How to effectively engage users and managers in IT projects

Richard CollingsIndependent IT Consultant

“Helping people, technology and organisations work together”

Agenda

• Introductions• Why involving users and managers

is important• Some general observations,

principles and tools• Some specific techniques for each

stage of a project

INTRODUCTIONS

Your background

1. Executive team/Trustee?2. IT Management?3. Project manager?4. IT Practitioner?5. Business manager/user?6. Some or all of the above?7. Other?

Your approach

1. Traditional/plan driven/PRINCE 2 (and not going to change)

2. As for 1 but interested in agile3. Hybrid4. Wholly agile (Scrum, DSDM, etc)5. Other/not sure

My background

• Practitioner consultant (with some sales)

• 20 years as an independent working in not for profit sector

• ‘Soup to nuts’, complex, multi-stakeholder projects• Mainly large (multi-year) but some

small

• Work at interface between business and IT

• Use multiple methodologies• Sceptic

Example projects

Single stakehold

er

Departmental

Multiple departments/ regions

Multiple partners/ mergers

Service Users/

Members

Supporters/ Public

Refugee Councils Case Management

C&C system

Grant management

Rural Payments Agency

Web site Web site

Project size

Sources/Influences

Traditional business analysis

PRINCE2Scrum

(Schwaber et al)

Evo (Tom Gilb)

xP(Kent Beck)

Systems Thinking

(John Seddon)

Peopleware(DeMarco &

Lister)

Lean Software Development

(Mary and Tom Poppendieck)

Outside InKeisler & Sweitzer

Corporate Politics for IT Managers

Patching & Chatham

WHY INVOLVEMENT IS IMPORTANT

Some evidence

But not a lot! Good ‘clinical’ evidence is hard to come by:

‘…we need considerably more empirical studies of practice. We simply don’t have enough information about the actuality of practice to be certain that our research efforts are addressing the significant problems of a practice oriented discipline’

Robinson, H. (2001). "Reflecting on research and practice." IEEE Software, Jan/Feb 2001, 18(1): 112-111

Why IT Projects are difficult

‘Human and social factors have a very strong impact on the success of software development endeavours and the resulting system. Surprisingly, much of software engineering research in the last decade is technical, quantitative and deemphasizes the people aspect’

John, M., Maurer, F. and Bjomar, T. (2005). Human and Social Factors of Software Engineering - Workshop Summary. Proceedings of the International Conference of Software Engineering, St Louis, Missouri, USA.

<IT Projects> are conducted today in complex environments. <They> occur in a fragile matrix of applications, users, business demands, laws, internal politics, budgets and organisational dependencies that change constantly‘

Standish Group CHAOS report (1998)

Factors affecting success

Success factor Influence

User involvement 20 points

Executive Support 15 points

Clear Business Objectives 15 points

Experienced Project Manager 15 points

Small milestones 15 points

Firm basic requirements 5 points

Competent staff 5 points

Ownership 5 points

Other 5 points

Standish Group CHAOS report (1998). Survey of 23,000 firms

Why involve senior managers?

• Generate or ‘buy into’ the vision• Getting the right decisions made• Deliver the ‘something magic’• Commit the resources • Knock heads together• Ask the difficult questions; solve

the difficult problems

Case study: RPA

“There has been a lack of senior management ownership of the scheme in the Agency and DEFRA” NAO 2009

• Poor senior decision making• Total cost: £350m (cf original est:

£75.8m)• 100 contractors @ £200k pa to

maintain• Avg cost per grant: £1743 (cf

Scotland £285)

Why involve middle/team managers?

• Understand existing systems (but ….)• May have the vision how the new

system will deliver improvements• Responsible for delivering the

changes needed• Their attitude will affect the attitude

of the teams• Monitor/QA use of system by their

teams• Use data from the system• Can steer senior management

(sometimes)

Why involve front line users

• Often have best understanding of existing system/ways of working

• Have a lot of knowledge in their heads

• Understand the variations that can occur

• Will be the main users of the new system

• Their attitude will have a dramatic effect on success or failure

• ‘Word travels fast’

Why involve Service users

Case study: Stockport SEN TransportUsing Vanguard ‘Check’ Method (not from my own practice)

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS, PRINCIPLES & TOOLS

Introduction

• Implementing IT systems that work and that users like is not easy

• There is no silver bullet• Need to choose the right tools for

the particular situation• Going to look at• A couple of different views

• What I found works

• A useful resource

• Some health warnings

Choosing the right techniques

Cynefin: what type of problem is it:

© Dave Snowden used under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported licence

One approach:

‘Outside-in’ Software Development:

Outside-in Software Development A Practical Approach to Building Successful Stakeholder-Based Products Carl Kessler & John Sweitzer

People:

• Learn as the project proceeds• Managers/Business Users

• Implementers

ie: your current project is the best source of learning

• Are more flexible if they feel that they have been understood• Things become easier if people trust

you

• Are not always right• How to deal with this

Influencing people

Useful tool from Roberta Chatham. People:

• Respond to style (97-98%) not facts (2-3%)

• Respond differently according to type:Pragmatic typesEg IT specialists and accountants• Practical and matter of fact• Structure and lists• Proof and evidence

Theoretical typesEg CEOs and Lawyers• Logical and ingenious• Theory and models• Big picture and big ideas

Sociable typesEg Nurses and receptionists• Sympathetic & friendly• Personal touch• Truth and respect

Idealistic typesEg Journalists and psychologists• Enthusiastic & insightful• Analogies & metaphors• Passion and enthusiasm© Corporate politics for IT Managers. How to get streetwise. Keith Patching & Robina

Chatham

People: conclusions

• Need to understand each key stakeholder

• ‘Test the water’• One to one sessions/chats are a key

part of the process

Other bits and pieces

• Managers often don’t have a full picture

• People tell you what they think they should tell you

• It’s the variations that cause the problems

• ‘Backs of envelopes’ are useful• Make decisions ‘at the last

responsible moment’• High bandwidth/informal

communication is critical (Grant management project)

Health warnings

The following can be bad for your project health:• Sign offs• Methodologies• Shared service• Product owner/single business user• People who want things to be

simple

Why this project failed

• Culture clash• Communicatio

n failure

SPECIFIC TECHNIQUES

Governance

• PRINCE2 is sound base provided• Procedure does not supplant common

sense

• Supplemented by • Informal one to ones

• A culture which encourages early surfacing of issues

Planning/budgeting

• Budget to backfill key managers/front line staff

• Allow for travel/face to face work/ collocation/embedding project in operational areas

• Provide for piloting and refactoring

Involving managers/users

• Set up working group• ‘Diagonal slice’ through

organisation• Meets 2-3 times/week plus

homework and on-site work• Choose managers/users:• Reasonably structured thinkers

• Understand the work

• Good people skills

• Plus Reference Group (for the ‘challenging’)

Requirements stage

Aim• Build requirements

• Build understanding of other stakeholders

• Build understanding of requirements

Techniques• ‘Ethnographic’ investigation

• Follow the work

• Use Cases (vs User Stories vs BPM)

• Generic models

• Help stakeholders build understanding

Procurement

• Early demos of different options• Site visits by suppliers• Managing ‘love affairs’• Get suppliers to work with you to

build your scenarios

Implementation/testing

• ‘Mockups’ do work – particularly with scenarios

• Aim for early and frequent release of software (don’t be too scared)

• Hands on testing by users and observe use (not ‘Show & Tell’)• ‘Rocket Surgery Made Easy’ (Steve

Krug)

• Manage expectations (there will be problems)

Rollout

• Use your Design/Working Group as trainers

• Start small – early releases are a learning opportunity

• Release the ‘Minimum Viable Product’

• Allow a learning/evolution period and then stabilise

• Focus training on managers

WRAP UP

End result

• Happy users and managers• Slow ‘post live’ rate of change• Low cost of ownership• Adaptable systems• Delivery of business benefit

Downsides

• Initial timetable looks longer (but overall project is often shorter)

• Additional cost (but saves money in longer term)

• Need to find staff who can backfill

The final word

Resources

Email: rc@rcollings.co.ukLinked in:

http://uk.linkedin.com/in/richardcollings/

Links to articles and papers: https://delicious.com/#richardcollings

Booklist: http://www.shelfari.com/o1514895178

Twitter: @richard_colling

Questions