Government Breakfast Briefing June 28, 2011
In recent months, agency leaders’ pronouncements on the need for better requirements have grabbed the headlines. Frank Kendall, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, has said that addressing the root cause of problems with defense acquisition should start with “setting reasonable requirements.” Embedded in the Federal CIO’s 25-point plan are six practices to hasten the delivery of an information technology (IT) investment’s working functionality. Each one touches on some aspect of requirements management and development. The recently released government-sponsored report titled “The Secret to Programs that Work” identifies faulty program design as the root cause of many failures.
Highlights of the Event
Themes for Project Success
- Program support by senior executives and stakeholders from the planning stages leads to better-performing projects.
- Everyone needs to be trained in the processes, including senior executives.
- Careful preparation during the planning stages of a project to ensure that the requirements are clear from a technical and functional standpoint will reduce the likelihood of cost and schedule variance while increasing the project’s success rate.
- An integrated, cross-functional team that collaborates with all functions, including the project team, contractors and stakeholders, is necessary for project success.
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Requirements should be viewed as the foundation of project success; without well-developed requirements, projects are far more likely to be unsuccessful, often after significant investments in time and cost.
Presentations
Requirements Development: Conducting the Planning Phase to Ensure Project Success
Heidi Decker, Director of Strategic Systems and Planning
Center for Tobacco Products, FDA
As part of the government’s reform initiative, and following the strategies designed in the 25 Point Implementation Plan to Reform Federal IT, the OMB TechStat process was designed to identify, investigate and repair failing IT investments. As the HHS Agency Representative for the TechStat Working Group, Heidi Decker found that nearly all of the over eighty projects reviewed had poor requirements as their core problem. In order to propagate more successful projects HHS has now moved to leverage a higher level of effort during the planning stage of a project to ensure that the project’s scope and requirements are clear and that a good ROI can be established before money has been invested. In addition, HHS has begun to assign one PM as an overseer to the project and requires more collaboration between all groups involved in the project, including the PMs, stakeholders and contracting officers. In a continual process, analysis of requirements and stakeholder input is necessary in order to ensure that the investment continues to meet the performance needs of the users.
Download slides from the presentation here.
An Ongoing Journey in the Economic Directorate at the US Census Bureau
Deborah Stempowski, Assistant Division Chief
US Census Bureau
As part of the Economic Directorate, Deborah Stempowski, supported the economic census as a program manager; the importance of this census has only increased in recent years. Overcoming problems with the 2002 census, Stempowski initiated a change in how project managers are trained and how projects are handled within the directorate. Working with ESI, she was able to assess skill gaps and identify knowledge shortfalls, which were then rectified with training and coaching; this also led to a change in the project management culture. Adherent to this initiative was a movement towards on the job training and real collaboration between PMs and stakeholders: identifying requirements and then involving the actual user’s input throughout the project’s lifecycle to ensure that the project is consistent with the real needs of the users. In addition, they implemented a “No Bells, No Whistles” approach to ensure that projects were being reported effectively, as well as creating repeatable requirements processes and documenting initial good practices. Now, the Economic Directorate is well prepared to take the next steps to continue improving its project management and prepare for its next economic census in 2012.
Download slides from the presentation here.
Edwin Davis, Director of the Acquisition Management Office of the Comptroller of the Currency
Department of the Treasury
In today’s economy, it is even more important that the public be able to have confidence in the banking system and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency plays an important part by chartering national banks and overseeing a national system of banking institutions. Edwin Davis, as director of the Acquisition Management Office, found that the office was not meeting the needs of its constituents. In order to change this he instituted many changes within the office and through this discovered the need for user requirements to be clearly defined and for stakeholders to be involved in all processes; additionally he noted the need for the agency to become more proactive instead of merely reactive. Pathways for success revolved around the use of multiple contracts for vendor support and a reduction in high-risk contract types; these depend strongly on program management oversight and vendor outreach. A true focus on customer satisfaction and engagement creates continuous improvement allowing the OCC to fulfill its mission parameters.
Download slides from the presentation here.
Contact us today at +1 (800) ESI-8609 or govt@esi-intl.com to learn why all government agencies across the U.S. have relied on ESI to provide relevant learning programs that drive measurable results.