The 4 Secrets of Project Success

By Carl Breunlin
Director Project Office
Software Architects, Inc.
602.776.9555

Chicago l Cincinnati l Columbus l Dallas l Denver l Fort Lauderdale l Houston l Indianapolis l Phoenix l Tallahassee l Tampa l www.sark.com

Premise:
What you do before a project
starts significantly influences
the success or failure of your
effort.

With that said, there are 4 secrets to project

success
And
They are easy to implement

Focus on Feasible
Get the Numbers Right
Never Second Guess the Estimate
Dont Loose Control
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Focus On Feasibility
FACT:
You cant determine feasibility until you
know the details of a project.
Based on the details you can determine:
Technical feasibility
Financial feasibility
Schedule feasibility
Organizational feasibility
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The Easiest Way to Get the Details is to Write a

System Description
System Description - Table of Contents
1.0 System overview
2.0 Current system definition
3.0 New system definition
4.0 Impacts of the new system (organizationally, financially, etc.)
5.0 Advantages and disadvantages of new system
6.0 Notes

SARK recommends writing a System Description as a

first step in project planning.
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Technical Feasibility

System Description Table of Contents

1.0 System overview

Is the network OK?

2.0 Current system definition

3.0 New system definition

Do we have enough
processing power?

4.0 Impacts of the new system

(organizationally, financially, etc.)
5.0 Advantages and disadvantages of new
system

Are we pushing the state

of the art?

6.0 Notes

YES

NO

Technical

Financial

Schedule

Organizational

Will performance be an
issue?
Are there technical
limitations?
Has this been done
before?
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Financial Feasibility

System Description Table of Contents

1.0 System overview

Is the total budget

adequate?

2.0 Current system definition

3.0 New system definition
4.0 Impacts of the new system
(organizationally, financially, etc.)

Is the budget per period

adequate?

5.0 Advantages and disadvantages of new

system
6.0 Notes

What is the ROI?

YES

NO

Technical

Financial

Schedule

Organizational

When is Break Even?

Are there hidden costs?
What are the intangible
benefits
What is the TCO?
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Schedule Feasibility

System Description Table of Contents

1.0 System overview

What is the drop dead

date?

2.0 Current system definition

3.0 New system definition
4.0 Impacts of the new system
(organizationally, financially, etc.)

Can the project be

completed by then?

5.0 Advantages and disadvantages of new

system
6.0 Notes

YES

NO

Technical

Financial

Schedule

Organizational

When do major
milestones need to be
completed?
Can they be completed
on time?
What happens if the
project is late?
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Organizational Feasibility

System Description Table of Contents

1.0 System overview

Does the IT team have the

experience for a project of this
size?

2.0 Current system definition

3.0 New system definition
4.0 Impacts of the new system
(organizationally, financially, etc.)

Do we have a world-class
Project Manager?

5.0 Advantages and disadvantages of new

system
6.0 Notes

YES

NO

Financial

Schedule

Organizational

Technical

Do we have experience with

this technology?
How will the new system
impact the organization?
What impacts are there to
vendors/partners, etc.?
How much training is
required?
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System Description
Table of Contents
1.0 System overview
2.0 Current system
definition
3.0 New system
definition
4.0 Impacts of the new
system
(organizationally,
financially, etc.)
5.0 Advantages and
disadvantages of new
system

Feasibility Analysis
Technical
Financial
Schedule
Organizational

Once feasibility
analysis is
complete, it is
easy to put
together a plan for
any item not
feasible or
marginally feasible

6.0 Notes

To be successful we need to hire a world class

project manager by June who has these skills..
Feasibility is the cornerstone of early project planning.
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If Feasible, the Next Step is to Get the

Numbers Right
If the estimate is wrong, 9 times out of
10 the project is doomed.
SARK has developed a world class approach to
estimating that is:
Totally transparent
Extremely accurate
Ties the estimate directly to what users want
Is the basis for cost and schedule control
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Before we discuss estimating, a few

thoughts:
You have to spend time
up front getting
requirements
Only after you have
requirements can you
create an accurate
estimate
The better the
requirements, the better
the estimate

Analysis is becoming a larger

percent of total development time!
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Suppose You Collected These Requirements and

Grouped Them As Follows
Requirement

DesignElement

Shall be able to view general ledger entries in multiple

currencies

Accounting

Shall allow viewing of general ledger entries by invoice

Order Entry

Shall be able to select consumer accounts

Shall be able to select business accounts

Shall be able to create source codes

Marketing

Shall be able to modify source codes

Fulfillment

Shall be able to perform product catalog entry

Shall be able to perform product catalog changes
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It Would Then Be Straightforward to Create an

Accurate Estimate As Follow:
The project estimate is based on determining how
long it will take to implement each requirements
based on a given life cycle.
For example:

Total effort to implement this requirement: 170 Hrs.

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This is How SARK Creates Accurate Estimates

Your life
cycle

What needs to be built

How much effort

is required
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Now that we know about

feasibility and estimating,
theres one more project
sinking torpedo to address
namely second guessing the
estimate.

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Imaging the Following Conversation

Estimator/PM/Director Etc. Itll take $3M and 18 months to do this
project.
Boss/C-Level Somebody Nope, Nope, Nope not acceptable. Gotta
have it done by year end, and by the way the budget is $1.5M. Period
Estimator/PM/Director Etc. (after a long pause) Ok.
Later alone in the office to himself/herself
Estimator/PM/Director Etc. Never going to happen!!!!! Period.
Later either alone or to some higher level boss
Boss/C-Level Somebody Boy did I do a good job managing those
out of control development costs!!!!

How often does this happen in your organization?

17

This is called
Second Guessing the Estimate
The idea is to somehow fit more requirements
into the development effort than the budget
supports.

IT NEVER WORKS!

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Instead of Second Guessing - Use SARKs

Approach to Reconcile Wants with Budget
1. First, double check the estimate for accuracy be careful
2. Next, analyze expensive features are they worth it?
3. Then prioritize expensive features or get rid of them
4. If necessary schedule multiple releases plan a multiperiod roll-out to match budget with needs
You can do the
same if you use our
estimating
approach!
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With this approach, your project is much,

much more likely to succeed.
Butcompromises must be made.
Butthats better than having the project
overrun.
THE BOTTOM LINE:
If the estimate is accurate and it should be, dont
demand more for less.
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Now We Can Turn Our Attention

to the Last Secret:
Dont Loose Control
Control Cost & Schedule
Control Changes
Control Quality

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Controlling Cost and Schedule

$80,000
$60,000
$40,000
$20,000
$0

Jan

Feb.

Mch.

April

May

BCWS

$20,000

$28,000

$36,000

$52,000

$68,000

BCWP

$16,000

$20,000

ACWP

$22,000

$28,000

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Controlling Changes

A rigorous change control

process assures that all
changes are documented
and that the impact of
approved changes are
reflected in the cost and
schedule baseline.

23

Controlling Quality

Building quality into

your project from
day one will
significantly
contribute to overall
project success.

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Summary
The premise of our discussion today is
that what you do before a project starts
significantly influences the success or
failure of your effort.
We have discussed 4 easy to implement
strategies to help guarantee that your
project completes successfully.

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Questions?
Thank you for your time.
Need More Info?
Contact:
Carl Breunlin
cbreunlin@sark.com
602.776.9555
Software Architects Inc. is a full service software consulting firm
specializing in custom application development and application
integration. Please visit our web site at:

www.sark.com
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