Research Shows that...
Out of 3,682 projects under development,
only 431 or 12% of these projects will come in on time, within budget
and contain the features and functions originally specified.*
- 33% will experience cost overruns of 150 to 200%
- 33% will experienced time overruns of 200 to 300%, and only
- 25% to 49% will contain required features and functions
The Problems....
Projects require the collection and integration of many different business disciplines and perspectives. This is typically accomplished through a series of meetings and interviews with key stakeholder -- an approach that relies heavily on accurate and timely communication.
How can your organization clearly define what programs, processes, systems and initiatives must do when:
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People use Vocabulary Differently - they use the same words but mean different things, or use different terms but really mean the same thing ...
Communication Is Imprecise - not everyone is articulate in explaining their thoughts and ideas...
Knowledge Is Imperfect - an individual's knowledge represents the range of their training, experience and observations tempered by their personal and professional biases... acquired over time from many, sometimes conflicting sources...
Interruptions and Distractions - cell phones, text messages, emails, meetings and unexpected visitors can't help but disrupt anyone's flow of thoughts - and it is difficult to pick up where one left off...
Focused Concentration Is Lacking - people get distracted, their minds wander and have 'off' days...
Time is Limited - it's hard to think of and express everything that must be communicated during the limited time frame of an interview or when you're competing for talk time in a meeting....
Misunderstanding and Misinterpretations - only a small portion of what we hear is retained and some percentage of everything heard is misunderstood, misinterpreted or filtered differently than intended...
Things Change - change is inevitable. With the passage of time, goals, objectives, personnel, economics, politics, technology - all change!
Elapsed Time Alters Perceptions - information collected in the early stages of a project often becomes stale and less relevant as time goes on...
Redundancy and Duplication of Effort - it's often difficult to notice similarities across different groups because not everyone has the big robust picture...
Priorities Change - exposed problems and discovered opportunities often alter original priorities. What seemed like a high priority at the start of a project often changes as functionality, ideas and issues come to light...
Thought Get Disjointed - the limited time available in a meeting or an interview does not allow thought fragments to be connected into a fully developed solution...
Information Is Seen Out of Context - misinformation and the evolution of errors begin when concepts are reworded imprecisely or taken out of context...
Integration Is Missing - no one can flawlessly sift through conflicting, incomplete and disjointed information to assemble an integrated solution...
Compounding Is Significant - problems are compounded by the number of people involved in a project, often related to the importance and complexity of the project. Big problems require lots of people and create a lot of room for error...
Old Thinking / Resistance To Change - without exposure to other people's thoughts, there's no opportunity to experience a shift in thinking or a new perspective...
Same Old Solutions - the limited time allocated to most meetings and interviews don't allow for new ideas to be digested, assimilated and woven into innovative solutions...
Transcription Is Flawed - translation of information into any notation for use by others is necessarily flawed. We each hear and interpret information differently, thereby jeopardizing the integrity of ideas...
Project Solutions...
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Accelerating quality to achieve extraordinary results...
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