| What IS this thing that I call Project Leadership? |
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| What IS the difference from Project Management? |
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| Fundamentally Strategic Business Information System Project Leadership is about a close executive level appointment of a very senior, very mature, very experienced gray haired person to run the project. |
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| In considering what is presented here it is vital to understand that a business information systems project (read ERP, IT as well) is a very intimate project. It is about the business changing its core systems, its way of working. You are going to rip the guts out of your business and impact every member of staff, whether they sit in front of a computer or not. |
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| You are going to examine the way you do things and make changes directed at improvement. |
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| This project is ONLY about the external contractors in that they bring the expertise necessary to deliver their particular software system of choice to your business as effectively as possible – problem is that widespread experience indicates that they do NOT get this right a lot of the time – see the Failure Catalogue. |
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| So |
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| What to do? |
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| My recommendation? |
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| The Strategic Business Information System Project Leader |
| Someone who in addition to a wealth of experience you are confident demonstrates an intuitive understanding of your business AND its requirements. This must be coupled to a wealth of experience with systems and proven methods of tying the two – business and system – together. |
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| If you are putting in systems that stretch across the major domains of your business this person MUST report directly to your Chief Executive and take direction ONLY from the CEO – accordingly the CEO must have a HIGH level of comfort that they can work with this person. |
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| This person must have a solid understanding of all the principles discussed on this website, they need NOT necessarily have deep skills in strategic solution architecture or precision configuration but they MUST have deep skills in determining the overall solution and directing the project, both the business team AND the technical team. They must also be able to work effectively with the implementation contractors (consultants) but as is always the case when managing contractors the Project Leader must maintain their distance and NOT fraternize with the contractors at a level that compromises the ability of the Project Leader to manage them against the contract and requirements to deliver a high value, high quality solution on time and on budget. |
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| Following is my assessment of what constitutes the ART of Strategic Business Information System Project Leadership in the context of a business wide system project: |
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| 1. Get inside the head of the CEO |
| Get inside the head of the CEO, understand the business through the eyes of the CEO, understand the essence of the business and how it thrives, clearly take on board the CEO’s vision for the future. Build relationship with the entire executive team. Maintain close contact with the CEO and ensure that the CEO’s view and vision are incorporated into every area of the project. |
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| 2. Headline understanding of the business |
| Develop a thorough headline understanding of the mechanisms of the business – the major functions, key differentiators, problem areas with current systems. Facilitate this understanding throughout the project and measure all aspects of project activities against it. |
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| 3. Holistic integrated view of the solution |
| Develop a holistic integrated high level view of the system solution – likely major modules, industry vertical products, specialist niche components. Facilitate this understanding throughout the project and measure all aspects of project activities against it. |
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| 4. High level requirements specification |
| Incorporate all of this into a high level requirements specification and comprehensive tender documentation and go to market with a robust request for proposal and tender process resulting in an enforceable fixed price and robust contract. |
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| 5. Manage ALL facets, particularly the Critical Factors |
| Manage ALL facets of the project at a headline level with a clear view of how the different components fit together and ensuring contract compliance at ALL times – tough but fair – only concede change in scope when it is truly legitimate. |
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| Manage the factors that cause failure out of the project and manage the Critical Factors for Success INTO the project at all times. |
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| 6. Ensure effective business participation |
| Ensure that the required levels of business participation occur and that the implementers use client staff effectively and efficiently. Communicate constantly and appropriately with ALL team members |
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| 7. Rigorous oversight of laboratory |
| Ensure that the testing of all components in the laboratory -- software, configuration, etc is comprehensive and rigorous, that acceptance walkthrough’s are through and systematic and that the go-live certificate is only signed when the solution is truly ready to deploy and all staff are trained. |
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| 8. Rigorous oversight of go-live |
| Ensure that go-live planning is through and practical and phased where necessary. |
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| 9. NOT a classic IT project manager |
| This is NOT a classic IT project manager role. This person is NOT an administrator, they do NOT draw up Gantt Charts, etc – they oversee the person who does this work. |
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| This is about crafting and directing the integrated system and business outcome as an agent and proxy for the CEO in, effectively, an interim executive capacity. |
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| It is the role of the Project Leader to tie the entire project together from the client’s perspective and ensure that a high value solution is delivered. |
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| I can assist you to put this in place or I can do the job for you. |
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| I look forward to discussing how I can be of assistance to you. |
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| Dr James A Robertson PrEng |