Thursday, November 17, 2011

Project Management – Doing the basics right

Project Management is an umbrella term for effectively handling project resources and applying the best practices learned over he period of time.  Doing the basics right is the mantra. Management is just not about planning, it is more about executing the planned Plan. Let us revisit the key facets of IT project management here ‐

1.Project starts with a contract or charter with the client. If possible, managers should have visibility into the contract, so that they can better plan out the downstream activities. T&M and Fixed Bid are two common flavors of contract, both have different client expectations and suppliers involvement.

2.Project’s nature should be taken into account to formulate the implementation strategy. If required, implementation processes should be tailored as per the project’s needs, to deliver in the most efficient way.

3.Project execution strategy could be sequential or iterative, which has to be decided during the initiation phase. Project’s nature, scope and team’s capabilities are the factors which could influence the decision. The most prevalent methodologies are Waterfall and Agile.
 
4.Knowing the historical information of the past similar projects provides a great deal of insight into the various aspects of prject including estimations, risks, and team composition.
 
5.Managers should take appropriate inputs from the teams regarding the things she / he is planning. Though manager is solely accountable for planning, taking valuable inputs from the team and involving them with some planning activities makes the team more responsible and commtted. This also helps in building the team bonhomie.

6.The triple constraints (time, cost, quality) have a major impact on the project’s success. Out of the three components, quality of work is of paramount importance as cost and time constraints can be negotiated but quality is compromised very rarey. In a way, management is about delivering the quality at a particular cost and time. To ensure quality deliveries proactive measures should be taken, like Defect Prevention activities, Reviews and Trainings.

7.Scope creep has to be regularly monitored and controlled. Change Requests related to scope have to be evaluated for their impact on the other project constraints and should be communicted to all the concerned stakeholders. Most of the projects go hay wire because of scope creep and unaccounted change requests.

 8.Risk Management is an iterative process and should be done regularly. Managers should be discussing risks in every team meeting and get latest inputs from the team.
 

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Minimizing costs / Maximizing returns while Going Mobile in Retail Environment

Customer expectations for the shopping experience have grown tremendously in the past decade with the proliferation of internet-based retailing and the empowerment of the consumer to comparison shop using ever richer detail and instantaneous information. The more recent onset of mobile phone-based retail integration has served to raise these expectations even higher, with consumers demanding fast and superior service from anywhere and at any time. This consumer mind-set extends itself full circle back onto the shop floor as well, with customers expecting to find what they need and get information on products immediately, and to be able to complete the transaction quickly and securely.Mobile technologies have the potential to make a consummate impact on the landscape of retailing. In the U.S. and the U.K., major retailers are investing in mobile solutions both as an alternative channel for consumer access as well as to streamline store operations. In developing countries, the ubiquity of mobile phones as compared to Internet connections makes it the clear choice for retailerslooking to enhance sales through digital channels. Gartner, in its recent retail predictions report, identifies that the mobile channel will exceed direct sales capacity of other offline channels, such as catalog and call center sales, within just two to three years. They also cite that mobile technologies will drive significant
sales indirectly and may have an even greater impact than e-commerce by the year 2013. With this is mind, Gartner recommends a multi-channel mobility strategy for retailers.