🔦Process Management: Business Process Outsourcing (Definitions)

"A form of outsourcing that involves transferring responsibilities for entire specific business functions or processes to a third party provider." (DAMA International, "The DAMA Dictionary of Data Management", 2011)

"The process of hiring another company to handle business activities." (Linda Volonino & Efraim Turban, "Information Technology for Management 8th Ed", 2011)

"Contracting with a third party to perform specific business processes. One example could be using a customer service center taking inbound telephone calls from U.S. customers and handling customer requests and complaints from a service center located offshore, in locations such as India, where labor costs are lower." (Robert F Smallwood, "Information Governance: Concepts, Strategies, and Best Practices", 2014)

"A process of delegating the back-office processes or noncore business functions to a third party service provider." (John H Higgins & Bryan L Smith, "10 Steps to a Digital Practice in the Cloud" 2nd Ed., 2017)

🔦Process Management: Process Map (Definitions)

"The Process Chart is a device for visualizing a process as a means of improving it. Every detail of a process is more or less affected by every other detail; therefore the entire process must be presented in such form that it can be visualized all at once before any changes are made in any of its subdivisions. In any subdivision of the process under examination, any changes made without due consideration of all the decisions and all the motions that precede and follow that subdivision will often be found unsuited to the ultimate plan of operation." (Frank B Gilbreth & Lillian M Gilbreth, "Process Charts", 1921) 

"A method used to examine the effectiveness of the approach currently used in completing a task." (Dale Furtwengler, "Ten Minute Guide to Performance Appraisals", 2000)

"A type of flowchart depicting the steps in a process, identifying its inputs outputs, and often assigning responsibility for each step and the key measures." (Clyde M Creveling, "Six Sigma for Technical Processes: An Overview for R Executives, Technical Leaders, and Engineering Managers", 2006)

"A type of flow chart depicting the steps in a process, its inputs/outputs, and often identification of responsibility for each step and the key measures." (Lynne Hambleton, "Treasure Chest of Six Sigma Growth Methods, Tools, and Best Practices", 2007)

"A kind of data flow diagram used in business process engineering to represent the tasks performed in an enterprise and the links between them." (David C Hay, "Data Model Patterns: A Metadata Map", 2010)

"A high-level flowchart diagram illustrating the various activities, tasks, decisions, and relationships of participant functions, departments, or groups associated with the execution of a process. It is used as a starting point to be critical of the efficiency and effectiveness of business process execution." (Carl F Lehmann, "Strategy and Business Process Management", 2012)

"A workflow diagram is a graphic depiction of the steps, sequence of steps, and flow control that constitute a process using standard symbols and conventions." (Meredith Zozus, "The Data Book: Collection and Management of Research Data", 2017)

🔦Process Management: Statistical Process Control (Definitions)

"Statistically based analysis of a process and measurements of process performance, which will identify common and special causes of variation in the process performance, and maintain process performance within limits." (Sandy Shrum et al, "CMMI: Guidelines for Process Integration and Product Improvement", 2003)

[statistically managed process:] "A process that is managed by a statistically based technique in which processes are analyzed, special causes of process variation are identified, and performance is contained within well-defined limits." (Sandy Shrum et al, "CMMI: Guidelines for Process Integration and Product Improvement", 2003)

"Statistical analysis of process performance to identify common and special causes of variation and to quantify the amount of variation in the process. Used to define operational limits on performance parameters to monitor and maintain process performance within limits. See also common cause of process variation, special cause of process variation." (Richard D Stutzke, "Estimating Software-Intensive Systems: Projects, Products, and Processes", 2005)

"Statistical techniques used to monitor, control and improve process performance over time by studying variation and its source." (Atila Ertas, "Transdisciplinary Engineering Design Process", 2018)

🔦Process Management: Business Process Modeling [BPM] (Definitions)

"A set of practices or tasks that companies can perform to visually depict or describe all the aspects of a business process, including its flow, control and decision points, triggers and conditions for activity execution, the context in which an activity runs, and associated resources." (Nicolai M Josuttis, "SOA in Practice", 2007)

"A technique for transforming how business operates into a codified source in code so that it can be translated into software." (Judith Hurwitz et al, "Service Oriented Architecture For Dummies 2nd Ed.", 2009)

"An activity similar to drafting a blueprint for a house; it includes techniques and activities used as part of the larger business process management discipline." (Linda Volonino & Efraim Turban, "Information Technology for Management" 8th Ed., 2011)

"A technique for transforming how business operates into a codified source so that it can be translated into software." (Marcia Kaufman et al, "Big Data For Dummies", 2013)

"Business process modeling (BPM) is the data visualization of companies’ workflows and business processes to provide insight and identify areas for improvement. The field focuses on creating detailed graphic representations of these processes to reduce waste, enhance cycle speed, improve upon existing workflows, uncover inefficiencies, and remove redundancies. Business process modeling focuses on representing business flows 'as-is' - in their current state, with no modifications - as well as predictive models that highlight potential improvements in the process." (Sisense) [source]

"Business process modeling (BPM) links business strategy to IT systems development to ensure business value. It combines process/workflow, functional, organizational and data/resource views with underlying metrics such as costs, cycle times and responsibilities to provide a foundation for analyzing value chains, activity-based costs, bottlenecks, critical paths and inefficiencies." (Gartner)

🔦Process Management: Procedures

"A written description of actions to be taken to perform a given task. Usually expressed as a sequence of steps." (Richard D Stutzke, "Estimating Software-Intensive Systems: Projects, Products, and Processes", 2005)

"A method, process, or particular way that is established by an organization as the correct way of accomplishing a desired result. Adherence may be mandatory or optional, depending on the degree of impact or risk." (Tilak Mitra et al, "SOA Governance", 2008)

"A written description of a course of action to be taken in performing a task or workforce practice." (Sally A Miller et al, "People CMM: A Framework for Human Capital Management" 2nd Ed., 2009)

"1.Generally, a series of low-level steps or tasks in a process followed in a defined and repeatable order. 2.In data management, a set of instructions for human users of computer systems that augment the automated work flow." (DAMA International, "The DAMA Dictionary of Data Management", 2011)

"A formal document that specifies the step-by-step instructions to perform tasks in accordance with security policies and standards." (Mark Rhodes-Ousley, "Information Security: The Complete Reference" 2nd Ed., 2013)

"An established method of accomplishing a consistent performance or result, a procedure typically can be described as the sequence of steps that will be used to execute a process." (For Dummies, "PMP Certification All-in-One For Dummies, 2nd Ed.", 2013)

"A document that provides step-by-step instructions for how standards and guidelines are put into practice." (Weiss, "Auditing IT Infrastructures for Compliance" 2nd Ed., 2015)

"A series of steps followed in a regular, definitive order to accomplish something." (Project Management Institute, "Practice Standard for Scheduling" 3rd Ed., 2019)

"Document containing steps that specify how to perform an activity" (ITIL)

🔦Process Management: Process Owner (Definitions)

"The person (or team) responsible for defining and maintaining a process. At the organizational level, the process owner is the person (or team) responsible for the description of a standard process; at the project level, the process owner is the person (or team) responsible for the description of the defined process. A process may therefore have multiple owners at different levels of responsibility." (Sandy Shrum et al, "CMMI®: Guidelines for Process Integration and Product Improvement", 2003)

"The process owner (person or team) is responsible for process definition and maintenance. At the organizational level, the process owner is responsible for the description of the standard process. At the project level, the process owner is responsible for the defined process. A process may therefore have several process owners with varying levels of responsibility." (Lars Dittmann et al, "Automotive SPICE in Practice", 2008)

"The person responsible for defining and maintaining a process. At the organizational level, the process owner is the individual(s) responsible for the description of a standard process or set of related practices. Within a workforce competency, the process owner is the individual(s) responsible for defining and maintaining the competency-based processes associated with that workforce competency. A process may have multiple owners at different levels of responsibility." (Sally A Miller et al, "People CMM: A Framework for Human Capital Management" 2nd Ed., 2009)

"The person responsible for process definition, execution and control." (DAMA International, "The DAMA Dictionary of Data Management", 2011)

"Role responsible for ensuring that a process is fit for purpose" (ITIL)

🔦Process Management: Business Processes [BP] (Definitions)

"Major operational activities or processes supported by a source system, such as orders, from which data can be collected for the analytic purposes of the data warehouse. Choosing the business process is the first of four key steps in the design of a dimensional model." (Ralph Kimball & Margy Ross, "The Data Warehouse Toolkit" 2nd Ed., 2002)

"The sequence of activities 'enclosing' the production process. These activities are common to all types of products and services, and include defining the job, negotiation with the customer, and reporting project status." (Richard D Stutzke, "Estimating Software-Intensive Systems: Projects, Products, and Processes", 2005)

"A structured description of the activities or tasks that have to be done to fulfill a certain business need. The activities or tasks might be manual steps (human interaction) or automated steps (IT steps)." (Nicolai M Josuttis, "SOA in Practice", 2007)

"The codification of rules and practices that constitute a business." (Judith Hurwitz et al, "Service Oriented Architecture For Dummies 2nd Ed.", 2009)

"The defined method for a range of activities that organizations perform. A business process can include anything from the steps needed to make a product to how a supply is ordered or how an invoice is created." (Tony Fisher, "The Data Asset", 2009)

"A structured description of the activities or tasks that have to be done to fulfill a certain business need. The activities or tasks might be manual steps (human interaction) or automated steps (IT steps)." (David Lyle & John G Schmidt, "Lean Integration: An Integration Factory Approach to Business Agility", 2010)

"An activity as carried out by business people, including the mechanisms involved." (David C Hay, "Data Model Patterns: A Metadata Map", 2010)

"A collection of activities performed to accomplish a clearly defined goal." (Linda Volonino & Efraim Turban, "Information Technology for Management 8th Ed", 2011)

"A collection of activities designed to produce a specific output for a particular customer or market." (International Qualifications Board for Business Analysis, 2011)

"A business process is a series of steps required to execute a function that is important to an organization. Business processes include things like taking an order or setting up an account or paying a claim. In process analysis, business processes are the focus of opportunities for improvement. Organizations usually have a set of key processes that require support from other areas, like information technology." (Laura Sebastian-Coleman, "Measuring Data Quality for Ongoing Improvement ", 2012)

"The codification of rules and practices that constitute a business." (Marcia Kaufman et al, "Big Data For Dummies", 2013)

"A coordinated set of collaborative and transactional work activities carried out to complete work steps." (Robert F Smallwood, "Information Governance: Concepts, Strategies, and Best Practices", 2014)

"A set of activities that teams within an organization carry out to accomplish a specific goal." (David K Pham, "From Business Strategy to Information Technology Roadmap", 2016)

"The business activities executed to deliver products or services to external customers. Business process is supported by and consumes IT-services to achieve their objectives." (by Brian Johnson & Leon-Paul de Rouw, "Collaborative Business Design", 2017)

[core business processes:] "These are the business processes that move an organization’s vision forward, such as sales, marketing, business development, and customer service. Core business processes are also referred to as front-office processes." (John H Higgins & Bryan L Smith, "10 Steps to a Digital Practice in the Cloud" 2nd Ed., 2017)

"Process owned and carried by the business" (ITIL)

🔦Process Management: Processes (Definitions)

"A series of actions performed by people to bring about a result." (Margaret Y Chu, "Blissful Data ", 2004)

"A kind of activity performed by the enterprise to produce a specific output or achieve a goal. It may or may not be described in terms of the mechanisms used or the parties performing it. A set of processes is usually described in sequence." (David C Hay, "Data Model Patterns: A Metadata Map", 2010)

"(1) Basic definition, a logical series of related activities that converts input to results or output. (2) Value-added extension, designed to create or deliver customer value or shareholder value through efficiency. (3) Asset extension, an asset that affects the quality of a product, service, or brand to uniquely satisfy customer needs and differentiate its executor from competitors." (Carl F Lehmann, "Strategy and Business Process Management", 2012)

"A structured set of activities designed to accomplish a specific objective. A process takes one or more defined inputs and turns them into defined outputs (OGC1)." (Paul C Dinsmore et al, "Enterprise Project Governance", 2012)

"A high-level, end-to-end structure useful for decision making and normalizing how things get done in a company or organization." (Marcia Kaufman et al, "Big Data For Dummies", 2013)

"A systematic series of activities directed towards causing an end result such that one or more inputs will be acted upon to create one or more outputs." (For Dummies, "PMP Certification All-in-One For Dummies, 2nd Ed.", 2013)

"In the context of this book, a necessary sequence of steps required to provide a desired result. That result can be tangible or intangible or a combination of both." (Kenneth A Shaw, "Integrated Management of Processes and Information", 2013)

"The mechanism by which inputs are converted into the specified outputs." (Catherine Burke et al, "Systems Leadership, 2nd Ed,", 2018)

"A set of interrelated actions and activities performed to create a pre-specified product, service, or result. Each process is comprised of inputs, tools, and techniques (or activities), and outputs with constraints (environmental factors), guidance, and criteria (organizational process assets) taken into consideration. Select appropriate processes to meet project objectives, adapt a defined approach to meet requirements, communicate/engage stakeholders, meet needs, balance constraints." (H James Harrington & William S Ruggles, "Project Management for Performance Improvement Teams", 2018)

"A set of interrelated activities, which transform inputs into outputs [ISO 12207]

"A structured set of activities designed to accomplish a specific objective. It includes roles, responsibilities, tools and management controls required to reliably deliver the outputs." (ITIL)

🚧Project Management: Project Management (Just the Quotes)

"Amid a wash of paper, a small number of documents become the critical pivots around which every project's management revolves. These are the manager's chief personal tools." (William Bengough, "Scene in the old Congressional Library", 1897) 

"Project management is becoming more important as equipment, systems, and projects become more complex." (Bud Porter-Roth, "Proposal Development", 1955)

"The classical vertical arrangement for project management is characterized by an inherent self-sufficiency of operation. It has within its structure all the necessary specialized skills to provide complete engineering capabilities and it also has the ability to carry on its own laboratory investigations, preparation of drawings, and model or prototype manufacture. (Penton Publishing Company, Automation Vol 2, 1955)

"The accuracy of estimates is a function of the stage of development (i.e. estimates improve as development of the item progress). This also means that estimates for development projects representing only 'modest advances' tend to be better than for more ambitious projects." (A W Marshall & W H Meckling, "Predictability of the Cost, Time and Success of Development", [Report P-1821] 1959)

"The difficulty in project management is how to apply competition between task efforts and between subtask efforts when such things as the task managers' work, schedules, and budgets are all different." (John S Baumgartner, "Project Management", 1963)

"If a given task depends on the completion of other assignments in other functional areas, and if it will, in turn, affect the cost or timing of subsequent tasks, project management is probably called for." (American Management Association, "Management Review", 1966)

"Basic to successful project management is recognizing when the project is needed - in other words, when to form a project, as opposed to when to use the regular functional organization to do the job." (David I Cleland & William R King, Systems Analysis and Project Management, 1968)

"Project management is not universally applicable. The utility of the idea depends on the magnitude of the effort, the complexity, the degree of unfamiliarity and interrelatedness, and the concern with the organization's reputation." (David I Cleland & William R King, "Systems Analysis and Project Management", 1968)

"Project management is needed only for situations which are out of the ordinary; but when the need exists, this may often be the only way by which the task may be handled successfully. These situations require a different attitude on the part of the top management, the undivided attention of a project manager and different methods for control and communications than those used in the normal routine business situation. […] Pure project management assigns complete responsibility for the task and resources needed for its accomplishment to one project manager. The organization of a large project, though it will be dissolved upon completion of the task, operates for its duration much like a regular division and is relatively independent of any other division or staff group." (Executive Sciences Institute, Operations Research/Management Science Vol 6, 1964)

"Project management is the process by which it is assured that the objective is achieved and resources are not wasted. Planning is one of the two parts of project management. Control is the other. [...] Each project must first be planned in detail. Control is involved with comparing actual progress with the plan and taking corrective action when the two do not correspond. Without the plan, true control is not possible; the need for corrective action, its nature, extent, and urgency cannot he accurately determined." (Robert D Carlsen & James A Lewis, "The Systems Analysis Workbook: A complete guide to project implementation and control", 1973)

"Project management is clearly a part of software engineering, and its effective employment plays a major role in reducing the problems associated with delivering software within estimated time and cost." (Richard H Thayer & John H. Lehman, Software Engineering Project Management, 1977)

"If a high degree of certainty exists concerning all major events, operations, and outcomes, project management is not essential." (John R. Adams et al, "Managing by Project Management", 1979)

"The acceptance of project management has not been easy, however. Many executives are not willing to accept change and are inflexible when it comes to adapting to a different environment." (Harold Kerzner, "Project Management", 1979)

"Generally, project management is distinguished from the general management of corporations by the mission- oriented nature of a project. A project organization will generally be terminated when the mission is accomplished." (Chris Hendrickson & Tung Au, "Project Management for Construction", 1989)

"An important part of project management is keeping track of thoughts, assumptions, suggestions, limitations, and the myriad related details of the project." (InfoWorld Vol. 12 (17), 1990)

"A methodology should be as simple as possible to get the job done. If you make the requirements a burden, rather than a help, then people will resist following them. You want to achieve a consistent, workable approach to managing projects, not hang a noose around the manager’s neck." (James P Lewis, "Project Planning, Scheduling, and Control" 3rd Ed., 2001)

"Getting project management to work in an organization requires a change in culture." (James P Lewis, "Project Planning, Scheduling, and Control" 3rd Ed., 2001)

"The entire reason for managing a project is to make sure you get the results desired by the organization. This is commonly called being in control, and it is what is expected of a project manager." (James P Lewis, "Project Planning, Scheduling, and Control" 3rd Ed., 2001)

"Project management is the art of creating the illusion that any outcome is the result of a series of predetermined, deliberate acts when, in fact, it was dumb luck." (Harold Kerzner, "Project Management: A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling, and Controlling", 2009)

"Effective project and program management involves more than strict adherence to a prescriptive methodology. Leadership skills, judgement, common sense, initiative, effective communication, negotiation skills and a broad perspective on the surrounding environment are all essential. Project and program management is a creative and collaborative process." (Peter Shergold, "Learning from Failure", 2015)

🚧Project Management: Project Failure (Just the Quotes)

"Rushing into action, you fail.

Trying to grasp things, you lose them.

Forcing a project to completion,

you ruin what was almost ripe."
(Lao Tzu, "Tao Te Ching", cca. 6th-century BC)

"In many ways, project management is similar to functional or traditional management. The project manager, however, may have to accomplish his ends through the efforts of individuals who are paid and promoted by someone else in the chain of command. The pacing factor in acquiring a new plant, in building a bridge, or in developing a new product is often not technology, but management. The technology to accomplish an ad hoc project may be in hand but cannot be put to proper use because the approach to the management is inadequate and unrealistic. Too often this failure can be attributed to an attempt to fit the project to an existing management organization, rather than molding the management to fit the needs of the project. The project manager, therefore, is somewhat of a maverick in the business world. No set pattern exists by which he can operate. His philosophy of management may depart radically from traditional theory." (David I Cleland & William R King, "Systems Analysis and Project Management", 1968)

"But the greater the primary risk, the safer and more careful your secondary assumptions must be. A project is only as sound as its weakest assumption, or its largest uncertainty." (Robert Heller, "The Naked Manager: Games Executives Play", 1972)

"Faced with a decision, always ask one implacable question: If this project fails, if the worst comes to the worst, what will be the result? If the answer is total corporate disaster, drop the project. If the worst possible outcome is tolerable, say, break-even, the executive has the foundation of all sound decision making - a fail-safe position." (Robert Heller, "The Naked Manager: Games Executives Play", 1972)

"The Eighth Truth of Management is: if you are doing something wrong, you will do it badly. The reverse of this truth is that, if your decision is blindingly right, you will execute it well - or appear to do so, which is much the same thing. But any executive can massacre his own nonsensical project." (Robert Heller, "The Naked Manager: Games Executives Play", 1972)

"Yet intelligent men plump for one project rather than another on the strength of a difference of a few decimal points in the rate of return calculated over the next decade. All such mind-stretching calculation comes under the lash of the Seventh Truth of Management: if you need sophisticated calculations to justify an action, it is probably wrong (the sophisticated calculations, anyway, are all too often based on simple false assumptions)." (Robert Heller, "The Naked Manager: Games Executives Play", 1972)

"Poor management can increase software costs more rapidly than any other factor. Particularly on large projects, each of the following mismanagement actions has often been responsible for doubling software development costs." (Barry Boehm, "Software Engineering Economics", 1981)

"[…] the longer one works on […] a project without actually concluding it, the more remote the expected completion date becomes. Is this really such a perplexing paradox? No, on the contrary: human experience, all-too-familiar human experience, suggests that in fact many tasks suffer from similar runaway completion times. In short, such jobs either get done soon or they never get done. It is surprising, though, that this common conundrum can be modeled so simply by a self-similar power law." (Manfred Schroeder, "Fractals, Chaos, Power Laws Minutes from an Infinite Paradise", 1990)

"Even when you have skilled, motivated, hard-working people, the wrong team structure can undercut their efforts instead of catapulting them to success. A poor team structure can increase development time, reduce quality, damage morale, increase turnover, and ultimately lead to project cancellation." (Steve McConnell, "Rapid Development", 1996)

"Software projects fail for one of two general reasons: the project team lacks the knowledge to conduct a software project successfully, or the project team lacks the resolve to conduct a project effectively." (Steve C McConnell, "Software Project Survival Guide", 1997)

"Today, excellent companies realize that project failures have more to do with behavioral shortcomings - poor employee morale, negative human relations, low productivity, and lack of commitment." (Harold Kerzner, "In search of excellence in project management", 1998)

"Success in all types of organization depends increasingly on the development of customized software solutions, yet more than half of software projects now in the works will exceed both their schedules and their budgets by more than 50%." (Barry Boehm, "Software Cost Estimation with Cocomo II", 2000)

"Choosing a proper project strategy can mean the difference between success and failure." (James P Lewis, "Project Planning, Scheduling, and Control" 3rd Ed., 2001)

"Note that a project always begins as a concept, and a concept is usually a bit fuzzy. Our job as a team is to clarify the concept, to turn it into a shared understanding that the entire team will accept. It is failure to do this that causes many project failures." (James P Lewis, "Project Planning, Scheduling, and Control" 3rd Ed., 2001)

"Project failures are not always the result of poor methodology; the problem may be poor implementation. Unrealistic objectives or poorly defined executive expectations are two common causes of poor implementation. Good methodologies do not guarantee success, but they do imply that the project will be managed correctly." (Harold Kerzner, "Strategic Planning for Project Management using a Project Management Maturity Model", 2001)

"Projects often fail at the beginning, not the end." (James P Lewis, "Project Planning, Scheduling, and Control" 3rd Ed., 2001)

"Success or failure of a project depends upon the ability of key personnel to have sufficient data for decision-making. Project management is often considered to be both an art and a science. It is an art because of the strong need for interpersonal skills, and the project planning and control forms attempt to convert part of the 'art' into a science." (Harold Kerzner, "Strategic Planning for Project Management using a Project Management Maturity Model", 2001)

"Today, most project management practitioners focus on planning failure. If this aspect of the project can be compressed, or even eliminated, then the magnitude of the actual failure, should it occur, would be diminished. A good project management methodology helps to reduce planning failure. Today, we believe that planning failure, when it occurs, is due in large part to the project manager’s inability to perform effective risk management." (Harold Kerzner, "Strategic Planning for Project Management using a Project Management Maturity Model", 2001)

"When unmeetable expectations are formed, failure is virtually assured, since we have defined failure as unmet expectations. This is called a planning failure and is the difference between what was planned to be accomplished and what was, in fact, achievable. The second component of failure is poor performance or actual failure. This is the difference between what was achievable and what was actually accomplished. […] Perceived failure is the net sum of actual failure and planning failure. […] Planning failure is again assured even if no actual failure occurs. In both of these situations (overplanning and underplanning), the actual failure is the same, but the perceived failure can vary considerably." (Harold Kerzner, "Strategic Planning for Project Management using a Project Management Maturity Model", 2001)

"You need to identify and terminate infeasible projects early. Sending a message to project managers that project termination threatens their career will tempt them to continue projects that should die” (Barry Bohem,"Project termination doesn't equal project failure", Computer, 34 (9),  2001)

"Projects fail because of context, not because of content.[...] the traditional emphasis in project management on the technical issues of the project (content) has led to a legacy of an extremely poor set of tools, techniques, and tips for managing the complex of people, political, and other 'softer' issues that make up the context of the project." (Rob Thomsett, "Radical Project Management", 2002)

"Agile development methodologies promise higher customer satisfaction, lower defect rates, faster development times and a solution to rapidly changing requirements. Plan-driven approaches promise predictability, stability, and high assurance. However, both approaches have shortcomings that, if left unaddressed, can lead to project failure. The challenge is to balance the two approaches to take advantage of their strengths and compensate for their weaknesses." (Barry Boehm & Richard Turner, "Observations on balancing discipline and agility", Agile Development Conference, 2003)

"A project is composed of a series of steps where all must be achieved for success. Each individual step has some probability of failure. We often underestimate the large number of things that may happen in the future or all opportunities for failure that may cause a project to go wrong. Humans make mistakes, equipment fails, technologies don't work as planned, unrealistic expectations, biases including sunk cost-syndrome, inexperience, wrong incentives, contractor failure, untested technology, delays, wrong deliveries, changing requirements, random events, ignoring early warning signals are reasons for delays, cost overruns and mistakes. Often we focus too much on the specific project case and ignore what normally happens in similar situations (base rate frequency of outcomes- personal and others)." (Peter Bevelin, "Seeking Wisdom: From Darwin to Munger", 2003)

"If you've been in the software business for any time at all, you know that there are certain common problems that plague one project after another. Missed schedules and creeping requirements are not things that just happen to you once and then go away, never to appear again. Rather, they are part of the territory. We all know that. What's odd is that we don't plan our projects as if we knew it. Instead, we plan as if our past problems are locked in the past and will never rear their ugly heads again. Of course, you know that isn't a reasonable expectation." (Tom DeMarco & Timothy Lister, "Waltzing with Bears: Managing Risk on Software Projects", 2003)

"Many things can put a project off course: bureaucracy, unclear objectives, and lack of resources, to name a few. But it is the approach to design that largely determines how complex software can become. When complexity gets out of hand, developers can no longer understand the software well enough to change or extend it easily and safely. On the other hand, a good design can create opportunities to exploit those complex features." (Eric Evans, "Domain-Driven Design: Tackling complexity in the heart of software", 2003)

"A fundamental reason for the difficulties with modern engineering projects is their inherent complexity. The systems that these projects are working with or building have many interdependent parts, so that changes in one part often have effects on other parts of the system. These indirect effects are frequently unanticipated, as are collective behaviors that arise from the mutual interactions of multiple components. Both indirect and collective effects readily cause intolerable failures of the system. Moreover, when the task of the system is intrinsically complex, anticipating the many possible demands that can be placed upon the system, and designing a system that can respond in all of the necessary ways, is not feasible. This problem appears in the form of inadequate specifications, but the fundamental issue is whether it is even possible to generate adequate specifications for a complex system." (Yaneer Bar-Yam, "Making Things Work: Solving Complex Problems in a Complex World", 2004)

"The collapse of a particular project may appear to have a specific cause, but an overly high intrinsic complexity of these systems is a problem common to many of them. A chain always breaks first in one particular link, but if the weight it is required to hold is too high, failure of the chain is guaranteed."  (Yaneer Bar-Yam, "Making Things Work: Solving Complex Problems in a Complex World", 2004)

"As hard as it is to find good ideas, it's even more difficult to manage them. While the project is humming along, vision document in place and a strong creative momentum moving forward, there is another level of thinking that has to occur: how will the designs and ideas translate into decisions? Even if good designs and ideas are being investigated, and people are excited about what they're working on, the challenge of convergence toward specifications remains. If a shift of momentum toward definitive design decisions doesn't happen at the right time and isn't managed in the right way, disaster waits. For many reasons, project failure begins here." (Scott Berkun, "The Art of Project Management", 2005)

"Failure usually results from a lack of a common approach to accomplish the work as a team. Inadequate leadership fails to create the environment in which teams can flourish. Furthermore, potential team members are seldom trained in how to share their efforts to accomplish team goals. The team may also assume they know more about teamwork than they actually do. So we need to be able to differentiate between superficial teamwork and the real thing." (Kevin Forsberg et al, "Visualizing Project Management: Models and frameworks for mastering complex systems" 3rd Ed., 2005)

"Project failures can frequently be traced to unrealistic technical, cost, or schedule targets. Such targets may be entirely arbitrary or based on bad assumptions - setting team members up for failure. Furthermore, the goals that motivate one team member may not motivate another member. All tasks don’t have to be inherently motivating - that’s not sensible. But there have to be motivating factors, if by nothing more than participating in goal determination. This also helps ensure adequate opportunity and risk identification, analysis, and management." (Kevin Forsberg et al, "Visualizing Project Management: Models and frameworks for mastering complex systems" 3rd Ed., 2005)

"Projects are complex non-linear systems and have significant inertia. If you wait to see acute problems before taking action, you will be too late and may make things worse." (Scott Berkun, "Making Things Happen: Mastering Project Management", 2005)

"The appropriate models help avoid costly errors that can lead to failure. One of the major sources of project failure is f lawed requirements and scope management. Models of the project environment, therefore, need to address the development and management of project requirements. Continuing to work on the project solution with an insufficient understanding of stakeholder requirements and a deficient requirements development process often leads to expensive time delays and redesigns. This doesn’t have to be the case. A strong requirements development and management process model can provide that ounce of prevention." (Kevin Forsberg et al, "Visualizing Project Management: Models and frameworks for mastering complex systems" 3rd Ed., 2005)

"Any effort at large-scale reorganization - that is, any project spanning more than two years and, more generally, anything that has not already been done - is inevitably doomed to failure." (Corinne Maier, "Bonjour Laziness: Why Hard Work Doesn't Pay", 2007)

"In software management, coordination is not an afterthought or an ancillary matter; it is the heart of the work, and deciding what tools and methods to use can make or break a project. But getting sidetracked in managing those tools is a potent temptation." (Scott Rosenberg, "Dreaming in Code", 2007)

"As a general rule, implementations do not just spontaneously combust. Failures tend to stem from the aggregation of many issues. Although some issues may have been known since the early stages of the project (for example, the sales cycle or system design), implementation teams discover the majority of problems during the middle of the implementation, typically during some form of testing." (Phil Simon, "Why New Systems Fail: An Insider’s Guide to Successful IT Projects", 2010)

"Implementing new systems is not like baking a cake. Organizations cannot follow a recipe with the following ingredients: three consultants, six weeks of testing, two training classes, and a healthy dose of project management. Nor do projects bake for six months until complete, after which time everyone enjoys a delicious piece of cake. For all sorts of reasons, a well-conceived and well-run project may fail, whereas a horribly managed project may come in under budget, ahead of schedule, and do everything that the vendor promised at the onset." (Phil Simon, "Why New Systems Fail: An Insider’s Guide to Successful IT Projects", 2010)

"Pre-implementation, post-implementation, and ongoing data audits are invaluable tools for organizations. Used judiciously by knowledgeable and impartial resources, audits can detect, avoid, and minimize issues that can derail an implementation or cause a live system to fail. Rather than view them as superfluous expenses, organizations would be wise to conduct them at key points throughout the system’s life cycle." (Phil Simon, "Why New Systems Fail: An Insider’s Guide to Successful IT Projects", 2010)

"The best managed project may fail, whereas a horribly managed project may come in under budget, ahead of schedule, and do everything that the vendor promised at the onset. In reality, however, organizations are unlikely to find themselves in one of these extreme scenarios. On a fundamental level, successfully activating and utilizing a new system is about minimizing risk from day one until the end of the project and beyond. The organization that can do this stands the best chance of averting failure." (Phil Simon, "Why New Systems Fail: An Insider’s Guide to Successful IT Projects", 2010)

"Understanding the causes of system failures may help organizations avoid them, although there are no guarantees." (Phil Simon, "Why New Systems Fail: An Insider’s Guide to Successful IT Projects", 2010)

"Stakeholder management to me is key, as success or failure is in the eye of the beholder. Time, cost and quality fall prey to the perceptions of the key stakeholders, who may have nothing to do with the running of the project." (Peter Parkes, "NLP for Project Managers", 2011)

"Projects fail from under-communicating, not over-communicating. Even if resource constraints preclude the dependency that you want from being delivered any sooner, clarifying priorities and expectations enables you to plan ahead and work through alternatives." (Edmond Lau, "The Effective Engineer: How to Leverage Your Efforts In Software Engineering to Make a Disproportionate and Meaningful Impact", 2015)

"Reading reviews of failure can be a dispiriting exercise. It can also create a distorted perception of reality. Reform of the implementation of large programs and projects should not just be based on a litany of what has gone wrong. Many things go right and, for that very reason, go unnoticed." (Peter Shergold, "Learning from Failure", 2015)

"Complexity is one of the causes of failing projects; failing to split the project into smaller tasks also causes software quality issues or project failure. Complexity can also be caused by the size of the  project; if the project is too big, there is a huge possibility that the project may become complex and complicated." (Abu S Mahfuz,"Software Quality Assurance", 2016)

"A correct and sanity-checked judgment of both the financial and logistic feasibility of a project is absolutely critical to its eventual outcome; get it wrong and a failed project is almost guaranteed. In support of this statement we can refer to the contents of a number of serious ­academic studies which support the idea that two of the chief causes of the failure, particularly the financial failure, of major infrastructure ­projects are optimism bias and strategic misrepresentations. […] Optimism bias means that the original project sponsors and planners fooled themselves that the project would be easy and could be completed within a 'back-of-the-envelope' budget, perhaps because they didn’t have the experience to know it would be difficult and expensive, or perhaps they didn’t want to know. Strategic misrepresentations mean that even if they did know it would be more difficult and expensive than their published estimate, they lied about it so that the Public, the Banks, and Politicians, would support the idea." (Tony Martyr, "Why Projects Fail", 2018)

"No project should be allowed to proceed without clear specification and acceptance  criteria, that are understood by all participants." (Tony Martyr, "Why Projects Fail", 2018)

"[...] consistently good project results are hard to come by, yet most organisations continue to think they’re doing a great job. It’s got to the stage where project failure has become so commonplace that we’ve started to see it as success, or we just aren’t seeing clearly at all." (Tony Martyr, "Why Projects Fail", 2018)

"Every year more than two-thirds of projects are considered failures, and most organisations would not be surprised by this statistic. In most cases, however, failure was the result of not making a hard decision."  (Colin D Ellis, "The Project Book", 2019)

"Organisations whose IT projects failed usually deployed recognisable project management methodologies; the reasons for failure were invariably to do with failures of project governance rather than simply of operational management." (Alan Calder, "ISO/IEC 38500: A pocket guide" 2nd Ed, 2019)

"Part of the problem is that we take project failure personally, seeing it as a stain on our reputation. It’s worth remembering that while a project may fail, this doesn’t make you a failure as a leader. In fact, the research shows that those who embrace failure become much more resilient and make better decisions as a result, so in that sense failure can only be a good thing." (Colin D Ellis, "The Project Book", 2019)

"Remember, though, there are only two reasons for project failure: poor project sponsorship and poor project management. And given that the buck stops with you, you could argue there’s only one reason for project failure." (Colin D Ellis, "The Project Book", 2019)

"A project is usually considered a failure if it is late, is over budget, or does not meet the customer’s expectations. Without the control that project management provides, a project is more likely to have problems with one of these areas. A problem with only one constraint (scope, schedule, cost, resources, quality, and risk) can jeopardize the entire project." (Sandra F Rowe, "Project Management for Small Projects" 3rd Ed., 2020)

🚧Project Management: Quality (Just the Quotes)

"Managers jeopardize product quality by setting unreachable deadlines. They don’​​​​​​t think about their action in such terms; they think rather that what they’​​​​​​re doing is throwing down an interesting challenge to their workers, something to help them strive for excellence." (Tom DeMarco & Timothy Lister, "Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams", 1987)

"People under time pressure don’​​​​​​t work better - ​​​​​​they just work faster. In order to work faster, they may have to sacrifice the quality of the product and of their own work experience." (Tom DeMarco & Timothy Lister, "Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams", 1987)

"The [software] builders’​​​​​​ view of quality, on the other hand, is very different. Since their self-esteem is strongly tied to the quality of the product, they tend to impose quality standards of their own. The minimum that will satisfy them is more or less the best quality they have achieved in the past. This is invariably a higher standard than what the market requires and is willing to pay for." (Tom DeMarco & Timothy Lister, "Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams", 1987)

"Even when you have skilled, motivated, hard-working people, the wrong team structure can undercut their efforts instead of catapulting them to success. A poor team structure can increase development time, reduce quality, damage morale, increase turnover, and ultimately lead to project cancellation." (Steve McConnell, "Rapid Development", 1996)

"Issues of quality, timeliness and change are the conditions that are forcing us to face up to the issues of enterprise architecture. The precedent of all the older disciplines known today establishes the concept of architecture as central to the ability to produce quality and timely results and to manage change in complex products. Architecture is the cornerstone for containing enterprise frustration and leveraging technology innovations to fulfill the expectations of a viable and dynamic Information Age enterprise." (John Zachman, "Enterprise Architecture: The Issue of The Century", 1997)

"The aim of leadership should be to improve the performance of man and machine, to improve quality, to increase output, and simultaneously to bring pride of workmanship to people. Put in a negative way, the aim of leadership is not merely to find and record failures of men, but to remove the causes of failure: to help people to do a better job with less effort." (W Edwards Deming, "Out of the Crisis", 2000)

"Stakeholder management to me is key, as success or failure is in the eye of the beholder. Time, cost and quality fall prey to the perceptions of the key stakeholders, who may have nothing to do with the running of the project." (Peter Parkes, "NLP for Project Managers", 2011)

"Complexity is one of the causes of failing projects; failing to split the project into smaller tasks also causes software quality issues or project failure. Complexity can also be caused by the size of the  project; if the project is too big, there is a huge possibility that the project may become complex and complicated." (Abu S Mahfuz,"Software Quality Assurance", 2016)

"A project is usually considered a failure if it is late, is over budget, or does not meet the customer’s expectations. Without the control that project management provides, a project is more likely to have problems with one of these areas. A problem with only one constraint (scope, schedule, cost, resources, quality, and risk) can jeopardize the entire project." (Sandra F Rowe, "Project Management for Small Projects" 3rd Ed., 2020)

🚧Project Management: Estimation (Just the Quotes)

"Programmers seem to be a bit more productive after they’​​​​​​ve done the estimate themselves, compared to cases in which the manager did it without even consulting them." (Tom DeMarco & Timothy Lister, "Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams", 1987)

"[The common definition of estimate is] 'the most optimistic prediction that has a non-zero probability of coming true' [...] Accepting this definition leads irrevocably toward a method called what's-the-earliest-date-by-which-you-can't-prove-you-won't-be-finished estimating" (Tom DeMarco & Timothy Lister, "Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams", 1987)

"Because one has to be an optimist to begin an ambitious project, it is not surprising that underestimation of completion time is the norm." (Fernando J Corbató, "On Building Systems That Will Fail", 1991)

"[…] all activities are probabilistic, not deterministic! There is a probability that a task can be completed in a certain time, given a fixed level of effort. If you want to guarantee that the task is finished in a fixed time period, then you must vary effort, reduce scope, or sacrifice quality. You can’t have it all. Therefore, an exact estimate is an oxymoron." (James P Lewis, "Project Planning, Scheduling, and Control" 3rd Ed., 2001)

"Be sure you understand whether you're presenting uncertainty in an estimate or uncertainty that affects your ability to meet a commitment." (Steve McConnell, "Software Estimation: Demystifying the Black Art", 2006)

"Don't expect better estimation practices alone to provide more accurate estimates for chaotic projects. You can't accurately estimate an out-of-control process." (Steve McConnell, "Software Estimation: Demystifying the Black Art", 2006)

"Don't intentionally underestimate. The penalty for underestimation is more severe than the penalty for overestimation. Address concerns about overestimation through planning and control, not by biasing your estimates." (Steve McConnell, "Software Estimation: Demystifying the Black Art", 2006)

"Not all estimation methods are equal. When looking for convergence or spread among estimates, give more weight to the techniques that tend to produce the most accurate results." (Steve McConnell, "Software Estimation: Demystifying the Black Art", 2006)

"The primary purpose of software estimation is not to predict a project's outcome; it is to determine whether a project's targets are realistic enough to allow the project to be controlled to meet them." (Steve McConnell, "Software Estimation: Demystifying the Black Art", 2006)

"Treat estimation discussions as problem solving, not negotiation. Recognize that all project stakeholders are on the same side of the table. Everyone wins, or everyone loses." (Steve McConnell, "Software Estimation: Demystifying the Black Art", 2006)

🚧Project Management: Control (Just the Quotes)

"Project management is needed only for situations which are out of the ordinary; but when the need exists, this may often be the only way by which the task may be handled successfully. These situations require a different attitude on the part of the top management, the undivided attention of a project manager and different methods for control and communications than those used in the normal routine business situation. […] Pure project management assigns complete responsibility for the task and resources needed for its accomplishment to one project manager. The organization of a large project, though it will be dissolved upon completion of the task, operates for its duration much like a regular division and is relatively independent of any other division or staff group." (Executive Sciences Institute, Operations Research/Management Science Vol 6, 1964)

"Probably the most neglected area in systems analysis involves the planning and control of the project, especially those projects requiring automation. More than one disastrous project has been launched by 'computer people' who communicated their aims to the vexed manager using technical data processing jargon in lieu of specific lists of easily understood tasks, schedules, and costs. This problem applies equally to in-house projects or those requiring the services of outside consultants. Each project must first be planned in detail. Control is involved with comparing actual progress with the plan and taking corrective action when the two do not correspond. Without the plan, true control is not possible; the need for corrective action, its nature, extent, and urgency cannot be accurately determined." (Robert D Carlsen & James A Lewis, "The Systems Analysis Workbook: A complete guide to project implementation and control", 1973)

"Project management is the process by which it is assured that the objective is achieved and resources are not wasted. Planning is one of the two parts of project management. Control is the other." (Robert D Carlsen & James A Lewis, "The Systems Analysis Workbook: A complete guide to project implementation and control", 1973)

"Project management is the planning, organizing, directing, and controlling of company resources for a relatively short-term objective that has been established to complete specific goals and objectives. Furthermore, project management utilises the systems approach to management by having functional personnel (the vertical hierarchy) assigned to a specific project (the horizontal hierarchy)." (Harold Kerzner, "Project Management for Executives", 1982)

"Control cannot be achieved through micromanaging." (James P Lewis, "Project Planning, Scheduling, and Control" 3rd Ed., 2001)

"Control is exercised by comparing progress against planned performance, and taking steps to correct for any deviations from the proper course." (James P Lewis, "Project Planning, Scheduling, and Control" 3rd Ed., 2001)

"If you have no plan, you cannot have control, by definition, because it is your plan that tells where you are supposed to be in the first place. Further, if you don’t know where you are, you can’t have control. This comes from your information system. Most organizations have difficulties with both of these." (James P Lewis, "Project Planning, Scheduling, and Control" 3rd Ed., 2001)

"In any system of humans or machines, the element in the system that has the greatest variability in its behavior will control the system." (James P Lewis, "Project Planning, Scheduling, and Control" 3rd Ed., 2001)

"Success or failure of a project depends upon the ability of key personnel to have sufficient data for decision-making. Project management is often considered to be both an art and a science. It is an art because of the strong need for interpersonal skills, and the project planning and control forms attempt to convert part of the 'art' into a science." (Harold Kerzner, "Strategic Planning for Project Management using a Project Management Maturity Model", 2001)

"The entire reason for managing a project is to make sure you get the results desired by the organization. This is commonly called being in control, and it is what is expected of a project manager." (James P Lewis, "Project Planning, Scheduling, and Control" 3rd Ed., 2001)

"Don't intentionally underestimate. The penalty for underestimation is more severe than the penalty for overestimation. Address concerns about overestimation through planning and control, not by biasing your estimates." (Steve McConnell, "Software Estimation: Demystifying the Black Art", 2006)

"The primary purpose of software estimation is not to predict a project's outcome; it is to determine whether a project's targets are realistic enough to allow the project to be controlled to meet them." (Steve McConnell, "Software Estimation: Demystifying the Black Art", 2006)

"A project is usually considered a failure if it is late, is over budget, or does not meet the customer’s expectations. Without the control that project management provides, a project is more likely to have problems with one of these areas. A problem with only one constraint (scope, schedule, cost, resources, quality, and risk) can jeopardize the entire project." (Sandra F Rowe, "Project Management for Small Projects" 3rd Ed., 2020)

🚧Project Management: Project Management (Just the Quips)

Change Management

"Anything that can be changed will be changed until there is no time left to change anything."

"Change is inevitable - except from vending machines."

"If project content is allowed to change freely the rate of change will exceed the rate of progress."

"There is no such thing as scope creep, only scope gallop."

Cost Management

"A project ain't over until the fat cheque is cashed."

"Fast - cheap - good: you can have any two."

"For a project manager overruns are as certain as death and taxes."

[Juhani's Law:] "The cost of a compromise will always be more than that of either of the uncompromised alternatives."

"The more ridiculous the deadline the more money will be wasted trying to meet it."

Project Execution

"Activity is not achievement."

"Furious activity does not necessarily equate to progress and is no substitute for understanding."

"Good control reveals problems early - which only means you'll have longer to worry about them."

"If it happens once it's ignorance, if it happens twice it's neglect, if it happens three times it's policy."

"If you can interpret project status data in several different ways, only the most painful interpretation will be correct."

"If you don't know how to do a task, start it, then ten people who know less than you will tell you how to do it."

"Nothing is impossible for the person who doesn't have to do it."

"The person who says it will take the longest and cost the most is the only one with a clue how to do the job."

Project Managers

"A project is one small step for the project sponsor, one giant leap for the project manager."

"All project managers face problems on Monday mornings - good project managers are working on next Monday's problems."

"Everyone asks for a strong project manager - when they get him they don't want him."

"Good project management is not so much knowing what to do and when, as knowing what excuses to give and when."

"Good project managers admit mistakes: that's why you so rarely meet a good project manager."

"Good project managers know when not to manage a project."

"If you're 6 months late on a milestone due next week but nevertheless really believe you can make it, you're a project manager."

"There are no good project managers - only lucky ones."

"Overtime is a figment of the naïve project manager's imagination."

"Powerful project managers don't solve problems, they get rid of them."

"The most successful project managers have perfected the skill of being comfortable being uncomfortable."

"The most valuable and least used PHRASE in a project manager's vocabulary is "I don't know"."

"The most valuable and least used WORD in a project manager's vocabulary is "NO"."

Project Planning 

"A badly planned project will take three times longer than expected - a well planned project only twice as long as expected."

"A change freeze is like the abominable snowman: it is a myth and would anyway melt when heat is applied."

"A minute saved at the start is just as effective as one saved at the end."

"Any project can be estimated accurately (once it's completed)."

Fyfe's Laws: (1) Information necessitating a change in plans will be communicated to the planner after - and only after - the plans are complete. (2) The more innocuous the change in plans appears the great the change will actually be. (3) It is always simpler to start over from scratch than make changes in a plan already started. (4) The more carefully and painstakingly a sample is analyzed the greater the probability it will be found irrelevant.

"If everything is going exactly to plan, something somewhere is going massively wrong."

"If everything seems to be going well, you obviously don't know what's going on.” (Edward Murphy)

"If you can keep your head while all about you are losing theirs, you haven't understood the plan."

"No plan ever survived contact with the enemy."

"If it wasn't for the 'last minute' nothing would get done."

"If you don't know where you're going, any road will take you there."

"If you don't plan, it doesn't work. If you do plan, it doesn't work either. Why plan!"

"If you fail to plan you are planning to fail."

"If you have time to do it over again, you'll never get away with doing it right the first time."

"If you want to make God laugh have a definite plan."

"Never put off until tomorrow what you can leave until the day after."

"People make a plan work, a plan alone seldom makes people work."

"Planning is an unnatural process, doing something is much more fun."

"Planning reduces uncertainty: you rule out at least one way the project could turn out."

"Planning without action is futile, action without planning is fatal."

"Quantitative project management is for predicting cost and schedule overruns well in advance."

"Some projects finish on time in spite of project management best practices."

"The first 90% of a project takes 90% of the time the last 10% takes the other 90%."

"The more you plan the luckier you get."

"The nice thing about no planning is that failure comes as a complete surprise rather than being preceded by a period of worry and depression."

"The same work under the same conditions will be estimated differently by ten different estimators or by one estimator at ten different times."

"The sooner you get behind schedule, the more time you have to make it up."

"There is such a thing as an unrealistic timescale."

"There's never enough time to do it right first time but there's always enough time to go back and do it again."

"To estimate a project, work out how long it would take one person to do it then multiply that by the number of people on the project."

"Warning: dates in the calendar are closer than you think."

Projects 

"A project gets a year late one day at a time."

"At some point in the project you're going to have to break down and finally define the requirements."

"At the heart of every large project is a small project trying to get out."

[Gordon's First Law:] "If a project is not worth doing at all, it's not worth doing well."

"If an IT project works the first time, it is wrong."

"No project has ever finished on time, within budget, to requirement - yours won't be the first to."

"Projects happen in two ways: a) Planned and then executed or b) Executed, stopped, planned and then executed."

"Projects don't all fail in the end, they fail at the beginning."

"The project would not have been started if the truth had been told about the cost and timescale."

"There is no such thing as an IT project only business projects some of which happen to involve IT."

Risk Management

"A little risk management saves a lot of fan cleaning."

"If you don't attack the risks, the risks will attack you."

Senior Management

"Never underestimate the ability of senior management to buy a bad idea and fail to buy a good idea."

"The typical project sponsor would rather starts ten projects than complete one single project. (Vrisou van Eck)

📦Data Migrations (DM): Data Quality’s Perspective I (A Bird’s-Eye View)

Data Migrations Series

Imagine you just finished a Data Migration (DM) project, everything went smoothly, the data were loaded into the new system with a minimum amount of issues, inherent sometimes to such complex projects, the users started to use the new system, everybody seemed to be satisfied, and a few weeks later within the company rumors propagate with the speed of light – “the migrated data are wrong”, “the new system can’t be used” , “IT did a bad job”, “we have to get back to the previous system”, and so on. The panic propagates, a few heads fall, the business tries to revert to the old system but there’s lot of new data available in the new system, and it’s not so trivial to move the data back to the old, in the meantime other rumors appear, and… it’s just a scenario but this could happen to any company if not the appropriate measures were taken at the right time. What could help a company when something like this happens?! A good Plan B aka a good Migration Fallback Plan/Policy, but that’s something nobody would like to do except extreme situations.

A common approach to any type of projects as well to a DM project is to identify and mitigate the risks before or during the project. That’s something I started to do a few days ago, to prepare a list with the risks associated with DM projects. For this exercise I tried to remember what things went wrong in previous similar projects I worked on and to figure out what else could go wrong. Some online resources helped me to refresh my memory too, and I think I found also two or three things I haven’t really thought about. My attempt was primarily focused on this type of problem mentioned above – minimizing the risks of not having the right data when the new system goes live. Before jumping into the thematic I would like to sketch the bigger picture, as I perceive it.

Having the right data when a system goes live primarily means having good Data Quality (DQ) in the target system after the data were migrated! As a DM is the best exemplification of the GIGO (Garbage-In Garbage-Out) principle, in order to have good DQ in the target is important to handle DQ latest during the DM project. That’s essential and common sense – you can’t expect to have good data in the new system when there’s lot of garbage in the old. So, a DM and a Risk Management for such a project should be built around this. In fact not having a DQ initiative or project in a DM project is one of the most important risks a company can take. Maybe in small DM, a DQ initiative isn’t necessary, though when the data are important for your company, DQ is a must! In addition DQ assessments have to be performed in alignment with the new system, and not the old. Even if the data have good quality into the old system, the quality of your data after DM will be judged in corroboration with the new system. This is a requirement that can be easily overlooked and its implications misunderstood!

Many think that DQ is one time activity, we do it for a DM project and we’ll have quality data and never have to care about their quality anymore. Totally false! DQ has to be part of a broader strategy, call it Data Governance, Master Data Management, Data Management or any other initiative in which data plays an important role. DQ is an on going, iterative and consolidated effort, it doesn’t end after DM but continues for the whole data life-cycle, as long the data have value for an organization. It doesn’t help if the data have high quality when the data are migrated and a few weeks or months later the overall quality and trust in data decreased considerably.

Keeping an acceptable level of DQ must be an organization’s strategy, and must be built a culture toward DQ. People need to be aware of the importance of having good quality data, and especially the consequences of having bad quality data. DQ doesn’t concern only the owners or stewards of data, or the people working with data, it concerns the whole organization because decisions are made based on those data, processes are changed and improved, an organization’s performance is often judged based on data. The quality of data is a matter of perception, on how users see the quality of data in corroboration with the needs they have, and the needs change over time. Primarily being aware what good DQ means and which are an organization’s needs in respect to data, it’s also a way of minimizing the negative perception of data, of gaining trust in data and some solid basis on which decisions can be made. Secondarily, these organizational data needs need to be addressed in a DM, they are the success factors upon which the success of a DM project is judged.

For sure considerable costs are associated with DQ initiatives and everything related to data which doesn’t always represent a direct cost component in the products or services handled by an organization. Considering that not all data have the same importance for an organization, it makes sense to prioritize the DQ effort as a whole and the data cleaning needs in particular, the focus should be the data with the highest impact and with time to tackle data with lower and lower impact. It must be found equilibrium between the DQ costs and the value of data. Most probably is important to spend resources on raising people’s awareness in respect to DQ early rather than cleaning retroactively data later. It also make sense to invest in tools that help to clean data using automated or semi-automated methods, though some manual/visual control need to be in place too.

DQ and the way the problems associated with it are tackled depends more on an organization’s internal kitchen – people, partners, organization, strategy, maturity, culture, geography, infrastructure, methodologies used, etc. What it matters is how the various negative and important aspects of an organization are aligned in order to take advantage of one of the most important assets an organization has is its data! For this is important to adopt methodologies that support DQ, align them and tweak them as requested, in order to make most of your data! But before or while doing that remember that a DM is an organization’s opportunity to change the quality of its data and its data strategy!

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