Don't make me pull over! Improving project process painlessly

Computerworld - Back in the days before minivans and huge SUVs, road trips were painful. Our summers always included a 10-hour trip to visit our grandparents in New Hampshire. At the peak, there were eight of us: Mom, Dad, Mike, Karlyn, Richard, Chandler, Andy and me. Forget the comforts of DVD players, iPods and video games; our car didnt even have air conditioning.

We didnt bother much with seat belts, either. If it was the station wagon, Andy and I would stretch out in the way back. In the Ford Fairmont, I remember sleeping in the back window while cruising the interstate.

Today, there are laws against such things. Our parents would have been locked up, and we would have been sent into foster care. How in the world did we survive without laws governing our car trips? we ask each other sarcastically.

Working in the program management office (PMO), I get the same question from project managers with each new process. You can see it in their eyes: Why do we need a procedure for that? Ive been successfully doing this for the past 10 years!

To ease the transition to new processes for members of your IT staff, try using these guidelines to SHIFT EM in the right direction.

Start where you are. Dont assume that youre starting from scratch. Determine where the organization is before making drastic changes. Chances are, something was attempted in the past that can serve as a solid basis for change. Also, if you ignore the previous effort, you will immediately alienate the people who worked on it. If you use it, youll engage them.

Harvest from the team. Somehow, projects are being completed without a defined process. Gather what is working and document it. This builds buy-in more quickly and decreases the effort needed for development and training.

Improve what you have. Project managers bring ideas and templates from previous lives. I call these WICFs, from the phrase, Where I came from ... this is what we used. Take these tried and trusted methods, and fuse together different pieces to make the new one better.

Fill in the gaps. The resulting process will have holes that must be filled. There are two approaches. The first is to create a team of actual users of the process and serve as a facilitator as they complete it. The second is to create a straw man and let users tear it apart. The second method is usually faster initially, but it may take longer to gain buy-in.