The Business Of Working With IT
Moderator: Rick Treese, Advanstar
Panel:
Thomas Falconer, Source Media
Ken Hoffman, Standard & Poor’s Investment Services
Ben Telling, Hanley Wood Technology Group
The Business of Working with IT Thomas Falconer
Web Publisher SourceMedia
March 2007
www.advisormax.com
10
Working with IT Business Essentials
Common development/IT issues Problem: Constantly and consistently over-scheduled and under-staffed Mitigation: Be completely clear, concise, focused, detailed with your
business plans, your vision, and your requirements
Problem: Fiefdom and attitude issues “We don’t do that” “That will have to go into the pipeline just like everything else.”
Mitigation: Engage, discuss, talk shop rather than pull rank and talk priorities. Have at least a basic understanding of:
API CMS UGC Open source SQL
Problem: Ownership, final decisions Mitigation: Very clearly articulated and widely known direction from senior
management about who owns what decisions
11
Working with IT Business Essentials
Common development/IT issues
Problem: IT/Development budget constraints Mitigation: Evaluate open source options if possible (CMS;forums;blog
tools, etc) Drupal is free: off-the-shelf CMS can cost upwards of $300K
Problem: IT/development must-haves, such as source control, platform requirements, such as Unix vs Windows, PHP vs .Net, etc
Mitigation: Understand the realm of possibility within your organization, and imagine what you want and need within the realm of possibility
Engage with CTO Form alliances on the development team Be flexible
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Working with IT Business EssentialsEmerging media immersion
Live on the web Know about, even marginally, new development technologies like
ruby on rails, drupal, as well as .net, sql, others Shop online, a lot (zappos.com) Sign up for a regular podcast; visit secondlife; read blogs Subscribe to paid content sites Read pure web media; salon, gawker Participate in social media
Facebook, myspace, LinkedIn
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Working with IT Business Essentials
Business requirements drive development Business analyst who works for the business lead Based on clearly articulated vision and business plan Designer who articulates the vision, reports to the business lead
User Centric Focus Use any available metrics to make decisions Get a business/metrics analyst to dig through the log files Use referrer urls, onsite search terms and content popularity to drive
content and application decisions
14
Communicating with IT Take Aways
Ensure IT knows the business reasons for initiatives
Make sure developers have the business product big picture
Collaboratively build clearly documented technology functionality requirements
Ensure product scope, dates and deliverables are documented and agreed
Put in place regular project meetings to ensure progress is communicated and problems identified early and addressed
Let performance, user response and feedback guide development through feedback and close attention to metrics.
15
Communicating with IT Take Aways
Perhaps some recommended activities
Work on the Web
Use wikis for internal knowledge sharing
Try blogging to understand tool use
Perhaps some recommended reading
Social Life of Information, John Seely Brown http://www.sociallifeofinformation.com
Wikinomics http://www.wikinomics.com/ Dan Tapscott
Wealth of Networks, Yochai Benkler http://www.benkler.org/wealth_of_networks/index.php/Main_Page#Read_the_book
Eric Von Hippell Democratizing Innovation http://web.mit.edu/evhippel/www/democ1.htm
Permission to reprint or distribute any content from this presentation requires the prior written approval of Standard & Poor’s.Copyright (c) 2006 Standard & Poor’s, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Presentation for American Business Media“The Business of Working with IT”
Ken HoffmanSenior Director, New Product DevelopmentStandard & Poor’s
March 29, 2007
17.Permission to reprint or distribute any content from this presentation requires the prior written approval of Standard & Poor’s.
About Standard & Poor’s
Around the world, the search for financial insight—independent, objective viewpoints and opinions that reflect rigorous analysis—has one common starting point…
Around the world, the search for financial insight—independent, objective viewpoints and opinions that reflect rigorous analysis—has one common starting point…
• Ratings
• Indices
• Equity Research
• Investment Advisory Services
• Data Services
• Risk Solutions
Standard & Poor’s
18.Permission to reprint or distribute any content from this presentation requires the prior written approval of Standard & Poor’s.
About Me
• At Standard & Poor’s for more than 12 years.
• Held product management positions in many areas
within the company.
• Affected more than $250 million of information
products launched into the debt and equity
marketplace.
• Currently leading the Platform Management &
Development team for the Equity Research Services
business unit of Standard & Poor’s.
19.Permission to reprint or distribute any content from this presentation requires the prior written approval of Standard & Poor’s.
Product Development at Standard & Poor’s
We create products for participants in the financial markets from
the intellectual property of our analytical and editorial staffWe create products for participants in the financial markets from
the intellectual property of our analytical and editorial staff
Financial Advisors
Consultants
Asset Managers
Pension Funds
Hedge Funds
Issuers
Investors
Credit Analysts
Portfolio Managers
Corporations
20.Permission to reprint or distribute any content from this presentation requires the prior written approval of Standard & Poor’s.
Past Product Development Experiences
A Familiar Approach?A Familiar Approach?
RequirementsGathering
Specifications IT Review Development Launch
Spec Changes
New Specs
New Specs
New Specs
NewRequirements
Spec Changes
Product Management Business Analysis Group IT Group
21.Permission to reprint or distribute any content from this presentation requires the prior written approval of Standard & Poor’s.
Past Product Development Pitfalls
• Large volumes of specifications…often misinterpreted
• Extended development
• Compromises to features / benefits to make deadlines
• Finished product less than what was required
• Missed market opportunities
• “We’ll put it in the next version” syndrome
A Familiar Outcome?A Familiar Outcome?
What Happened?
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Past Product Development Pitfalls
• Specifications may not take into account IT skill sets and levels of understanding about the development environment.
• IT is often forced to make development estimates based on unfamiliar functionality or new technology.
• Development phase becomes more than just implementation. IT must learn, innovate and re-invent. Creates too many unknowns.
• Communication channel between IT and the Business side was weak. As a result, IT does not know how the applications they are developing fit into the organization’s goals.
23.Permission to reprint or distribute any content from this presentation requires the prior written approval of Standard & Poor’s.
Situation Analysis
• Legacy product losing market share.
• Technology not updated.
• Client base changing – younger, more technologically savvy.
• Content is referential, becoming commoditized.
• Disparate content sets are not contextual.
We needed to:
• Create actionable, meaning full content and present it in a manner that provides efficiencies for the user.
• Use modern technologies (Web 2.0, AJAX…etc.).
• Prune commoditized content.
…and we needed it quickly!
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A New Approach
• Identified a small dedicated team from all functional areas to serve as a working group for the development of a new product.
– A project leader, designer, 2 developers, 2 editors, business analyst, marketing director. (Sales, analytical, client services…etc. as needed).
• Instituted an upfront “Design – Test – Learn” process.
– Inventory all data sets, content types, authentication and permissioning utilities, dependencies, available hardware and software, skill sets…etc.
– Design the user interface together with cross-functional team including IT. Determine content interaction and flow, functionality, pixel dimensions, colors, fonts, scalability…etc.
– Build prototype that actually works…not “smoke and mirrors”.
– Visit clients, hold focus groups…Learn!
– Tweak prototype based on feedback.
– Adjust databases, servers as needed to support the new UI.
– Release prototype into production.
25.Permission to reprint or distribute any content from this presentation requires the prior written approval of Standard & Poor’s.
Results!
• Everyone is accountable from the beginning.
• Nothing to misinterpret.
• Compromises and resolutions occurred during design, not
during development.
• Enable us to create a working prototype in 3 months to share
with clients.
• Development period was dramatically reduced.
• Fully working product available on-time and on budget
• Increased confidence in IT.
26.Permission to reprint or distribute any content from this presentation requires the prior written approval of Standard & Poor’s.
Analytic services and products provided by Standard & Poor’s are the result of separate activities designed to preserve the independence and objectivity of each analytic process. Standard & Poor’s has established policies and procedures to maintain the confidentiality of non-public information received during each analytic process.
www.standardandpoors.com
Business And Technology Tools For Working Together
Ben Telling VP Of Product Development And Production Systems
Agenda
Overview A Quick Case Study Tools For Working With Technology Personal Lessons Learned
Overview
Hanley Wood Overview
Hanley Wood is a leading-edge business to business media and information company reaching audiences in residential housing and commercial construction. We have four operating divisions that produce magazines, web sites, trade shows and events; collect, analyze, and interpret industry data; and create custom marketing solutions
Four Operating Divisions– Business Media– Exhibitions– Marketing– Market Intelligence
Corporate Support– Technology Group, Accounting and Finance, HR– Executive Management
My Role At Hanley Wood
Reporting To The CIO, I Am The Vice President of Product Development and Production Systems For The Hanley Wood Technology Group With Responsibility For
Publishing and Editorial Systems Content Management Systems Customer Management Systems All Production Systems Custom Website and Software Development
Major 2007 Business Media Related Projects
K4 and InDesign Rollout Content Management Solution Enterprise CRM Solution 11 New Magazine Web Site 6 Major Web Site Upgrades
A Fictitious Case Study Of XYZ Company
What The Strategy Proposed
Copyright 2005 Velociteach
Senior Management at XYZ Company Creates A Strategic Vision For A Solution That
• Increases Revenue
• Increases Productivity
• Increases Value
• Have a Rapid ROI
• Utilize New Technology
What The Business Requested
Copyright 2005 Velociteach
Stakeholders, Unsure Of The Details Behind The Vision, Create Requirements Based Upon
•What They Actually Need Today
• What They Think Management Wants
•Where They Think They May Need To Go
What The Business Analyst Understood
Copyright 2005 Velociteach
Business Analysts Interview Stakeholders And Create Requirement Based Upon
• What They Hear From The Business
•, What They Know About The Existing Systems
•What They Know About The Existing Processes
• What They Believe Technology Needs
What Technology Designs
Copyright 2005 Velociteach
Having No Clear Business Owners To Interact With, Technology Takes The Requirements And Designs A Solution That Is Based Upon
• New Technology
• It’s Understanding Of The Business
• A Desire To Ensure The System Will Do Anything The Business Could Ever Need
• What The Budget Allows
What It Cost
Copyright 2005 Velociteach
Due To Poor Communications, No Clear Owners and Strained Working Relationships The Project Overruns Due To
•Expensive Technology
•Multiple Reworks
•No Clear Budget Management
• Many Project Delays
What Was Finally Implemented
Copyright 2005 Velociteach
After Massive Overruns, Poor Communications, And Lots Of Finger Pointing The Final Solution Is Delivered With
• Missing Functionality
• Defects
• Missing Or Inaccurate Workflows
•Slow Performance
•Legacy Features
What Was Supported
Copyright 2005 Velociteach
Unfortunately Projects, Training, Support and Deployment Are Forgotten Until The Last Minute. This Results In
• Frustrated Users
• Failed Deployments
• Loss Of Productivity
• Limited Support
• Unhappy Customers
What The Business Really Needed
Copyright 2005 Velociteach
What The Business Really Needed Was A Simple Solution That Would Allow The Business Users Drive The Business Forward Cheaply And Effortlessly
So What Went Wrong
Poor Vision Definition No Drill Down On Needs No Clear Business Ownership Miss Communications No Overall Project Management No Continual Interaction With The Business
Tools For Working With Technology
Communications
Communication Is The Most Important Part Of Having The Business And Technology Work Closely Together. Tools To Ensure This Occurs Include
A Standard, Business Focused Methodology Regular Senior Management Updates Frequent Meetings With Product Owner Regular Verbal and Written Status Reports Regular Requirements , Design and System
Reviews Frequent Meetings With Cross Functional
Oversight Team
Business Owner
Sometimes called the Product Manager, The Business Owner Is a manager on the business side that has the following responsibilities
Ultimate Authority On Requirements ROI Responsibility Accountantability To The Executive Sponsors Manages The Oversight Committee Gives Technology And Business Teams A Clear Point Of
Escalation To Resolve Issues
Project Management
The Project Manager is a key component in the success of any complex project. They bring the following skills and control to a project
Task and Milestone Management Risk Management Communications Management Resource Management Project Transparency Project Accountability Financial Management
Team Approach
A Tool For Creating A Successful Solution Is To Create An Oversight Committee That Is Accountable For The Project And Include All Aspects Of The Company. This Group Should Include Representatives From The Following Groups
Business Management Business Staff Operations Staff Technology Management Technology Staff Accounting and Finance Staff
Example Of A Team Approach
Executive Sponsor Executive Technology Sponsor Business Owner Technology Owner Project Manager Business Analyst Implementation Team Oversight Committee
Personal Lessons Learned
Approaches That Work
Clear Project Ownership Clear and Measurable Project Goals A Close Working Team Between Business And
Technology Work In A No Blame Environment Cross Train Business and Technology Staff Project Management A Plan With Multiple Small, Manageable Project
Deliverables Clear Communications
Approaches That Create Issues
Assume That It Can Be Done Faster And Cheaper Then Is Quoted
Pass Requirements Over The Wall and Assume Things Were Understood
Project Ownership and Management By Committee
No Executive Sponsorship No Clear Business Goals Work In An Us and Them Culture Large, Unmanageable Projects With No Sub
Phases