Software Projects don’t have a great success factor. According to some, this is because projects are too big, not measured right or simply didn’t have the right steer on it. These factors can all be true. But there’s more to it. Maybe even simpler. Most successful projects have been seen like a success from the moment they started. It was predefined, they where steered with one thing, vision.
But what is this thing we call vision? And more specific: what is it in a software project? A vision isn’t just one thing, it’s two: the Why ad How of your project, shared throughout the entire project team.
The six basic questions: We’ve mentioned them before. The six basic questions in analysis are essential to know where the vision may be found. The answers to those questions can, however, be different for all the actors (and therefor factors) in the project, it can only become a vision when the answer are, somehow, aligned to each other, when the entire team and all actors share the same motivation on the project.
SIx degrees of Why: This motivation of the project can be specified by simply asking ‘why?’ six times after. This sounds more simple than it is. Simply start by asking why a project is necessary, why we are doing the project. If the answer is unsatisfactory, keep asking it. If a project has a clear vision, six degrees aren’t hard. But if the project has it’s soul ‘Why’ on ‘Because’, it’s a clear sign that there it no emotional attachment to the project.
The essence of How: in the end, Software Projects need to address the Why. It’s that simple. If the technology, design or any other aspect of the ‘How’ are not clear, the success rate will be at least as bunkers as when the ‘Why’ isn’t clear.
Emotional Attachment: both the Why and How need to be emotionally attached to all actors in the project. For the Why it means that we need to search for something that all parts of our team can feel in their guts, something that makes us tick, shake and rumble. This can be something that needs to be addressed because it affects us all or something so wild, we simply want it. In the How part it’s simpler: make it cool, awesome, jaw dropping. In software development we all like to be part of something amazing.
All the above have a certain ‘vagueness’ over it. This is because it is. It’s as simple as that.
Do you have an example of a project that became a great success because both the Why and the How where shared throughout the entire team?
