Implementation Methods
Pros and Cons
• Pilot
• Parallel
• Phased
• Big-bang or Cutover
I know we went over these ideas a couple of times, but I am not happy with my notes, can someone help me out please?
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
From Arya Pratama
13. On page 129 forward, Alec describes how to link activities and determine business processes. What is the purpose of this step? Avoid using Alec's description; use simpler terms. What is the significance of 1:M and M:1 connections? How do you use these to delineate business processes among activities? What did Alan (in class) not like about M:M connections?
The purpose is to sequence business processes by using a method to link activities. This method will also analyze the linkages and determine process boundaries.
A 1:M connection between activities means that for each occurrence of the first activity is followed by multiple occurrence of the next. The 1:M relationship usually indicates a process boundary. In the M:1 relationship, it also indicates process boundary. It often means some time-triggered event occurs (e.g. billing at the end of the month).
14. In Alan's tripartite description of a process ("the dance"), which parts should be the targets of process reengineering (Alan described it)? Which part is often the focus in practice?
The dance: trigger --> steps --> results (deliverable)
Most people focus on the steps, when big gains are made when you examine whether it's the best or earliest trigger or the right deliverable. In some cases, a legacy process may have no deliverable.
15. Be able to describe the three different strategic disciplines (p. 166-169). Why is this a trilemma for those who want to be good at all three at the same time? Is a differentiator always relevant?
a) Operational excellence
b) Product Leadership
c) Customer Intimacy
You can go to pg. 167 for a quick description of all three. It's called a trilemma because you cannot emphasize all three at once (see botom of pg 168). You can strive at most for two of them. For example, by definition, a strong emphasis on product leadership and customer intimacy makes it very hard to achieve operational excellence.
A specific differentiator may not always be relevant. It depends upon the setting. Of course, pg. 170-171 directly addresses whether a differentiator is always relevant?
16. Describe the difference between a swimlane diagram vs. a use case. Contrast the purpose and overall construction.
A swimlane diagram is a high level, visual documentation of a process. It tells us how the work flows (e.g. from person to person in a handoff diagram) through showing a sequence of steps carried out by the involved actors.
A use case describes how an actor completes a process step by interacting with a system to obtain it. It is a single case in which a specific actor will use an info system to complete a task. A swimlane diagram is inappropriate for providing this level of detail.
3. Why is it so important to have an Executive to champion important IT projects? Is executive sponsorship enough? Or is there something else required?
An executive, usually not from the IT dept, should be the champion. It should usually be the executive that can represent the intended customer (e.g. Exec champion should be from marketing for a CRM installation). It's a practical statement of need and of course, helps to overcome politics.
Although executive sponsorhip is important, executive adoption should be the standard. It's demoralizing to have a marketing exec continue to insist upon using Excel rather than the CRM system.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Here are some of my answers, mixed with some of my questions if anyone can help answer them. Thanks.
2. How does Alan suggest you handle IT consultants added to your project? How might you select them? What questions might you ask? What does Alan see as a critical success factor for most IT projects? How do you ensure knowledge transfer?
• Share a vision, not just a contract
• Ask the tough questions
– If we don’t choose you, who should we choose and
why?
– Tell me how you’ll leave us. How will you insure the
transfer of competence?
– Which of your customers would you not refer us to?
Why not?
• Boutique Consultants
• How do you make money? What is your business
model? What is your competitor’s business model?
• Treat consultants like employees
• Give developers access to rooms & equipment
• Give them access to the right people
• Restrict access to the wrong people
• Are they a teacher?
• Bring them in at the right time
• Know what you want from them
Training???
Knowledge Transfer: Surround outside consultant with those who have all the inside knowledge??
6. What is the Ripple Effect?
If you screw up later on in a project, and you realize your mistake and try to fix it. When you fix it, it causes many problems in other areas of the project/software etc. Then everything becomes a big mess, good idea to be fully prepare and get as much information in the beginning as possible.
Why is IT project estimation difficult?
There are a lot of unknowns
Examples:
− Requirements are difficult to capture in writing
− The act of viewing software changes the
requirements
− Stakeholder infighting changes priorities
− Developer productivity varies greatly (up to 10x) so
estimates made by one won't apply to another
QUESTION: PLEASE HELP WITH THIS ONE
State the reasons why a memo (such as you're creating for your project) is such an important document for companies? How might it have been useful to Grandma Studor's Bakery or Laughlin Logistics?
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Alan you can answer these for us. I think you said you will do 15 this time.
3. What were IT organizations initially created to solve? Why is this problematic for today's work?
4. What is the business model inherent in leveraging information technology? What does IT provide? (hint: it isn't necessarily speed, but ...?)
2. How do I hold conversations with the finance department about projects, especially when the finance dept pits IT projects against funding “new carpets”?
8. Can you outline and apply the model for IT dept success factors
4. State the reasons why a memo (such as you're creating for your project) is such an important document for companies? How might it have been useful to Grandma
Studor's Bakery or Laughlin Logistics?
***13. How does having standardized, sometimes vanilla software & processes help? You can use Owens-Corning as an example. What are some heuristics for implementing process standardization? (From both the actual lecture (only if you were listening) plus the posted slides)
3. What is good enough reengineering? How does it relate to customer design requirements gathering? What's the difference between the BlueSky approach to gathering design priorities from your customer versus a Realistic approach to your customer?
7. Why does Alan advocate an IT planning approach is a messy, untidy event? (hint: "write your plans in pencil") In other words, does the reality of the organization exist in an org chart? Or does it exist in the written policies? (Ask Alan in Class)
1. What is the relationship of advances in IT to Business Process Reengineering?
4. What is the business model inherent in leveraging information technology? What does IT provide? (hint: it isn't necessarily speed, but ...?)
2. How do I hold conversations with the finance department about projects, especially when the finance dept pits IT projects against funding “new carpets”?
8. Can you outline and apply the model for IT dept success factors
4. State the reasons why a memo (such as you're creating for your project) is such an important document for companies? How might it have been useful to Grandma
Studor's Bakery or Laughlin Logistics?
***13. How does having standardized, sometimes vanilla software & processes help? You can use Owens-Corning as an example. What are some heuristics for implementing process standardization? (From both the actual lecture (only if you were listening) plus the posted slides)
3. What is good enough reengineering? How does it relate to customer design requirements gathering? What's the difference between the BlueSky approach to gathering design priorities from your customer versus a Realistic approach to your customer?
7. Why does Alan advocate an IT planning approach is a messy, untidy event? (hint: "write your plans in pencil") In other words, does the reality of the organization exist in an org chart? Or does it exist in the written policies? (Ask Alan in Class)
1. What is the relationship of advances in IT to Business Process Reengineering?
Saturday, February 28, 2009
From Ernest Morozov:People here are some answers for Frost and Cooper. They are on point.Start posting everything.Lets make this easy. If your answers suck dont bother.
Gabe Frost and the Future Economy
1. Describe 3 factors that Gabe says will give the USA a stronger GDP. Provide some color on each of these factors.A) Cloud services that are becoming more and more available on the internet are limited by server data centers. Currently server data centers are limited by the amount of power that is required to run them and their actually data capacity. They are usually located near dams or any other form of energy creation. GDP growth will be sparked if the United States improves servers technology, making them more energy efficient and with larger capacity. With better servers cloud services could really take off.
B) Another factor that will make the GDP stronger is interconnection of the three screens, which are TV, cell phones, and computers. A good example of this interconnection would be doing banking over the phone. Leveraging these services will develop a different experience for consumers and grow US GDP.
C. Another large growth factor for the GDP is sensors. GPS sensors will be common place in the future. Every laptop and mobile device will have location sensors. It will allow people to have a better understand or their surroundings and their context in those surroundings. Sensors can also be used for tracking the amount of energy that is being used and routing that energy more efficiently. The medical field will also implement sensors in many different ways. Finally wireless data transfer has to become ubiquitous in order for us to truly gather information from multiple sensors. Thus, sensors will be the next step for our GDP growth.
2. Why does Gabe think productivity is related to patents?New technological ideas take a while before they are allocated towards GDP growth. The current patent and intellectual property laws slow down the allocation process. Companies that are developing technologies are preventing other companies from using those ideas in a way that would create future growth. Productivity would increase significantly if it became easier to get patents and use patents more efficiently. Companies could implement patented technology faster and have it allocated towards GDP growth.
James Cooper and Predictable Software Delivery1. What success measures did James say were the most difficult to achieve?There are three measures of success. A) Providing quality creative and technical talent B) Being easy to work with C) Meeting the agreed to budget (time / cost)Time and cost containment is a top priority for medium to large scale projects. Meeting the agreed to budget time and cost is the most difficult measure of success. It seems that these measures are developed by multiple functions of the organization, thus it is difficult to please everyone. Other reasons are:
• Budgeting. The department hiring the vendor has to get budgetary approval and needs to know how much to ask for.• ROI. The finance folks want to know that there's an economic benefit to the firm for doing the project.• Time to market. Schedule is sometimes important for external reasons (trade show, product launch)
2. Why is IT project estimation difficult? The primary reason IT projects estimation is difficult because there are so many variables involved. • Requirements are difficult to capture in writing• The act of viewing software changes the requirements• Stakeholder infighting changes priorities• Developer productivity varies greatly (up to 10x) so estimates made by one won't apply to another3. What is "Target Cost" or planning poker? What advantages does it provide? It is important to understand that software is very difficult to specify in detail. It is MUCH easier to see software and react to it. Target costing is a different way of implementing software for vendors and clients. It is highly differentiated from the Waterfall method. Target costing focuses on delivering the software incrementally and encouraging feedback loops that better align the needs of the customer and the client. The fallowing are the target cost basics: • Agree to a budget and schedule• Compile a feature list, prioritize, estimaterelative size (planning poker)• Deliver features incrementally• Ideally no increment is more than 5% of budget• −Client sees working software after each increment• Steer project against budget If target cost exceeded, vendor's rates fall to cost (sometimes thought of as “fixed profit”)The risk is shared by both vendor and client, that software is presented very early, available to change. Decisions are moved until the latest responsible moment. Features are expressed very early in the process. Estimation uses the planning poker method. Planning Poker is a consensus-based estimation technique for estimating, mostly used to estimate effort or relative size of tasks in software development. It is a variation of the Wideband Delphi method. It is most commonly used in agile software development, in particular the Extreme Programming methodology. Target steering involves consistently meeting with the clients and identify what is finished, what needs to be changed, and how it fits to the budget.
Advantages over waterfall: Traditional water fall method:• Fails to provide feedback cycles necessary todiscover the true requirements of a system• Creates an adversarial relationship between clientand vendorTarget cost:• Aligns incentives• Provides frequent feedback to ensure we're building the right system• Provides an easy way to assess progress againstbudget• Provides mechanisms for adjusting scope to meet The budget (steer)
Gabe Frost and the Future Economy
1. Describe 3 factors that Gabe says will give the USA a stronger GDP. Provide some color on each of these factors.A) Cloud services that are becoming more and more available on the internet are limited by server data centers. Currently server data centers are limited by the amount of power that is required to run them and their actually data capacity. They are usually located near dams or any other form of energy creation. GDP growth will be sparked if the United States improves servers technology, making them more energy efficient and with larger capacity. With better servers cloud services could really take off.
B) Another factor that will make the GDP stronger is interconnection of the three screens, which are TV, cell phones, and computers. A good example of this interconnection would be doing banking over the phone. Leveraging these services will develop a different experience for consumers and grow US GDP.
C. Another large growth factor for the GDP is sensors. GPS sensors will be common place in the future. Every laptop and mobile device will have location sensors. It will allow people to have a better understand or their surroundings and their context in those surroundings. Sensors can also be used for tracking the amount of energy that is being used and routing that energy more efficiently. The medical field will also implement sensors in many different ways. Finally wireless data transfer has to become ubiquitous in order for us to truly gather information from multiple sensors. Thus, sensors will be the next step for our GDP growth.
2. Why does Gabe think productivity is related to patents?New technological ideas take a while before they are allocated towards GDP growth. The current patent and intellectual property laws slow down the allocation process. Companies that are developing technologies are preventing other companies from using those ideas in a way that would create future growth. Productivity would increase significantly if it became easier to get patents and use patents more efficiently. Companies could implement patented technology faster and have it allocated towards GDP growth.
James Cooper and Predictable Software Delivery1. What success measures did James say were the most difficult to achieve?There are three measures of success. A) Providing quality creative and technical talent B) Being easy to work with C) Meeting the agreed to budget (time / cost)Time and cost containment is a top priority for medium to large scale projects. Meeting the agreed to budget time and cost is the most difficult measure of success. It seems that these measures are developed by multiple functions of the organization, thus it is difficult to please everyone. Other reasons are:
• Budgeting. The department hiring the vendor has to get budgetary approval and needs to know how much to ask for.• ROI. The finance folks want to know that there's an economic benefit to the firm for doing the project.• Time to market. Schedule is sometimes important for external reasons (trade show, product launch)
2. Why is IT project estimation difficult? The primary reason IT projects estimation is difficult because there are so many variables involved. • Requirements are difficult to capture in writing• The act of viewing software changes the requirements• Stakeholder infighting changes priorities• Developer productivity varies greatly (up to 10x) so estimates made by one won't apply to another3. What is "Target Cost" or planning poker? What advantages does it provide? It is important to understand that software is very difficult to specify in detail. It is MUCH easier to see software and react to it. Target costing is a different way of implementing software for vendors and clients. It is highly differentiated from the Waterfall method. Target costing focuses on delivering the software incrementally and encouraging feedback loops that better align the needs of the customer and the client. The fallowing are the target cost basics: • Agree to a budget and schedule• Compile a feature list, prioritize, estimaterelative size (planning poker)• Deliver features incrementally• Ideally no increment is more than 5% of budget• −Client sees working software after each increment• Steer project against budget If target cost exceeded, vendor's rates fall to cost (sometimes thought of as “fixed profit”)The risk is shared by both vendor and client, that software is presented very early, available to change. Decisions are moved until the latest responsible moment. Features are expressed very early in the process. Estimation uses the planning poker method. Planning Poker is a consensus-based estimation technique for estimating, mostly used to estimate effort or relative size of tasks in software development. It is a variation of the Wideband Delphi method. It is most commonly used in agile software development, in particular the Extreme Programming methodology. Target steering involves consistently meeting with the clients and identify what is finished, what needs to be changed, and how it fits to the budget.
Advantages over waterfall: Traditional water fall method:• Fails to provide feedback cycles necessary todiscover the true requirements of a system• Creates an adversarial relationship between clientand vendorTarget cost:• Aligns incentives• Provides frequent feedback to ensure we're building the right system• Provides an easy way to assess progress againstbudget• Provides mechanisms for adjusting scope to meet The budget (steer)
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Assignment 3
Hey if anyone did "#4" for the workflow modeling portion I could use a little re-enforcement for my answer. I'm not quite sure if im heading in the right direction for my response, where is the main part it talks about Constructing a Model in the book? Is there any specific pages anyone would suggest for me to look over?? Any help would be greatly appreciated!! Thank you
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