The struggle to end a project
Darren Dambly
Executive Consultant
Autodesk, Inc
7935 E. Prentice Ave., Suite 400W
Greenwood Village, CO 80111
Telephone: 303.256.5921, Fax: 303.256.5950
Email: darren.dambly@autodesk.com
Abstract
A Project has a beginning and an end by definition. But you can always add another
feature to a software application. So, where do you stop one project and start a new
project? It is critical for a project to have a clearly defined closure, otherwise it continues
on a never-ending journey. Project sponsors are looking for short-term successes to
secure ongoing support for the project. Also, as time goes on more complications are
introduced such as changing technology and the departure of staff. Based upon the
experience of specific projects, this paper will provide insights on how projects can be
defined, structured and controlled to meet specific business functions. The pros and
cons will be compared for Fixed Price versus T&M contracts with vendors. When to use
each and how to combine the two approaches will be discussed. The comparison will
consider both the customer’s and the vendor’s perspective. Tracking the project is
critical for estimating how close you are to the end. Focusing only on certain
measurements can give a false illusion. A variety of measurements will be discussed to
provide a complete picture of the development status. Also, techniques in configuration
and change management will be reviewed.
Introduction
Starting a project is relatively easy. Finishing a project is the challenge. Successfully
finishing a project is an even bigger challenge.
Every project can be a success or a failure. As many people claim, the outcome mostly
depends on the people involved, not necessarily on the technology. The team’s
decisions and direction over the course of the project is critical to its success. Also
critical to success is avoiding the many traps along the way. This paper will focus on
how the structure of contracts and change requests can be obstacles in the completion
of a project, and how you can sidestep those obstacles.
A major assumption of this presentation is that you (i.e., the customer) will be hiring
external resources (i.e., vendors) to do various parts of the work for implementing your
GIS. Your relationship with these vendors will have a large impact on the outcome of
the project. Contracts are a tool for managing relationships with your vendors.
Contracts define how you and your vendor will play together. Completing the contract
correlates to the completion of the project, which is the true goal. But as one former
employer said, “I’ve never seen a contract that can’t be broken.” How the “spirit” of the
contract is executed is the people side of the relationship.
Obviously, contracts can be used for or against you. So what type of contract should
you use? How does it impact your ability to end the project?
