Are Shortcuts Sabotaging Your Progress?

When your organization is implementing a new project, there are a lot of expectations and deadlines that are watched with a close eye. While it might be ideal to get the project finished as quickly as possible, doing so can put a lot of pressure and stress on it that can ultimately be its downfall. For example, if you don’t think out the planning phase carefully, the entire implementation process can suffer--particularly when working on new IT initiatives.

CIO.com explains why oversight is absolutely critical for any IT project, and most importantly, the risk-prone discovery phase: “Discovery is the crux of project risk. Although the discovery and architecture phases of a project may represent only 15 percent of the overall effort, an error or omission early on can cause cost overruns of 150 percent or more.” Have you had any problems concerning this topic with your own IT project implementation procedure?

To keep your next IT project from crashing and burning, you need to invest considerable time and effort into the discovery and architecture phases for any new initiative. This helps you ensure that things are done right the first time and that they don’t create more trouble than they’re worth in the long run. Of course, the real question is how you can make sure this happens.

This is where working with your vendors and a managed service provider comes into play. If you feel that they aren’t answering your questions with confidence, or that they are rushing to get something done, you need to bring it up before it’s too late to do anything about it. You want your vendors to explain their actions in clear terms and offer complete transparency with any new technology implementation, and the same can be said for your service providers.

Next on the docket is to know what a project will look like if it’s being rushed. Busy business owners who have a lot on their plate in the first place might not know the warning signs of such a situation, but Macro Systems does. Here are some of the warning signs that your vendors are cutting corners for any new IT implementation:

• Documents prepared for the project lack substance. In this case, they might be filled to the brim with industry jargon and sales propaganda, rather than actual information about your company’s needs. This can overwhelm a business owner with so many features and benefits that they don’t necessarily know what exactly they are getting and how it helps their business.
• Project requirements might be ignored, or they may not be treated with proper priority. This ultimately leads to poor step-by-step implementation of the project, and while they might not seem to have immediate consequences, running into troubles with your budget or deadline will be all the more painful when they arise.
• There may be information or requirements missing to fulfill important steps. Ideally, you want your implementation to be seamless. However, if there are gaps discovered in the implementation phase rather than the discovery phase, these issues could have drastic effects on the project’s timeline. In some instances, you might have to completely reevaluate the scope of the project.
• You may notice that your business’s needs change significantly during the implementation process, which causes the project to be insufficient to suit the needs of your organization upon completion. Technology is often prone to becoming obsolete by more recent solutions, so you should be able to adequately plan for these shifts. Issues like these can become a major problem if you have to redo a project before it has even been used.

All of these shortcuts could prevent an IT project from going smoothly, but you can dodge all of these by working with a consultant like Macro Systems. We can provide your business with an IT roadmap that can guide you through the implementation process of any new IT initiative. To learn more about how we can help your business succeed, reach out to us at 703-359-9211.