Needs Improvement

Always Be Ready To Demonstrate (2)

My current project isn't finished yet, and could still fail, but AlwaysBeReadyToDemonstrate has been a spectacular success:

• The four internal clients who wanted to maintain the status quo, weren't interested in, or didn't have time for the project have become three. Two have become more involved, and one has become extremely involved, even staying up late to write down ideas and mock up HTML interfaces. All three are happy with the new interfaces and the compromises we've made so far.
• Marketing wants to push the software out to real clients. That was my best-case scenario.
• Two salespeople are using the software every day and feeding me ideas and relevant client feedback on our old products.
• Three softwarepeople are using the software every day, we're starting to see some ideas cross over between our projects, we're cranking out new common components, and morale is way up.
• The president of the company, who is also responsible for executive-level management of the software and sales departments, is visiting the software department every 1-2 days now, asking us how things are going, asking to see our projects, and telling us how excited he is about them. He never used to do that.

There are still a few things that I need to work on:

• I need to do a better job of advertising what I'm changing or which features I'm implementing each day.
• I need to work more closely with our interface designer. This is a tough one, because he's a contractor, and his contract is paid out of another department's budget, so I can't just set up a meeting with him whenever I'd like.
• I need to write a better project plan. My manager is pulling his hair out because he can't tell if we're on schedule or not (we are, but it needs to be easier for him to see that :).

But I only have 12 business days to finish the project before I leave for Hong Kong and Toronto, so I probably won't get to them. Hopefully I have a chance to refine the process on my next project, whatever it may be.

Colin

08:02 PM | Colin