Technology
The ‘tyranny of the urgent’
How an inside look can maximize outside resources
By Paul R. Harvey
Smart Business Indianapolis | April 2007
Bill Russell
Executive vice president, Allegient
A one-size-fits-all approach to information technology (IT) projects pervades today’s business environment.
This single-model, staff-augmentation
mentality can be serviceable, but it can
also foster a lack of project planning and
focused initiatives.
“Too often, the needs of the day prevail; I
call it the ‘tyranny of the urgent,’” says Bill
Russell, executive vice president of
Allegient in Indianapolis. “Instead of applying a project-oriented focus to maximize
outside resources, the resources are expected to walk in the door and simply complete coding tasks.”
Smart Business recently spoke with
Russell about alternative project models
and how companies can best align internal
assets with outside resources to bring
about successful IT projects.
What indicators point toward utilizing outside resources?
The first indicator is the most crucial and
may have nothing to do with required technical skills. Will the business and technical
subject matter experts (SMEs) be available
to carry their end of the project? You have
to have people on the inside who really
know the business process to define what
must be delivered.
A second common indicator is that the
existing staff doesn’t know about or have
experience with a new technology. A third
indicator that outside resources may be
required is the speed or timing of the project. When projects are sole-sourced inside
the company, they often cannot meet the
speed requirement because projects often
fall to second priority behind keeping the
other systems running.
What are realistic expectations for SMEs?
Generally, companies overestimate how
much time these subject matter experts
can put into an initiative and they under-weight the demand from their daily responsibilities. These people have full-time jobs
and they’re going to be constrained.
There’s a survey by Forrester that says the
biggest hurdle to companies’ IT initiation and delivery is due to SME constraints.
Some companies will utilize dedicated
SMEs for certain strategic projects. For
other projects, it is reasonable for SMEs to
only be available 10 percent to 15 percent
of their time — with a maximum of 25 percent — while maintaining their regular job.
In high-growth companies, it’s unrealistic
to expect an SME to spend more than 10
percent to 15 percent of his or her time on
an IT project. This calls for consideration
of outside resources.
What other resources should be considered
for IT projects?
Companies should realize that all of their
existing staff is going to be constrained.
Generally, only about 25 percent of a company’s IT budget and resources are dedicated to accomplish new capabilities, so
outside resources become crucial to amplify the available in-house knowledge and
skills.
Outside resources are going to have the
concentrated focus to bring the project
together and manage it on a day-to-day
basis. There are outside resources for project management, business process and
requirements definition experts and development and testing that can be applied.
How are outside resources best aligned
with in-house personnel?
A system of ‘shadows,’ or pairs, at the lead
positions can be effective. A project manager, lead developer or test manager provided
by the outside resource can be paired with
and leverage the internal SMEs in these categories. In this model, SMEs can handle perhaps six or more projects, while the external team concentrates solely on the individual project it is trying to deliver. This pairing
allows the outside resources to navigate
through the company’s cultural policies and
procedural items (SME assistance) while
focusing on managing the initiative and the
resources to get the work done.
It’s also extremely important to align the
outside resources with both the internal
business and IT project sponsors. This
communication triangle ensures that the
external resource maintains a tight collaboration between both the business needs
and the IT group needs.
A key benefit to alignment is that it helps
build knowledge transfer into the project
plan. If an external team handles the entire
project and then walks out the door, it does
not leave the internal team in very good
shape to continue to support the platform.
A pairing system builds knowledge transfer into the process.
What alternatives to the pure staffing
model should be considered?
Projects that are time-sensitive or unanticipated may require an alternative.
One alternative is to consider defining
either parts of projects or entire projects so
that outside teams can be brought in and
held accountable. At the end of the day,
inside resources simply cannot be held as
accountable as outside resources.
Defining sharp boundaries that include
specific requirements, timelines, budgets
and deliverables allows the outside
resources to focus on completing the project with little day-to-day support distraction
for existing systems.
BILL RUSSELL is executive vice president of Allegient. Reach
him at (317) 564-5701 or brussell@allegient.com.
