Build and Follow the Plan

Introduction

In all the enterprise transformations, I have been either requested to assess, review, serve as an expert witness in arbitration, or take action to get it back on track to meet the organization’s goals and objectives; the most prominent gap missing in these transformations has been a plan that has been actively managed and maintained. While both the systems integration (SI) partners and internal PMOs profess their expertise and capabilities in planning and managing transformations, many fail to build and operate a plan that is adequate for the transformation.

Whether it's an organizational, technological, or personal transformation, the role of a well-crafted plan is akin to a guiding star. It serves as a roadmap, providing clear directions and milestones for the transformation journey. This roadmap is the foundation upon which the entire transformation is built, enabling the identification of goals, the allocation of resources, and the anticipation of potential challenges. It's like having a clear path in a complex maze, ensuring everyone knows where they're headed.

Following the plan is crucial as it ensures consistency and alignment with the established objectives. It aids in maintaining focus, avoiding distractions, and ensuring that every step taken is purposeful and directed towards the end goal. This emphasis on maintaining focus instills confidence in the audience about the transformation’s progress and direction. Adhering to a plan also allows for measuring progress, enabling timely adjustments and interventions when necessary.

Moreover, a structured plan fosters accountability by delineating roles and responsibilities and ensuring everyone involved is clear on their tasks and expectations. This isn’t just about who does what but a shared commitment to the transformation’s success. This reduces ambiguity and enhances coordination, which is vital for successfully executing any transformative initiative.

Ultimately, planning and following the plan are fundamental to achieving a smooth and effective transformation, minimizing risks, and maximizing the likelihood of success. However, to have an adequate plan, the transformation work has to be broken down into logical work scope and respective work products. Breaking down the work scope ensures that we are thoroughly prepared and organized for the tasks ahead, instilling a sense of readiness and order.

Breaking Down Transformation Work Scope

Conducting a work breakdown of work scope exercise offers several significant benefits that contribute to the success of a transformation. A work breakdown structure (WBS) is a byproduct of a hierarchical decomposition of the total scope of work to accomplish the transformation objectives and create the MVP work products.

This work scope decomposition helps identify all the necessary components of the transformation, ensuring nothing is overlooked. Furthermore, a WBS enhances communication and coordination among team members. By delineating work product tasks and responsibilities, everyone involved can understand their specific roles and contributions to the project. This clarity helps reduce misunderstandings and conflicts, promoting a collaborative working environment.

A well-decomposed WBS is a foundation for developing a detailed transformation plan and schedule. It provides a basis for defining work product packages and estimating the time, effort, and skill sets required to deliver the work products.

Establish a Basis of Estimate (BoE)

A Basis of Estimate (BoE) is a critical component in the planning and executing transformation work products. It provides detailed assumptions and rationale of how estimates for work products are derived, ensuring that all stakeholders understand the assumptions, reasoning, and data used in the estimation process.

The value of having a standardized BoE lies in its ability to enhance predictability and reliability in transformation planning. Organizations can better anticipate the resources, time, and costs required to achieve their transformation goals by utilizing a consistent approach to estimating. This consistency is crucial for setting realistic expectations and mitigating risks associated with underestimating or overestimating the scope of work.

A standardized BoE also fosters transparency and trust among stakeholders. When everyone involved in the transformation has access to and understands the basis of the estimates by each respective work product type, ambiguity is reduced. It fosters a shared understanding of the delivery parameters. This transparency is essential for gaining stakeholder buy-in and ensuring a collective commitment to the transformation's success.

Furthermore, a BoE provides critical input and benchmarks for work product measurement. By comparing actual progress and outcomes against the estimates, organizations can identify variances, analyze their causes, forecast completion, and determine corrective actions to keep the overall transformation on schedule. This analysis enables continuous improvement in the BoE process and helps refine plans and planning templates more accurately and effectively.

In addition, a standardized BoE facilitates effective resource management. Clearly outlining the requirements for each work product allows for better allocation and utilization of resources, ensuring that the right skills and capacities are available when needed. This proactive resource management helps prevent bottlenecks and ensures the transformation progresses smoothly.

A standard Basis of Estimate is invaluable for achieving a successful transformation. It provides a solid foundation for planning, enhances transparency and accountability, improves performance measurement, and facilitates efficient resource management. By adopting a standardized BoE, organizations can significantly increase their chances of realizing their transformation objectives and delivering value to stakeholders.

A previous article explicitly addressed the need for an enterprise IT BoE was published. You can find that article here: “A Basis of Estimate (BoE) Standards for the IT Industry.”

Build the Plan – Schedule the Plan – Follow the Plan

Building, scheduling, and following a plan are fundamental aspects of transforming a business enterprise. A meticulously constructed plan serves as the roadmap for the transformation journey, detailing the necessary steps, milestones, and deliverables. A meticulously built plan does not require that each team create a ‘punch-list’ of ‘to-do’ items, but rather a detailed plan that defines and delineates the minimal viable work products (MVP) required for at least one of the following:

• Work products are required to support the enterprise solution in a post-production environment.
• Work products are required to orientate and train the organizational users in their respective processes.
• Work products are required to test, validate, and regression test the solution and viability of its data.

For a more thorough understanding of MVP work products, please refer to the article “Minimal Viable Requirements & Work Products.”

These MVP work products should be delineated by value or work stream, logically sequenced with dependencies, and scheduled with a proper scheduling engine. These schedule engines include Microsoft Project Professional, Primavera P6, OpenPlan, SmartSheet, etc. Once the workstream, program, and executive stakeholders review and approve the plan and schedule, they should establish a baseline against which to measure and assess delivery performance.

Following the plan is where tactical execution meets strategy. Adherence to the established plan ensures that the transformation stays aligned with its goals and objectives, minimizing deviations and disruptions. It fosters discipline and accountability among team members, as everyone knows their responsibilities and the timelines they must adhere to. Moreover, following the plan facilitates better risk management, as potential issues can be anticipated and addressed promptly. However, following the plan does not dictate that the plan cannot be changed or adjusted during the execution. Market, executive leadership, and other environmental changes may dictate a planned shift while in execution. Yet a good and meticulous plan will provide where, when, and how those changes can best be accomplished while minimizing any delivery delays and impacts on the transformation goals and objectives.

Building, scheduling, and following a plan create a structured and cohesive approach to transformation, enhancing the likelihood of success and delivering sustainable value to the business and its stakeholders.

Wrap-Up: Every Transformation Needs a Game Plan

While many organizations, including multiple global SIs, profess their expertise in planning and managing global enterprise transformations, numerous studies conducted by professional and non-profit organizations find that more than 70% of all transformations fail to meet their baseline delivery plan and expected business benefits.

In my experience working with enterprise transformations, enabling solutions, and delivery management platforms (project portfolio management platforms), there is a breakdown and management gap between strategy and the tactical execution of a transformation. The result of this breakdown and gap is often chaos, with numerous program and organizational leaders asking valid questions that include the following:

• Where are we at, and where should we be?
• What is the current critical path based on the cumulative status of the program?
• What current constraints can impact our key baseline milestone dates?
• What is the estimated forecast to completion, etc.?

The result is that more people, effort, time, and funds are consumed to identify and answer these questions than the time required to thoroughly and meticulously plan the transformation to avoid such chaotic situations. As your organization prepares for its next enterprise transformation, ensure the organization and transformation leadership thoroughly and meticulously mitigate this gap with a thorough and meticulous game plan.