Interview with Mark Kozak-Holland
This interview was given in September 2002
with Geza Fuezery, a leader for the Project
Manager of Center Competence
in IBM Canada. It was given right after the launch of the book
and was published in Geza's Project Management newsletter.
Geza's own career in project management was very much influenced by the story of the conquest of Everest, the ultimate project in terms of planning, preparation, and risk management.
In July 2006 as Avoiding Project Disaster: Titanic Lessons for IT Executives was published.
Geza's own career in project management was very much influenced by the story of the conquest of Everest, the ultimate project in terms of planning, preparation, and risk management.
In July 2006 as Avoiding Project Disaster: Titanic Lessons for IT Executives was published.
In September 2005 as Titanic Lessons for IT Projects was published.
What Is the Official Title of Your New
Book?
On-line, On-time, On-budget: Titanic lessons for the e-business executive (reissued in July 2006 as Avoiding Project Disaster: Titanic Lessons for IT Executives).
Can You Give Us a Short Synopsis?
On-line, On-time, On-budget is about delivering Information Technology (IT) projects and in today’s world on-time and on-budget is not enough. You need to be on-line and this means connecting to the Internet. With that come the high expectations of your customers and partners, and the rigors of a “24 by 7” on-line operation. The book is about IT projects and why more often than not they fail to meet client expectations especially when in operation. It examines how in the course of IT projects poor decisions are amassed without ever surfacing to the executive sponsor’s attention. Only in operation do these start to become more apparent.
What Made You Write this Book?
I was consulting with one client where the project was completed and many months into a post-implementation period. Signs were appearing that the solution was not delivering the goods and living up to expectations. Notably, in the 6 weeks leading up to Christmas the solution was hit by consecutive and very severe outages every weekend where customers were entirely locked out from completing financial transactions. The client was unhappy with all the bad press, and having invested in a solution that had been specifically designed for 24 by 7 availability. Having completed a project post-mortem the root causes to the operational problems lay in the project itself. I needed to explain to the client in layman’s terms that investments in technology are not enough and need to be supported by investments and changes in processes and organization. After much thinking it occurred to me that the story of Titanic was a good analogy. There are very few people not aware of the whole story, it was readily recognizable as one of the greatest disasters, and it consisted of a long construction project (4 years) and a short period in operation (4 days).
Who Should Read It?
The book is primarily targeted at C-level executives that may have inherited IT projects, or are responsible for what IT delivers, or at least affected by it. The audience includes IT people that need to deliver IT projects to the business and have to justify the rationale and decisions taken through its course.
What Makes It Different From the Many PM Books Available On the Market?
Couple of reasons. First, let’s be blunt here when was the last time you read a book about IT or projects that held your attention for more than 10 minutes. Second, very few project books focus on the project aftermath and the operation after the implementation. The book is completely steeped in Titanic’s story and draws analogies at different levels. For example, as Titanic’s construction neared completion with the emphasis on functional requirements esthetic factors were allowed to compromise the non-functional requirements. As a result, the safety features and the design of ship were fundamentally flawed. The height of the bulkhead walls was too short, the double skin bottom was below the water line, and the ship carried the minimum number of lifeboats based on regulations. From the outset the reader knows the final outcome but this provides a clear roadmap and therefore the poor decision making through the course of the project becomes much more understandable.
Shall I Recommend It To My Customers?
Absolutely. If your customer is at the beginning or in the midst of an IT project life-cycle, they are probably faced with the following challenges:
On-line, On-time, On-budget: Titanic lessons for the e-business executive (reissued in July 2006 as Avoiding Project Disaster: Titanic Lessons for IT Executives).
Can You Give Us a Short Synopsis?
On-line, On-time, On-budget is about delivering Information Technology (IT) projects and in today’s world on-time and on-budget is not enough. You need to be on-line and this means connecting to the Internet. With that come the high expectations of your customers and partners, and the rigors of a “24 by 7” on-line operation. The book is about IT projects and why more often than not they fail to meet client expectations especially when in operation. It examines how in the course of IT projects poor decisions are amassed without ever surfacing to the executive sponsor’s attention. Only in operation do these start to become more apparent.
What Made You Write this Book?
I was consulting with one client where the project was completed and many months into a post-implementation period. Signs were appearing that the solution was not delivering the goods and living up to expectations. Notably, in the 6 weeks leading up to Christmas the solution was hit by consecutive and very severe outages every weekend where customers were entirely locked out from completing financial transactions. The client was unhappy with all the bad press, and having invested in a solution that had been specifically designed for 24 by 7 availability. Having completed a project post-mortem the root causes to the operational problems lay in the project itself. I needed to explain to the client in layman’s terms that investments in technology are not enough and need to be supported by investments and changes in processes and organization. After much thinking it occurred to me that the story of Titanic was a good analogy. There are very few people not aware of the whole story, it was readily recognizable as one of the greatest disasters, and it consisted of a long construction project (4 years) and a short period in operation (4 days).
Who Should Read It?
The book is primarily targeted at C-level executives that may have inherited IT projects, or are responsible for what IT delivers, or at least affected by it. The audience includes IT people that need to deliver IT projects to the business and have to justify the rationale and decisions taken through its course.
What Makes It Different From the Many PM Books Available On the Market?
Couple of reasons. First, let’s be blunt here when was the last time you read a book about IT or projects that held your attention for more than 10 minutes. Second, very few project books focus on the project aftermath and the operation after the implementation. The book is completely steeped in Titanic’s story and draws analogies at different levels. For example, as Titanic’s construction neared completion with the emphasis on functional requirements esthetic factors were allowed to compromise the non-functional requirements. As a result, the safety features and the design of ship were fundamentally flawed. The height of the bulkhead walls was too short, the double skin bottom was below the water line, and the ship carried the minimum number of lifeboats based on regulations. From the outset the reader knows the final outcome but this provides a clear roadmap and therefore the poor decision making through the course of the project becomes much more understandable.
Shall I Recommend It To My Customers?
Absolutely. If your customer is at the beginning or in the midst of an IT project life-cycle, they are probably faced with the following challenges:
- How to improve the probability of success and mitigate the risk in on-line operations projects?
- How to measure the uncertainty and risk of going on-line, how to determine the exposure, and then take appropriate actions to mitigate the risk?
- How to understand the investment requirements for on-line operations projects before making any financial commitments?
- How to ensure your investments in individual on-line operations projects are well directed?
- How to get involved in on-line operations projects and work with the IT organization by asking the right questions at the right stage?
- How to measure the success of on-line operations project, determine what is critical, and actual service level measurements and performance?