one of the most common challenges for any project or programme. Typically the client will only offer their key people to support the delivery on a part-time basis. These people will have business as usual as well as specific project work to complete. There are a range of ways you can overcome this issue:

• Careful planning
• Adding contingency into time and budgets
• Bringing in dedicated individuals to manage specific work streams
• Commissioning specific work packages for part-time resources

Cutting this short is always a challenge, often because build and other tests take longer than originally planned or anticipated. The only way to manage this is by adding contingency into time, budgets and resources. If possible, use a dedicated test manager to oversee user acceptance testing. For large or complex projects, consider pulling together a test team.

It is becoming more unusual these days to find technology projects that don’t take into account the business change elements necessary for a successful project, however, they do still exist.

The old adage of ‘people, process, technology’ is still valid to this day. The only way to manage the challenge of business change is to ensure that you always approach technology-led projects from a business perspective. Similarly, you should outline business benefits from the start. Engagement and communication with all stakeholders throughout the project’s lifecycle are critical elements of this.

It can be the case that poor operational planning will not support a smooth go-live and transition into business as usual. This is especially the case for complex projects and programmes.

Often this is an area that is left to the last minute, or sometimes even neglected altogether. The only sure way to ensure a ‘soft landing’ is to have a clear set of acceptance criteria. These can then be managed using a series of gateway reviews and ‘go/no go’ meetings.

In this situation, a slow adoption of change often means a project has to have a second phase. The root of this lies in a lack of focus on the change aspects of a project or programme.

It’s also often the case that training is rushed and therefore doesn’t allow for different learning styles. The way to tackle this is to offer different options and channels for learning. This would allow for additional support and the offer of training and support for some time after the go-live period.