Seven little Foxes that spoil the Vine
C. Warren Ferguson
Chief Operating Oflicer
Smallworld Systems, Inc.,5600 Greenwood Plaza Blvd. Suite 300
Englewood, CO 80111 USA,
phone 303-779-6980
fax 303-779-1051
email cwferguson@smallworld-us .com
Abstract
Seven Little Foxes that Spoil the Vine are those wily devils that can eat the fruit of your labor
right out from under your very nose. And very often while you are watching too ! There is a big
difference between success and failure. The difference however, between average and really
successfid, is far more subtle. This paper will provide a discussion of seven (7) important topics
that can, if left to eat on the project vine, keep a good AM/FM/GIS project from being really
successful. These lessons were distilled from more than 30 years of AM/FM/GIS experiences.
Some of these lessons were learned when implementing AM/FM/GIS systems as mainstream
information technology. Seven Little Foxes that Spoil the Vine includes those lessons learned
that can deny a project success. It includes topics like “you can not change from where you are
not”, “people make success”,” user is a four letter word”, and “say no”.
Introduction
No success is permanent and no failure is final. Life is a journey not a destination. Learning is
an essential component of the journey. Work is a big part of life. Over a period of many years it
has given me the opportunity to enjoy some successes and learn from some ftilures. Much has
been written about the critical factors for success. That is not the subject of this paper. Seven
Little Foxes that Spoil the Vine is about seven wily little devils that can eat the fruit of your labor
right out from under your very nose. These are lessons learned that can deny a good project the
real success it should enjoy.
The “seven Lessons Learned” to be described and discussed are:
- No success is permanent nor failure final;
- Don’t get hyped;
- People make success;
- You can not change from where you are not;
- User is a four letter word;
- Know the estimating story; and
- Say “no.”
It is true that these seven very general items can apply to more in life than just AM/FM/GIS. But
it is in the context of AM/FM/GIS development, deployment and implementation that they will
be described and discussed in this paper.
No success is permanent nor failure final
No success is permanent and no failure is final. Life is a journey and our work is a journey as
well. Learning is the essential ingredient to doing things better, smarter, faster and cheaper.
During an AM/FM/GIS project life cycle there are many decisions that must be made. And they
will be made, if not proactively by those responsible, by the tide of events.
Most often it seems that this tide runs with the Seven Little Foxes -- procrastination causes more
problems of bad timing than anything else. There have been some AMIFM/GIS projects where
procrastination has reduced the expected quality of the project from the best of all possible
efforts to the best that can be expected given the limited time. With this attitude and behavior
you might get an OK project, but not a real success.
Mistakes are a fact of life. It is the response to the error that really counts. Every big mistake
has a halfway moment, a split second when it can be recalled and rectified or remedied without
dire consequences. AM/FM/GIS technology developments and project implementations are like
live organisms and must be very sensitive to the critical nature of some decisions. And these
critical decisions may vary from project to project, situation to situation. AM/FM/GIS is a
technology that enables organizations to achieve an operational transformation -- it is not a
cookbook kind of technology -- there is not one simple formula for success. Most of the time,
issues of technology can not be separated from issues of strategy. If the strategy and the
technology are not properly matched, the results will be less than real success.
Real success is very rewarding. It is worth all the hard work and extra effort that it took.
Everybody feels really great about it. The organization is a different place, a better place. Now
expectations start a little higher. Success may seem like an event, because events are pretty easy
to measure, but real success is a process that lets an organization maintain an unusually high
performance over a long period of time.
Don't get Hyped
Hype creates unrealistic high expectations. These are expectations that can not be filfilled. We
may call it different things, but we all know what it is -- it may be something that we may want
to hear, but something we really know is too good to be true. Sales people are sometimes
thought of as hype artists. And sometimes they deserve the accolade. Some hardware folks
always pitch the next generation as the one with the performance to solve all the problems for a
fraction of the cost. Who hasn’t heard of the software salesperson offering vaporware? Or
whose demo is smoke and mirrors.
But hype comes from every corner. How many buyers have said they would decide in two
weeks after the proposal was submitted. How many customers have told conversion companies
that their records were in good order? When they knew better, or maybe didn’t know at all.
How many consultants have said “no problem” when they didn’t have a clue? We can get hyped
by almost anyone. But know that ~ have to buy into it before you get hyped.
How can we avoid getting hyped? Stay well informed. Do our homework. Check with
colleagues and those you trust. And keep you BS detector well tuned.
Stay well informed. Keep up with developments, successes, difficulties, and trends in your area
of expertise. Acknowledge what you don’t know, and find someone, or several, in this area of
interest that you can trust. Get to know them, understand the reasons for their thinking. Check
references. Ask tough questions. Participate in local and national technical-professional
organizations like AM/FM International.
Do your homework. Think about what you really need. Try to understand the technology
alternatives. Technologies are different, they offer different opportunities, different
impossibilities, different futures. Understand your business drivers. Identi& your short list of
critical factors. Investigate in advance of decision making. Understand your schedule, know the
timetable. Recognize the risks. Realize that they are different over time, that their impact varies
by situation, and that flexibility often mitigates risk.
Keep your BS detector well tuned. Listen carefully and write it down. Concentrate on
understanding and learning. Ask the right questions. Ask especially about the assumptions --
most of us can get the math right, but it is the assumptions that profoundly affect the answer.
Best of all be realistic, encourage realism in your team, in your colleagues, in your life.
Hype is about unrealistic expectations. Don’t get hyped. Equally important, don’t be guilty of
hyping others. Set reasonable expectations. Meet those expectations. Understand that
predictability may be as important as the result itself.
People Make Success
Doing the right thing is more important than doing things right. Strategy is important and
technology is oflen a critical ingredient. But it is people that make success. Perhaps this is the
most important lesson learned. Get good people, get good people for the job and get plenty of
them. Be adamant --do not accept less than the best. Pick the best team for the job, not your
friends because you like them or enjoy working with them. Remember we are talking about
business here -- success or failure, profit or loss -- not our social life or our golf buddies. “Find
the right people and the job is half done” is an old axiom that should be remembered.
Competence is the criteria.
Most of what we do is object oriented. With AM/FM/GIS technology, the aura surrounding
objects is their power over the subject. In November 1996 Obiect Mamzine published an article,
“Five Keys to Making your 00 Project Succeed.” Their keys were:
- Team selection and team building;
- Full management support, when real pressure is mounting;
- An 00 gurdexpert leading and making decisions;
- Risk management in balancing short- and long-term risks; and
- Innovation and hard work, which must be part of a solid 00A/OOD team qffort.
