Continuing with the third installment of the things you shouldn’t be doing on a project is one of my favorite.  It refers to a development methodology.  All too often those of us in IT forget about the end business goal and instead focus on the tool that’s supposed to get us to the goal.  When this happens, hilarity results.  At least it’s funny if you aren’t pulling your hair out.

What happened

Several years ago, we were working with a large corporation.  We had successfully completed one project under the radar of the PMO and various supervisory entities.  The CTO had also guided us around potential pitfalls in the organization.  However, the time came to take the portal to multiple departments and we had to start working with more people in the organization.  The next projects for this client each had multiple phases and would last almost two years.  We were ready to go and the client came and said the following:

1. Our Project Management Organization (PMO) wants you to follow their gating process.
2. It’s really just a supervisory process and as long as your ducks are in a row, it should be pretty straightforward.
3. If you can’t pass a specific gate, we may require you to stop moving forward until our reviewers pass you.

How the gate was described to us

You are probably already getting the picture that this gating process wasn’t as nice as it seemed.

The result

This was a painful process.  We had to get a lot of different people with sometimes divergent expectations on board to approve simple deliverables.  They wanted us to get all requirements done and then move on.  Before starting to code, we needed to design everything.  You get the picture.  This resulted in 30% more time tacked onto the project.  It resulted in unhappy developers and even more unhappy business users who only cared about launching new business driven functionality.  It wasn’t a pretty picture.

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Best Quote from the PMO: “I really don’t want to know about the technology or the solution, just tell me if you follow the process”

How the process actually turned out. Thanks to layoutsparks.com for image

What Should Have Happened

Using a software development methodology is a good thing.  I believe in them.   However, when working with a tool like a Portal, you should use something that leans on it’s strengths.  Portal has many different pieces and parts. You can surface applications.  You can create content. You can define page configurations with multiple security settings. You can create personalization rules.  You can put all of the above on one page.  All the parts are loosely coupled which in the long run should make your life easier.

My advice is two fold:

1. Use an iterative methodology like RUP or SCRUM
2. Don’t lose track of the real reason this project was funded

Any projects focuses on delivered functionality, time, and cost.  RUP uses iterations but focuses more on functionality and cost.  Time is something that usually bends in a RUP based project.  SCRUM (an Agile methodology) focuses on cost and time. You may not deliver everything you want in a sprint but you will still deliver it.  Regardless of what you use, you are still work with a methodology that understand that things will change mid stream and that allows you to deal with those changes.  Personally, I believe an Agile methodology leaves you more prepared for the change but both allow you more flexibility than a ‘gating’ process.

Also, NEVER lose sight of what’s important.  You are there to deliver functionality. For far too long, IT has chosen to go the route of delivering too little functionality or getting in the way of delivery.  Many times, this happens while keeping the business in the dark as to what’s going on.  All too often, I arrive on client site with a budgeting process geared towards limiting IT to only a funded project and with little leeway to creating a reusable foundation.  In many ways, we in IT caused that problem and we will only get more flexibility when the business believes IT is on board.  That only comes when the business believes IT is aligned with the business objectives.  Again, NEVER lose sight of what is important……..delivering new or enhanced capabilities to the business.

Previous Installments

1. Where’s My Homepage?!?
2. The Business Asked for It

Join us this month on Wed, June 29th for our Perficient Perspectives webinar in which we explore the 12 Things You Shouldn’t Do on a Portal Project in depth.  More Info / Register