Posted by Angel Hernandez on Thu, Nov 05, 2009 @ 01:11 PM
It's been quite some time since my last post and much of it due to what feels like a marathon. While many of our developers and project managers actually run marathons, mine is done via email and Gantt charts.
Ok... so email is not exactly a novelty. Well, another non-novelty is a pressing deadline. In the inmate telephone sphere, much of the timing is determined by outside resources where you have little influence. The 'longest pole in the tent' determines the schedule. But we can mitigate a bit by doing a little fast tracking.
Fast tracking is the technique of identifying which tasks can be done simultaneously in order to shorten the overall timeline.
Since I promised in my first post to bring you examples, stories and other urban legends:
Once upon a time, a group of project managers decided to test how much of a project can be done in parallel. Their test consisted of building a house. Long story made short, from start to finish, a house was constructed, wired, inspected, and ready to move in..... Four hours. I believe this record was beaten by TWO hours.
Of course there were weeks of prep/planning but that's not point. What we can learn from this fast tracking allegory is that you need three essential tools:
- A thorough understanding of your project and business processes. (i.e., "...in your sleep")
- A great relationship built in very short order. Remember that rapport topic?
- And while the notion of Fast Tracking is common, what's generally forgotten is vision.
Recently we deployed our Offender Communication System at Sauk County, Wisconsin with a 30 day deadline. Bankruptcy for the current vendor created a great opportunity for some fast tracking. By working with the client (rapport) and understanding their need (Vision), a plan came to fruition. Essentially, we took our process, divided tasks into smaller parallel efforts, and cut the implementation down from 60 days to 18-- including the planning.
Keep in mind, these aren't phases. We kept the tools in play throughout the 3wks and closed out completely and successfully.
Not quite 4 hours but we'll pat ourselves on the back for it.