by John Parker | Jan 29, 2014 | Business Analysis, Uncategorized |
The Standish Group 2013 CHAOS Manifesto Report titled “Think Big Act Small” presents two core concepts to achieve more successful projects. The first key is to break a project down into small independent components that can be managed and delivered separately. The second key is eliminating features that provide little or no business value. Let’s examine both of these. Breaking a Project Down It is important not to confuse breaking down projects as simply defining milestones, phases, critical paths, and activities. These are simply components of a single large project. It literally means breaking a project down into a series of independent smaller projects. Each smaller project is defined, developed, and delivered independently producing a valuable result. The Standish Group says “A large project has virtually no chance of coming in on time, on budget, and within scope, which is The Standish Group definition of a successful project.” The Standish Group reports that large projects are 10 times more likely to fail, meaning the project will be canceled or will not be used because it outlived its useful life prior to implementation. In contrast, small projects have more than a 70% chance of success. Breaking down a large project into a series of smaller projects does not require migrating to agile, although use of the agile methodology can help in this regard. Breaking one large project into five or ten smaller projects and delivering each one independently can greatly improve the likelihood of overall success. Breaking down a project is not always easy, but can be done. The writers of this CHAOS Manifesto Report state flatly that they have come...
