RAPIDCHANGE@WORK, 11.08

How to soften the software shock

By Donna Bennett, RapidChange faculty

Imagine if 70 percent of our paychecks were incorrect… what if 70 out of every 100 cell phone calls failed… or 70 percent of our emails never reached their intended recipients?
    It is obvious that we would not tolerate a 30 percent success rate in these areas for even a short amount of time. The results would be catastrophic; we would seek immediate change to achieve close to a 100% success rate consistently.  In contrast, we’ve allowed a 70 percent failure rate to become the norm in many strategic business projects such as adopting new technology.  In a time when technology is changing rapidly, the ability to successfully implement and use new technology is critical to day-to-day operations and the bottom line.
    Deploying new technologies in an organization is always a complex process. The key, we’ve found, is to create a foundation for the project that results in a SAFE environment for users to engage.  
    We get very comfortable with the technology we use; the longer we use a given technology, the more fearful we become when faced with changing. Our Reptilian Brain takes control.  What can we do to calm the reptile when facing a technology change?    First create a project team that includes members from all areas of the organization that will be impacted by the new technology.  This team should have management representation but most importantly it should include heavy users, the people that will actually be doing the day-to-day work, and those who need the product of the technology to do their work.  
    Most companies understand the importance of a well-selected project team.  What most companies fail to understand is that each member of this team likely has a tremendous amount of unspoken fear as the project initiates.  “How long will the project last?” “Will I be able to keep up with my regular work duties?”  “Will the team accept my ideas?”  “What if the project fails”?    Reducing these and other fears early on is critical to project success.  The following suggestions are tools that can be used to calm the reptile and reduce fear:
•    Check Ins and Check Outs for each meeting – Since the team is likely composed of people who don’t typically work together, these tools help give everyone a voice and get to know their team members
•    Ground Rules for project meetings – boundaries help calm the reptile – the ground rules should be created by the entire team, not just the project lead.  By including the entire team, everyone has buy in.
•     Routine and Predictability – meetings and any other project work should be held on a predictable schedule with attention to start and end times.  By establishing routines and predictability, team members can manage their regular work duties.
•    Clear Roles and Responsibilities – each team member should have a clear, written, description of what their responsibilities are on the project.
•    Project Plan – the overall project plan provides the big picture for the team as well project start and end dates, key milestones, and detailed tasks for all team members.
•    Success Criteria – the project team should clearly define what will deem the project a success.  These criteria should be clear, short statements that are easily measured.
•    Communication Plan – how will the project team communicate to all other users and stakeholders?  The communication plan should include items such as routine updates, critical alerts, who should receive the communication and in what form different communications should occur (i.e. meeting, email, voicemail, bulletin, etc.)
•    Risk Plan – have the project team identify the potential risks up front and develop action steps that will be taken should these risks occur.   Almost all technology projects encounter something along the way that throws a curve ball in the deployment plan.  By identifying as many risk factors up front and having an action plan pre-defined, the project is less likely to suffer significant setbacks when the unexpected occurs.  

Donna Bennett is a former business software executive with Microsoft. She now is a senior faculty member for the RapidChange Group. You can reach her at donna.bennett@rapidchange.com