{"id":1205,"date":"2014-04-17T14:17:06","date_gmt":"2014-04-17T14:17:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/techcafeteria.com\/new\/?p=1205"},"modified":"2014-10-27T12:41:23","modified_gmt":"2014-10-27T12:41:23","slug":"three-ways-to-make-sure-that-your-next-big-software-project-is-a-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/techcafeteria.com\/?p=1205","title":{"rendered":"Three Ways To Make Sure that Your Next Big Software Project Is A Success"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post also appeared on the Cloud for Good Blog<\/a>\u00a0in April of 2014.<\/em><\/p>\n

Buying a new fundraising CRM or replacing your finance and HR systems are big investments with critical outcomes. These are the types of projects can have a huge impact on your ability to accomplish your mission. Poorly planned, chosen and deployed, they will do the opposite. If you\u2019re grasping for a cautionary tale, just look at the recent Healthcare.gov rollout<\/a>, or the worse related stories in Maryland<\/a> and Oregon<\/a>. But successful implementations happen every day as well, they just don\u2019t grab as many headlines.<\/p>\n

How can you make sure that big software projects succeed? \u00a0Here are three recommendations:<\/p>\n

1. Know what you need<\/strong><\/p>\n

All too often, the decision to replace a system is based more on frustrations with your current system than identified improvements that a new system might bring. \u00a0And, far too often, those frustrations aren\u2019t really based on the capabilities of your existing system, but, instead, on the way that it was configured. \u00a0Modern software is highly configurable. \u00a0In nonprofit environments, where administrative staffing is low and people are juggling multiple priorities, the proper investment in that configuration is sometimes skipped. It\u2019s important that you take the time to thoroughly catalogue your current processes and goals; clearly identify your reporting needs; and establish your core requirements before you embark for this sort of project.<\/p>\n

Technology automates processes. If you automate bad processes, you get bad technology. \u00a0So making an investment in business process mapping<\/a>, and taking the time to streamline and enhance the way you work with information today will insure that you know what your new system should be doing for you as you configure it.<\/p>\n

2. Be prepared to change the way you do things<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ideally, you\u2019ll invest in software that does exactly what you want it to do for you. In reality, there will be limitations in the way that the software was programmed, or the way that it has to be configured in order to integrate with your other applications, that will be out of sync with your preferences. Software doesn\u2019t have a mind of it\u2019s own; instead, it inherits the assumptions and biases of the developers that created it. They might assume, for instance, that you collect donations from individuals and have no need to recognize households in your system. Or they might assume that your average employee turnover is less than 20%, whereas, at a workforce development agency that hires its clients, 50% is more on the mark. \u00a0If the best system you can find suffers from some of these limitations,. you will have to either work around them, or buy the second best system, if it requires fewer workarounds, because you do want to minimize them.<\/p>\n

Regardless, you\u2019ll want to understand the underlying assumptions in the application and have a strategy for working around them. Some companies will go so far as to commission or design their own systems (commonly called \u201cbuild\u201d vs \u201cbuy\u201d), but you need to weigh the cost of having a supported system vs. a homegrown one, because, unless what you do is truly unique, those will not be worthwhile trade-offs.<\/p>\n

3. Hire a consultant for their expertise and compatibility, not their billing rate<\/strong><\/p>\n

We all want to get these projects done for as little money as possible. So there\u2019s a tendency to hire consultants based on the lowest bid. I\u2019d caution against this. major system configuration projects are generally open-ended — determining the exact configuration and number of hours that it will take to get there before the project starts is akin to inviting the whole city to a dinner party and determining the number of plates that you\u2019ll require before anyone RSVPs. So you want to work with consultants who are very efficient at their work, and very conversant with your needs. What you don\u2019t want to do is hand your project to a consultant who doesn\u2019t really understand your requirements, but has their own idea as to how it should be done. \u00a0You could well be left with a system that met the budget, but not your needs, or one that exceeded the budget while being reworked to satisfy your requirements. A good consultant will work closely with you. \u00a0they\u2019ll spend more time meeting with staff to learn about your needs then they will setting up the project, but they\u2019ll set it up quickly and correctly based on their thorough understanding of your goals and needs. The hourly rate might be double the low bid, but the total cost could be equivalent, resulting in a usable system that will compensate for the initial dollar outlay all that much faster.<\/p>\n

Here are slides<\/a> that I developed for a talk\/discussion on creating Requests for Proposals that vendors will appreciate at the recent Nonprofit Technology Conference. \u00a0These include some key strategies for making sure that you hire the right person or firm.<\/p>\n

In conclusion, how you go about a software project has far more to do with how you conduct your business than it does with the actual technology. \u00a0Make sure that you\u2019re investing wisely by taking the time to understand your needs, know where you can compromise, and hire the best partners.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This post also appeared on the Cloud for Good Blog\u00a0in April of 2014. Buying a new fundraising CRM or replacing your finance and HR systems are big investments with critical outcomes. These are the types of projects can have a huge impact on your ability to accomplish your mission. Poorly planned, chosen and deployed, they
+ Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,82],"tags":[167,114,392,119,393,265,85,136],"class_list":["post-1205","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nptech","category-tech","tag-bpm","tag-change-management","tag-cloud-for-good-blog","tag-crm","tag-obamacare","tag-rfps","tag-strategy","tag-vendors"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/techcafeteria.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1205","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/techcafeteria.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/techcafeteria.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techcafeteria.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techcafeteria.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1205"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/techcafeteria.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1205\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1801,"href":"https:\/\/techcafeteria.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1205\/revisions\/1801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/techcafeteria.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techcafeteria.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techcafeteria.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}