Pmi june 5th 2007

©2007 Protegra Inc. All rights reserved.

Parks Reservation Service Project and Lean Software


Agenda

• Parks Reservation Service Project - The client - The challenge - The consortium - The project- The solution - The results

• Lean Software Development - Principles - Practices - How Project Management is different - How Project Leadership is different

• Questions?


Park Reservation Service – The client

• Manitoba Conservation is comprised of 4 divisions as follows:

- Regional Operations – delivers departmental programs on a regional basis (park and campground operations)

- Programs – provides the policy direction and systems support for program thrusts of department (parks)

- Environmental Stewardship – legislation, policies, plans, and programs to sustainably manage resources and the environment (Exec Sponsor for PRS)

- Corporate Services – management of cross division services such as human resources, financial, computer and administrative support (IT support and financial management for PRS)

- Each is responsible for a part of PRS!



• Dimensions of Parks and Campgrounds- 57 Campgrounds

- About 5,500 campsites

- 11 Campgrounds currently computerized

• Bakers Narrows, Big Whiteshell, Birds Hill, Falcon Beach, Falcon Lakeshore, Grand Beach, Gull Harbour, Kiche Manitou, Otter Falls, St. Malo and West Hawk




Park Reservation Service – The challenge

• Government committed to have a “ made in Manitoba solution “ for Spring 2006.

• The RFP was released in early December with a closing date of Mid-December.

• Protegra proposed a consortium approach to deliver the solution by the opening day of April 3rd.

• Protegra was awarded the contract in early January 2006.



• Challenges faced:

- Time line

- Client new to Protegra, Protegra new to provincial government - Consortium approach – time and complexity

- Complex Government Environment








Park Reservation Service – The consortium

• To address the timelines and challenges a consortium approach was created. The consortium involved the following companies- Function Four – GIS/Mapping Technology and Training Expertise- ManLab – Government of Manitoba Graphics Design Experience- IDFusion – long time development partner of Protegra’s- NexTechnologies – Domain Expert in Reservations

• This offered the team a unique balance of expertise, but also had the following implications- More time was spent early on in contract negotiations and teaming

agreements- More time was spent determining how to communicate, report and work

well together- More time was spent determining to create a consolidated report for the

client that represented all work easily


Park Reservation Service – The project

• The Parks Reservation System (PRS) was developed in 2006 to replace the existing campground reservation.

• Requirements included: - self-initiated reservations over the Internet, - campground attendants to make reservations on behalf of clients, and;

- call centre employees to mke reservations on behalf of campers.

ALSO, to provide administrative and management tools for Manitoba Parks head office staff.

- Phase 1 – Public and Call Centre Focused- Phase 2 – Campground focused- Phase 3 – Admin site enhancements- Phase 4 – Jan 07 launched thru to end of 07


Park Reservation Service – The project

• Project details- Project team included over 20 developers at maximum

- First Phase was delivered in 3 months, On Time!

- Included investigation and integration of GIS mapping technology

- Phase 1 alone was over 7,400 hours of development work, all three Phases were over 12,000 hours.

- Quality of the application has exceeded industry standards with only a few defects since go live

- Project had to achieve PCI certification to go live. PRS was first of government applications to pass on the first test.


Park Reservation Service – The solution






Park Reservation Service – The results

• The PRS was delivered in three phases:- Phase 1 – Public and Call Centre Focus

• Deployed on April 10th to the public, call centre, and Parks head office• Functionality that focused primarily on the reservation process and reservation

maintenance (i.e. change, cancel, refund, etc.)

- Phase 2 – Campground focused• Deployed on May 1st to Birds Hill Campground, with subsequent deployments

to ten other campgrounds over the next six weeks. • Focused on supporting management of campground (i.e. check campers in,

check campers out, move campers, generate permits, end of day reconciliation, etc.)

- Phase 3 – Admin site enhancements• Deployed in installments from July 2006 through November 2006.• Focused primarily on providing more back office support to Parks head office

users




Lean Software Development - Principles

• Serialization of Project Phases

• Significant focus is on protection of scope

• Many handoffs between different phases and departments. Many documents are produced because of these handoffs.

• Delivery of working code sometime waits until just before UAT



• Lean Software development emphasizes customer satisfaction through continuous delivery of functional software, unlike traditional methods, lean developers liaise daily/continuously with business clients.

• Deliver working software as frequently as every two weeks during a project, and encourage changes to the requirements in response to evolving business needs

(business users are more able to know what will work when they have something to test)

• The most crucial aspect is the execution of the project in iterations which enable quick feedback loops.

NOTE: The iterations apply to the following tasks:- Project Management and Planning- Analysis- Technical Design- Testing- Deployment



• Iteration planning is the key planning initiative. Iterations need to be planned in conjunction with the client to accomplish the following:- Deliver functionality to define the tempo of the project- Deliver functionality to deliver real value to the client (working

code)- Deliver functionality to minimize risk for the entire project- Lessons learned from one iteration must feed into subsequent

iterations so that we don’t (just) execute the project in iterations with similar results, but that we execute the project in iterations with better results.

• The project team executes better, smarter, and quicker• The project team goes through the process of forming, storming, and

performing



• Eliminate Waste

• Build Quality In

• Create Knowledge

• Defer Commitment

• Deliver Fast

• Respect People (Empower the Team)

• Optimize the Whole

Copyright©2006 Poppendieck.LLC



• Most deliverables are enhanced in every iteration (except for project plan)

• Every iteration uncovers new opportunities for improvement and learning

• Opportunities for improvement are evaluated at the end of each phase and incorporated into the tool and documentation



• Benefits Realized from Lean Development Process- Client decision maker on site is key to a Lean project.- Liaise with the clients as much as possible - Empowering the development team was crucial, even more would have

been better- Traceability of requirements is key with formal organizations

• Potential Improvements Quality could be further improved with the use of TDD, automated test and build tools

Form in sub-teams of 6-8 to maximize efficiency. Assign a Client decision maker to each one of these sub teams.


Lean Software Development - Practices

• Requirements for a Lean Software Development Project- Define Vision before iterations start. Defining the vision can be iteration 0.- Defined iteration length- High Feedback loops

• Client representative on site and working with the team• Client representative empowered to make decisions• Daily project team meetings

- Visual Project Management- Frequent Builds- Test Case Driven Development and Documentation. (May be TDD)- Refocus requirement discussions on how not what- Relationship Contract



• Refocus requirements discussion on how not what- Waterfall (Point based)

• Document the scope or the what before we start• Use the scope document to manage change control• Discussions on new and modified scope can be difficult as these requests

usually occur later in the project and require additional budget and schedule. Changes are avoided for these reasons.

• Discussions become adversarial- Lean (Set based)

• Document the process on how we will define the scope and make decisions. Define at a high level what you need and how you will refine it.

• Use the process agreement to manage change control• Joint Collaborative discussions on new and modified scope and how we can

manage them in the project. Because we deliver in iterations, changes can be specified earlier and can often be accommodated without additional budget and schedule. Changes are welcomed.



• Traditional view of contracts

- Companies are protecting their own interests and assuming that if they don’t the partner will take advantage of them

• Relational Contracts

- Both parties assume the other will operate to the common good of the contract- Set up penalties to limit opportunism- Set up bonuses to reward joint success- Ensure that the contract protects the right things. Focus on the protection of value

that each party will receive from the successful project.




• Relational Contracts- Start with a contract that defines how the project will be executed

• Communication• Escalation• Interactions• Agreements• Arbitration

- Release work in iterations• Learn what works and what doesn’t work• Both the client and the vendor execute better• Scope beyond the next two stages is negotiable• Don’t force the client to agree to details when they aren’t ready to




• Relational Contract

- Contract Characteristics

• Describes the how, not the what. - Interactions versus deliverables

• Defines a framework that can be revised and build upon

• Provides an escalation framework and arbitration process when agreement can not be reached



Lean Software Development - How Project Management is different

• Lean Software Development Project Manager Characteristics

- Traditional Project Management manages the known, Lean or Agile Project Management manages the unknown

- There are distinctly different ways how you manage the unknown versus the known

- There are distinctly different people and styles that are more suited to managing the unknown versus the known

Waterfall Project Management Skills

Lean Project Management Skills

Detail oriented Adaptable, encourages change

Manages at a lower level Comfortable with ambiguity

Resistant to change Able to delegate

Controlling Trust or faith in team mates

Company Focus Client Focus

Transaction Manager Relationship Manager

Manages Scope, schedule, budget

Manages Value

Temperment: Guardian Temperment: Idealist



• Idealist- These are big picture people who lead followers to pursue great

dreams. They thrive on people issues and gravitate toward the soft skills: conflict resolution, negotiation, team building, facilitating. Diplomacy and strategy are their strong suits

• Guardian - People with this dominant temperament like to play by the rules.

These are the stabilizers in the organization, working to keep the boat on an even keel. Meeting budgets and deadlines and following the plan are important to Guardians.

Keirsey, D. Please Understand Me II. Del Mar, Calif: Prometheus Nemesis Book Company, 1998



• Theory X Project Manager- believes that people really don’t want to work, can’t be trusted on their

own and will get away with what they can.- use command and control as their operating style, an approach akin to the

Newtonian view of the world.• Theory Y Project Manager

- This manager believes that people are intrinsically motivated to do good work, want to make a difference and can be relied on to solve problems and make decisions.

- Theory Y manager is a relationship manager, akin to the quantum view of the world.

McGregor, Douglas. The Human side of the Enterprise. McGraw-Hill/Irwin , 1985



• In waterfall projects you focus on managing people and tasks, in Lean projects you focus on leading the process- Facilitate decision making versus making the decisions



• One-on-one skills required:- Effective listening- Establishing rapport- Negotiation- Conflict resolution- Emotional intelligence- Partnering- Influencing without authority- Assertiveness

• Group skills required:- Team leadership- Meeting management- Problem solving and decision reaching- Facilitation- Presentation and persuasion

Doug DeCarlo, Principal, The Doug DeCarlo Group, Copyright © 2006 gantthead.com


Lean Software Development - How Project Leadership is different

• Project Manager and Client Project Manager must work even more closely together than a waterfall project- Both must focus on the long term relationship- Both must trust each other- Both must encourage their companies to focus on value and the long term

relationship- Both must define a common understanding together for

• Escalation• Change Request Process• Issue Tracking• Reporting• Formal versus Informal policies and procedures


Lean Software Development - How Project Leadership is different

• All members of the team need to share the focus the Lean Project Manager has

• The best Lean Project Manager can not manage a Lean project if his/her team does not believe in the process

• The best members of the project leadership team are also those that share the same recommended skill set for Lean Project Managers. Everyone is delegated authority and the team manages the project together

• It is recommended that other members of the team be traditional, waterfall, detail-level personalities. It is best to have a mix of the different perspectives on every project. These skilled people usually force decisions to be made on the critical issues.


Questions

• Thank you for your time and interest• Any questions?

Business

Pmi june 5th 2007