A major financial institution endured a history of several costly, high profile, failures in attempting to launch a revolutionary product, on a new technology platform
A number of challenges required immediate attention
Disharmony between business and technology
Significant change was to be targeted in an area that had experienced little change over a long period
Lack of training and process documentation
Unclear business requirements and business case
Immature tender process
The project was implementing in an area with little business analysis, development or testing expertise
The need to overcome a culture of blame and underachievement
Past failures meant that the launch deadline could not be significantly postponed
An integratedapproach structured across business and technology was taken. It built an inhouse capability while launching a change program that aimed to dothat little bit more
The following initiatives were completed in order to underpin the project
Value drivers of the project were implicitly understood and adhered to. Any tradeoff or design decisions were based on these drivers in order to preserve value
Business expertise was seconded on a fulltime basis into key project roles in order to ensure the final solution met stated requirements
New training tools and techniques were developed to train a national decentralised user base
A combination of a waterfall and a spiral model was pioneered in order to achieve the best compromise between the need to establish firm milestones, against the benefits of creativity, responsiveness and flexibility
Incremental releases rather than a big bang drop model was adopted in order to fast track benefits flowing through to the business
Processes were built around how the core system operated, making full use of existing system capabilities
Traceability against requirements was reconciled against test cases to eliminate any surprises
Specialist cross functional business support teams were setup to support affected business areas after each release, allowing these area’s to concentrate on deriving the most out of the system.
The change program not only dealt with change, but the capability of leadership
Stakeholder management and user forums and initiatives were instigated. Regular surveys of the project team and user population were conducted. Feedback was actioned
An effective, decisive steering committee formed from a cross section of all affected groups - including Compliance and Audit
Change management became the function of every member of the project management group - not the specialty of one group
The leadership program was designed to skill middle management with the required leadership attributes in order to effectively cope with foreseen and unforeseen challenges. These workshops were pragmatic rather than theoretical
Transparent communication was established that relayed a balance of good as well as bad news
Communication was frequent and face to face
Change agents were sourced from the area’s concerned and tasked with maintaining a two way two way communication channel
The Outcome?
A rarity - a strategic project that delivered its stated financial benefits to the business
The performance of the new product exceeded all expectations. Inflows were twice of its nearest competitor
The project continually scored 4 out of a possible 5 in its acceptance by the business
The leadership program was retained and embedded into the business
The culture of blame and lack of achievement had been replaced by one of emerging possibilities
Affected areas were able to deal with expected and unexpected issues without the turmoil, turnover or resistance experienced with previous attempts
