Project Outsourcing Commandments

Customer is king. Customer decision is final. King's deliverables should be good and on time. There can be many statements validating customers importance. Yes, it is important to drive the point to ensure greater customer satisfaction. But it is equally important for customers to know when and how projects can be turned downside with their own actions/statements.

Few don'ts advice to my customers and prospects will be:

1. Never give a project without internal commitment: Who needs to review, who needs to approve, who needs to be involved, who will pay the invoice, is important to be on board from first time.

2. Never give feedback more than twice on a file: First time, the delivery has all the passion in it. Second time, the feedback on issues seen are considered learning, third time, the moods/mindset and expectations are understood. But from this time on, more feedback will only add to low motivational work. The fixes would be done just to satisfy you, without any passion or brain behind it. If the release is not up to your expectations, send email that you do not consider it as a release at all, and still keep only 2 review cycles.

3. Treat Review cycles with seriousness: Ensure you dedicate time, stop reviews after a optimum batch size(say 25 local issues and/or 5 global issues) in one review cycle, 5-6 localized issues in second review cycle. Period. Validate issues fixed please.

4. Delay the start of the project, but never delay the completion date. The date committed during project start is known to all (senior managers of both companies), but changed dates are hardly communicated unless in case of escalations. The initial buy-in will see to it that projects are on review radar, but past initial deadlines, it is left on excel sheets/Gantt charts within project teams.

5. Escalate without bias: Never escalate only when there is a problem that is discomforting you. Escalate and demand when normal, routine deliverables are missed. Treat escalations for support deliveries as well, like meeting minutes, discussion notes, future commercial implications, tracking requests for fix, changes, etc.

6. Ask for senior management attention, what ever your size be: The seniority can be decided by the vendor. But a non-project senior person is necessary to provide attention and consultation on project from both sides. If this is not there, project teams will tend to do things comfortable to them but not to their respective organizations.

7. Praise the team: US customers do this. We love it. But in India, these are more subtle. A behind the scenes word of mouth is very nice for managers and seniors, but a word of applause is required for project team workers.

8. Accept for delays and contingencies at both ends: You do not need a status report to tell you who is delaying what. Delays are inevitable at both sides. It is important to acknowledge or force an acknowledgement in email, so that they do not become a habit.

9. Provide enough references/source/stories: Well, this sounds like why i need to give the project to you. However think about it differently. Giving a project is no letting go of your commitments. It is to do things smartly and differently. Smart way, is to outline your needs progressively based on vendor thoughts. What you have in mind is validated/invalidated by similar prior experiences available with vendor. What you need is executed differently with added bonuses of giving away the maintenance and support hassles.

References/Source examples/Stories gives better clarity on expectations and aid in realistic schedules and deliverables matching expectations.

10. Prioritize what you need: As a vendor I can be willing to give a "free" lunch. But it is free only for a day. What lies ahead is more investment. Hence prioritize and do not ask for "free" lunches unless there is a need for the same. Example, You ask for a blog engine, I give "content engine" free. To manage, govern and administer the content engine, is really additional investment from your side. Do you really need it ?

11. We work mutually for better appraisals: You may hate me saying this. But at the end of the year, my project and yours too will be evaluated for WIN. Hence WIN-WIN is a must for a serious engagement. When either of our appraisals and more money is in danger of getting lost, we will not be able to get together at any levels - professional or personal. Hence mutual respect is governed by more serious personal money at stake.

Can we strive for a better appraisal partnership please ?

And few more, may be in next posts.

The ever shadowing late night experience

One of the differences that I bring as part of my existence in organization is to ensure that people leave early and leave me time in night to focus on my tasks. Part of it is selfishness since I am a night-person and late riser.

Though, it is a good practice, in IT, any one who has been strict about timelines is not known in my circle yet. Ask my mom and now she has tutored my wife better to poke fun at my management practice whenever the late nights happen.

Today (or yesterday, it is always a confusion), the late night work happenned. The master plans, effective habits all went to a toss. So what makes late night follow you constantly and catch you at the appropriate moment? Would not any IT company have a practice that is so mature and robust that they have good clients and accept only limited work that promises not a single day of extra staying hours ?

Still groping for answers...

Cognitive Load - Part 2

If there needs to be a simple measure for the work/services/deliverables rendered then you can self-evaluate yourself using "Cognitive Load" concept.

Cognitive Load simply attempts to answer the question - Does the work give me confidence that it increases my productivity or does it put more responsibility on me to review/check the work thus extending by dependency ?

Cognitive Load is a self-perception quality. How do you do it ? Here are few pointers.

1. Stand up, step back and view the soft copy of the document: Are you happy with it ? Hmm you have done your best, you say. So don't want to comment on it. Better, call a peer and ask what they make out of the delivery from the same distance. Can they point out the distinction in the work ? Can they assume what you have done ? Can they tell the mood of the work ? If there is at least an answer, then there is a good deal.

2. Take a Print of a sample: Going green means do not waste paper. So take a few pages out and see the results in black and white. Do the areas get highlighted properly? Is there a depth that is spotted. Is it easy to read the print copy with minimal attention rather in a distraction environment.

Meaning, is your file now visible to users and can they see the difference that they spotted for you in color soft copy ?

3. Try out an alternate: If there is a paragraph, put that in bullets. Are you impressed? If you have put them in bullets try separating them in a table row and see if they are impressive ?
If you are working on an excel sheet, have you color coded columns or color coded rows ? Are you impressed ? If not, try playing with border styles, colors, thickness ? Still feel you could do better - Did you try fonts sizes and colors ?

4. Give yourself a try: Try showcasing your work and highlight the important user friendly elements. Specifically highlight the following to your peer:

1. Are the users reaching the right spots with the right cues ?
2. How many places should the user look around to spot the information ?
3. How many times you will ask the input for a specific information - Meaning how many forms and fields needs to be filled in by user in one sitting ?

4. Optimize the batch: One of the major foundation blocks that e-Learning business address is the granularity and independency of content as 2-3 minute capsules. Follow this rule. Split your deliveries in multiple chunks and send it for review/approval. If there is a huge delivery,stagger it on a weekly basis. This way you let your managers rest easy and you can work at ease by getting your confidence back.

5. Can you reduce the intermediate sign off posts - This suggestion coming from a manager might sound counter intuitive and surprising. Many milestones are actually intermediate sign off posts to keep project in track. However think about the over heads associated with each intermediate delivery. You need to spend time in reviews, packaging, communication, solicit feedback, rework on the delivery and submit it again going through the release process. Is it worth the effort to do these or take a calculated risk of proceeding further with a commitment that the deliveries are on track. The amount of changes/issues in a major milestone will not exceed the time spent in intermediate deliveries. Hence be careful in setting milestones (refer above point on batch optimization). Think if it is really a milestone or is it part of intermediate delivery in the name of showing progress and achieving a billing point.

The least cognitive load is the best form of process optimization. Do you prefer a Government bank asking you to come over and sign forms or do you prefer a private bank who does the service of collecting documents, photocopying them, obtain your signatures at you convenient place ?

The difference is considered user experience, but in the underlying deal, it is lesser cognitive load that matters.

Project Stand Lessons from my daughter - Power and Sweetness of "NO"

Once in professional life, there would be at least one mentor required who comes in as an "Angel" exhorting you to practice saying "NO".




If you are like me, you would detest the fact that it is quite opposite to what parents teach - Saying No to people is rude and at times a sign of weakness or failure. Well, you will also like the perception that your friends, peers and most of all your bosses detest openly with people who stop work by saying "NO" when something extra comes their way or there is an unbalanced load of work on some one else. You get the air that you are not one of them and are respected for the "attitude"!




Are you one of them ? Well, both profiles are a manager's nightmare. It is important to make the "YES worker" and "NO worker" normalize their stances. My tough stance as manager is always manifested for both these profiles.




Why "YES worker" needs to be normalized - Wouldn't such resource earn good reputation for the manager? Almost Yes in a myopic view. Consider this:




A senior manager sees the "YES worker" working late many times. When there are no pressing things and things are going smooth, have not you heard the senior manager commenting in meetings that resources need to be taken care better, there should be more balanced distribution of work and that stress needs to be addressed as the pressing issue ? Would the same response come when an entire team is genuinely working to meet stringent fires and there are escalations looming large threatening the senior manager's time? In effect, the "Yes worker" suddenly introduces "Stress" on the entire system and team along with skewed balance of work. Don't they divert your energy from more productive and lovable things to do in the day ?




Well then "NO worker" must balance the equation rite ? Almost No except if you develop the knack of saying "No" my daughter way :)




My daughter starts any request with "Na na" - her vocabulary for saying "No" (refresh with this post - Closed vocabulary set). However the timing and sweetness is to make you request more with valid reasoning rather pampering. Once the reasoning is valid, she again tries to divert attention by acting a little "snob". Crying or asking for something that was promised last night.




Once you get her last demand, she gleefully accepts the request. So what great lesson does that teach?


1. Always use "No please" together for more information.


2. Empathize your earlier situation to see if there is recognition for your past work


3. Become a "YES worker" immediately on accede of request.




Why you should not say "Yes" with every request. Well my daughter learnt from her mom, that accepting a compromise that she is not fully convinced or giving in without a murmur sets the expectation every time from the time the implicit obedience is given. It becomes a norm from that time onwards. It becomes routine and change always is painful - even if a child wants to change it.




Hence say "No Please", but work for the manager who empathizes the situation and requests you for that extra work the organization or a earlier goof up requires now to be solved. At the end "working" is the only way to live up to your reputation.




You end up stronger and powerful with this strategy. Isn't it ?

Cognitive Load - Your Take - Part 1

What is the real worth of your work ?
Have you ever considered that you take up a task to complete something that someone else needs to find it easy for their progress?

Do you deliver a physical asset at the end of your task ? If you claim you deliver an asset, then have you defined what the asset is worth ?

Try yourself and tell me the answer.

Is there a "Sholay" in your arsenal

How many times have you watched "Sholay" movie? The answer probably will be "many" times.

For readers not familiar with bollywood, Sholay is an all-time hit and iconic movie that has withstood many spoofs, copies of the storyline, a flopped remake and many jokes spanning the characters. Still the movie is watched by people who knew the crowded theatres at that time and now cozy in the TV sets by a generation not witness to the first release and the hit culture set in that time.

What sets apart the movie from so many movies and other hits available from that time even from the same actors in various other roles or similar ones in other movies? There is no simple answer. However there can be a simplest logic given to the hit - It is lovable, watcher(user) friendly, good masala combination of action, dialogues, songs, dances, locales and best of all timed well. Which simply begs the question - Why is it difficult to create another "Sholay" then?

Hmm, rather than researching and answering which many greats are investing their time in, can the question be answered - Have you got a "Sholay" magic in your kit ? Have you delivered one in your career ? If not, when can you know that you have delivered one ?

Well, while compiling a list of demos of past work, my team has worked on, we always stumble upon this little game, that has always got our prospects excited and got us to talk the next level.

We always wonder what is in it that potential customers link it to or get attracted to. There are better works that we are proud of - more creative, more animation, more illustrations, and more business results achieved with better solution and more repeat orders than this little game has got us.

But still we are surprised that this game with the ordinary common theme, gets repetitive after 10 moves, but never ends and keeps giving you points, done a couple of years ago, and has not even given a facelift, is still fresh and looks very refreshing.

As with researchers trying to replicate the "Sholay" formula, we are also trying for the formula to create one more atleast to our arsenal.

Is there a "Sholay" in your arsenal ?

Sensitivity

In recent past, I tried to move from micro management to try and bring in more empowerment to my team. When I was explaining how to approach a customer requirement and frequently I have to explain that the fit and finish is lot left to be desired during my review, I wanted a "word" that I can always ask and establish the context for discussion easily.

After much long speech explaining what I need multiple times and thinking over it for couple of weeks, I got the "eureka!!" moment. The term is "Sensitivity and reduction of Cognitive Load". This post is about first - Sensitivity.

Isn't the most important thing any human being in personal or professional life requires is "Sensitivity".


Sensitivity
1. Think the pains of sales to get the business you have in your hand.

2. Think the pains of a manager in taking down notes of issues that you left open for them to find.

3. Think the pity of your users using your work, in going to live with the pain as it is mandated by the company.

4. Think about the appraisal your client is going to get for being responsible in giving the business to you.

5. Think about the constraints in real world the manager is going to face in making decisions of either schedule or quality.

6. Think about the shareholders investment (if you are one) in your company. Does not the company ability to keep its promise depends on the revenue you earn with your rendered services .

7. Think of your team member who is going to take over from you and work in lesser time that assigned to you and does not have the luxury of the same background that you work.

8. Think the marketing guy who is going to write about your work and try earn some brownie points over competitors hoping to make some big orders.

9. Think about the sales guy missing their commission and hence breaking a promise to their loved ones.

10. Think while making edits to a document or file of another author in having to review your work entirely to know what has changed ? Would you not make sense by providing a mechanism to highlight changes to make lives easier?


Would not these thoughts bring to you the desired qualities that any company expect in you ?
Having thought at above topics, what is your action ?