Expediting IT Projects – Successful IT Expedition
Originally Posted on Successful Thinkers Meetup By Josh Shackelford
I guess it is time to finally get down to some of the nitty-gritty. Actually, with this being the first post about true expediting, it will be more of an overview. How do you expedite IT projects…?… We all have tons of projects on our plates and receive pressure from all departments, demanding that their projects have priority. Each manager, executive, and director wants to have their projects elevated to the top of the list. They all believe that their projects are the most important and need to be done yesterday.
Every project is important and it is vital that you treat each director with respect, and make sure that they feel important. I’m going to focus on a few of the most frequently requested projects. I almost hate giving away some of these tips, but it will make projects run more smoothly as they come in.
Web Design 
With today’s economic downturn, everyone is looking for new ways to revitalize their companies. Many companies are asking for their sites to be overhauled or at least to put a new face on their existing site. The first step is to make sure that the client, whether internal or external, knows what they are trying to achieve, and who the target audience is. From here, I often direct people to look at Template Monster, to get design ideas. While many IT departments and companies don’t like to share sites like this (because other people will de-value the service) it is a great starting point. This site will help put your design projects on the right track. Countless hours, or even weeks will be saved, by starting with what the person likes. If they want to purchase one of these templates outright, then go for it, but they will be back when they are ready to take their company to the next level.
Web Applications
Web applications can take on a life of their own. You really need to watch out for scope creep. The most important time saving advise I can give, is REASEARCH, RESEARCH, RESEARCH. Many people feel that research is a waste of time, as they try to push forward with a project, before researching to see what already exists. Most things have been done before, just not in a way that will integrate or meet the current business model needs. However, it is important to start with this research to save time by starting with, or adding on to, a module that has already been written. There is nothing more frustrating than to realize weeks into a project that you have succeeded in reinventing the proverbial wheel. Do not re-invent the wheel. Do not try to sell someone else’s work as your own. Let your executives, and clients, know that they can save time (and money) by purchasing something that has already been written. You will gain their esteem & trust in knowing that you have their best interest in mind.
Define the goal. After researching to see what already exists, be sure to re-define the goal. After some research, you will have more questions, and possibly more options. You will need to have another conversation about some of the options that exist, and the arguments for and against the use of them. From here you will have a much clearer picture of what you are trying to achieve. It does not matter how pretty something is, if it doesn’t work. Nor does it matter if it functions the way that was requested, if it does not meet the business needs. You will speed up any project, by first recognizing what exists, and redefining your goals.
Reporting / Dashboards 
After a new project has been completed, requests will begin to flow in as to why things aren’t working, or how can they measure their success. Every platform has multiple ways to build reports and dashboards. Start off by reviewing your options, and evaluating the best engine. I have found that the majority of people will be most satisfied with custom reporting modules, that are tied in for real time reporting. While others are okay looking at yesterday’s data. Again, you need to start off by evaluating what type of reports have been created in the past, and what you are trying to achieve with your dashboard. Some of the more common business dashboards are written within the existing applications report writer, such as SQL, and Crystal Reports. The biggest time sink in reporting, is spending time calculating and pulling data that is not needed. Some of these “nice to have’s” will eat up precious time, and lead to a report that does not tell you anything that you did not already know. You can spend a lot of time building a report to tell you that you are losing money, but unless you can identify where you are losing money, the report is useless. The most valuable dashboards are clickable, allowing an endless number of drill downs. This detail is what creates the business value, so before you begin, find out what the director wants to know. Most of the time they are looking to make changes within their corporation or business model, and need to evaluate where to make the changes.
Workflow Automation
Workflow automation doesn’t come up too often, as many companies have already become very efficient. I think that most decision makers already realize that their most costly asset is labor and have already made steps to relieve some of this burden. Though, there are still many things that can be made to run more smoothly. Most automation has to do with moving data, whether in paper form, or digital form. Many companies still pay someone to push data around. Before an automation project is started, a clear definition of what is trying to be achieved, needs to be outlined. A company could invest many hours or months with large sums of money being dumped into automating a simple task, later to find out that it will take them 2 years to recoup the cost they spent on the projects versus what they would have paid a laborer. Where will the company be 2 years from now? Before investing this money, the goals and the return need to be clearly defined, so that everyone knows what they are getting into and everyone knows what the results will be.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
I’ve been getting a lot more requests for Search Engine Optimization. Not always in these words… well actually the request is more like “can you make it so that I show up at the top of Google?”. I think that most people believe that I can just wave a magic wand, and they will appear at the top. I wish this was the case, or even if I could fill out one form, click submit, and magic… Unfortunately, this is not the case. Before starting down the road of SEO, be sure to outline all of the steps that you are going to take. Be sure to advise them that this is not a quick process, and that it will be an ongoing process. It is easier, and much faster to move down in rank than up. Once the work has been completed, it needs to be maintained just to stay on the first page. While some projects can begin without having the complete project outline, this is not one of them. You will lose a lot of time if you do not first outline EVERY step of the process. You need to be sure to clearly define your goals.
Online Marketing
Social networking has become a huge piece of online marketing. This is the most recent craze, and has shown to be very successful. Included in this area is Pay Per Click, Newsletters, Banner Ads, Press Releases, etc. You will need to utilize a combination of these marketing strategies to be successful. In order to take full advantage of these resources you need to be sure to outline and set your goals before selecting your arsenal of marketing strategies. Each one of these strategies has its own strengths and weaknesses, so before you end up losing time in building a campaign that isn’t going to make fiscal sense, you need to build a game plan and outline your goals. Keep in mind that you aren’t just doing a projects for the sake of doing it, but that the company has real goals that it wants to achieve.
Updates
Be sure to get regular updates from your team, whether your using a project management application, regular SCRUM updates, or even just simple emails. Be sure to stay in constant contact with your team. Just as important, you need to give updates to your requesting party, whether an outside client, or internal manager or director.
Main Concept 
Hopefully you caught on that the running theme is being goal oriented. It is important that the goals are outlined from the beginning – and reassessed as needed. Not just the technical goals or the deliverables of the projects, but the business goals. Most IT departments, or even companies, lack this key initiative. They merely build what the client asks for, without understanding the business model or corporate goal. While this is what some clients want, these are not the type of people to work with. If the other departments are asking for things to be done, without explaining the goals, the company will never reach their goals, and everything will always be someone else’s fault.
Goal Oriented
Expediting IT projects is all about goals. When asked to start a project – ask what the end goal is. Most projects are killed or take too long because the project goes in the wrong direction and work has to be redone, or time is delayed trying to steer the project in a different direction. The key is all about defining and measuring your goals for success.
What are some of the techniques that you use to expedite projects? Please leave comments below.
Originally Posted on Successful Thinkers Meetup By Josh Shackelford
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