Better Behaviour For More Effective IT Development Projects
By Duncan Haughey
How well equipped do you feel you are to carryout an IT development project. Do you always get the best from your team, engage your stakeholders and retain their interest to arrive at a successful conclusion. Can you identify the behaviours you exhibit that lead to success, and those that are holding you back?
From experience, many project managers have difficulty controlling IT development projects. These projects require a high degree of planning, control and communication within the team and the wider project community.
In this article, I look at some of the behaviours managers need to exhibit to run successful IT development projects. There is nothing particularly complex here, but these things go a long way to addressing some of the fundamental reasons IT development projects fail to deliver their full potential.
After many years of running IT development projects, these are my tips for getting the best results:
Leadership
Show strong leadership, making the project your main focus. Your drive and enthusiasm will filter down to your team. Think top down and be pragmatic.
Goal
Develop solutions that meet the needs of the customer and provide a positive benefit for the organisation. Be goal driven.
Focus
Ensure you remain focussed on delivering the best possible solution for the customer. Do not get side tracked by issues around the periphery of your project.
Solution
Remember you are delivering a solution not a technology. Do not be carried away with the technology and forget about the solution
Stakeholders
Identify the stakeholders of your project early on. Ensure you manage the stakeholder group proactively, setting their expectations and providing regular communication. Identify any stakeholder that can be useful to you as a resource.
Skills
Make sure that you hire the required skills and experience for your project. A few high quality team members are better than a lot of marginal team members. Do not hire bodies; hire brains.
Team
Always encourage your team to take a full part in each project. They should be encouraged to ask questions, challenge decisions, throw up new ideas and generally engage. The team should be managed as a team and not as individuals.
Collaboration
Work together as a team to produce the best possible results. Regular brainstorming and progress meetings are essential. Encourage participation.
Motivation
Motivate your team by giving feedback in a fair and constructive way. Say "thank you" for a job well done to encourage repeat behaviour. Assigning responsibility and remaining hands-off can also be motivational.
Tools
Always use the right tools for the job, provide adequate training, and support where required. This applies equally to both the technical and managerial roles.
Methodology
Use an appropriate methodology to drive through results. Be careful not to get too bogged down in process though. For each process step ask, "is it really necessary; does it add value?" Remember process is not achievement.
Development
It is usually advisable to carryout the complex work first giving you the best opportunity of identifying any problems and maximum time to resolve them. Look to reuse as much as you can from other projects or sources.
Control
The most important part of project control is feedback. Encourage and facilitate regular feedback from the customer, team and other stakeholders.
Issues
Make sure that you resolve any issues as quickly as possible. Keep a log of issues and the action taken. Never leave issues unresolved, they usually get worse with time.
Risks
Identify risks to your project early on and monitor them on a frequent (daily) basis. For each risk you identify evaluate, document, mitigate and monitor. A risk is a problem that has not yet occurred that can only be prevented once it has been recognised and action taken.
Mistakes
Try to avoid mistakes but accept that they will happen. When mistakes are made correct them as quickly as possible.
Suppliers
Demand the same level of quality from your suppliers as you do your own team. They should be as committed as you and your team to getting a good result. If they are not then you have the wrong supplier. Be demanding but fair.
Meetings
Keep meetings to a maximum of one hour and ensure you know what outcome you would like to achieve. Focus on the outcome and obtaining it, not allowing the meeting to turn into a talking shop with nothing useful as a result. Be decisive and do not procrastinate.
Testing
Test early on in your project and continue to test at regular intervals throughout the project. There is no such thing as too much testing when it comes to IT development projects. Test, test and retest.
Reviews
Review the business case for your project on a regular basis to ensure it is still valid and able to produce the desired objective. Keep the project aligned to business strategy and if necessary recalibrate.
By adopting these behaviours, you will help ensure your success and guide your team to an ultimately satisfying project for you and your customer.
Finally
In his book "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" 
, Stephen Covey identifies seven key principles that will lead to effective behaviour, whether at work or at home. These habits will help a person be more successful in his or her personal and professional relationships. In the context of IT development projects these habits mean:
- Be Proactive: Identify and reduce risks. Actively involve stakeholders in projects. Take responsibility.
- Begin with the End in Mind: Be goal driven, know what it is you want to achieve. Covey suggests drawing up a mission statement.
- Put First Things First: Do the important work first, the "must have" items, finishing with the least important.
- Think Win / Win: Solve the greatest number of requirements with the least amount of effort possible. Be creative.
- Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood: Do not start thinking about solutions too early on in projects. Understand the business requirements first and then look at solutions.
- Synergise: Work as an effective team to achieve the maximum possible. The team as a whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
- Sharpen the Saw: This is about renewal and staying fresh. Keep trying to learn and improve during every project.
Think about the behaviours you exhibit. You may want to change them for the sake of more successful IT development projects.
