Author: Rajesh Patil (MBTI Certified , PMI-ACP, CSM, CSPO, MS in Engineering Management and Leadership)
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/pmrajpatil
Email: pmrajpatil@gmail.com
Accept my apologies for using an abbreviation that sounds like the "A" word in my title, I used it intentionally to stress on the seriousness of this topic.
When some project, person, or process fails in any organization, we hear the reaction "We did this "As Someone Said So" and it failed. This is not new to many traditional organizations, but for companies following Agile it's little different because they focus on "Business Value" and not on what someone thinks or someone feels.
Data is king and Analysis is Queen, that's the reason "Data Analysis" rule today's world. The hoopla you hear about "Big Data", "Analytics",and Target Marketing is all linked to "Data Analysis" , people are trying to make sense of what the data is trying to say to help them make the right decisions.
The "A_SS" projects are dangerous, many companies die because of many such projects. These type of projects are not supported by everyone in the organization. If the person who "Said So" leaves the company, then any failures will be blamed on that person and if the person is around they will have enough political power in the organization to either hide the failure or blame it on other uncontrollable situations.
Digital Projects are abstract by nature, When we start a digital project we know that there are many unknowns. Baseline comes to our rescue, if we are able to collect enough data to make a business case on why its important to do a certain project and how this project will benefit the organization we can guarantee our success by 50% and the remaining 45% confidence comes from planning or I should say "Agile Planning" and 5% of unknown still remains.
We live in a worlds most democratic country, every employee has rights to question the "status quo" and challenge every decision if its not supported by data. He said so, or She said so is not an excuse, we are all adults and we run our families like a businesses and we know how much a wrong decision can cost us. Before we make any decision, we should spend enough time to collect relevant data to build a business value proposition for a project.
Who am I kidding, myself? "Politics" is another name for "Communist". Many companies are still running on "Command and Control" mode, even after constant push from Agile communities to build a "Self Organized" and "Business Value" mindset for the last 10+ years.
I understand that we cannot move from "Command Control" to "Business Value" mindset overnight, its a transformation that will happen as generations change and thinking change.
Fair amount of "Command and Control" is healthy for any organization to keep the needed discipline, but I don't think it's required at the project level.
We all can help by not doing another "A_SS" projects or the "As _ Said So" projects and start relying more on business analysis data to make a case for a project.
Next time, when you sit in a meeting to kick-start a project ask these simple question:
"Why are we doing this project?" ,
"What are the benefits of this project?" ,
"What makes us think, this is the right approach?"
just to make sure
"You understand it" ,
"You agree with it" and
"You will help the team to make it better"
If the answer is complex and lengthy and confusing then these are the signs of a problem.
This simple exercise will help you commit to the project and gets you excited enough to enjoy working on this project.
On the flip-side, you asking these questions might kill the project and it might impact your job, but don't worry you will find a better place to work and not have to go through the "Monday Blues" feeling every week.
Happy Working! and NO MORE "A_SS" PROJECTS"
Apologies again, I am just typing my mind.
Disclaimer: My blog is my personal opinion and not connected to my employer or employees. Everything I write is wholly my personal experience and opinion that's not been validated or certified by anybody.
If you have concerns or questions regarding this article, please contact Rajesh Patil at pmrajpatil@gmail.com
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