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Notes and Outlines

 

Prompt

  1. Scope and Acceptance Criteria for the project, which includes the requirements from Tilebar and confirming them with the project main contractor (SRSI). This activity will entail:
    • A review of any documentation available on the terms of the project, the design of the operations in NGL3 and any acceptance testing plans.
    • A Discovery session with Tilebar’s team to confirm the expectations of the project and elicit any additional information not present in the documents.
    • A Discovery session with SRSI (and Mecalux if appropriate) to verify the understanding of the expectations and resolve any discrepancies.
  2. Summarizing and publishing the results as the baseline to evaluate steps 2 & 3 below.
    • Capabilities and Technology of the Easy-WMS system, including a functional analysis of core capabilities, extensions and customizations as well as an analysis of its technology stack and hosting technology. The tasks to complete:
    • A review of any technical documentation/design that SRSI has produced as design of the system and system documentation to be provided by Mecalux if possible (not available on their website)
    • A Discovery session with SRSI (and Mecalux if available) to explore functional capabilities:
      • Core EasyWMS functionality to be used (modules, features, …)
      • EasyWMS planned extensions needed for NGL3 and the expected roadmap/release schedule.
      • Additional Customizations planned or implemented by SRSI and their state of development. If available testing plans for those customizations.
    • A Discovery session with SRSI and Mecalux to explore the technology stack used, including OS, hosting providers, programming languages, database systems, …
    • Producing and publishing a summary of the sessions with a functionality Gap analysis and potential risk areas.
  3. Project and Organizational Capabilities, including SRSI, Mecalux Hosting services and Tilebar support organization pre- and post- launch.
    • Review of hosting agreements, project plans and go-live plans. Review existing “progress reports”
    • A work session with Tilebar project and operations staff to understand their preparations to take over the running system once the project is complete and how they are currently engaging SRSI for project tracking and acceptance testing.
    • A work session with SRSI to understand their project plan, staffing and current practices.
    • A work session with Mecalux EasyWMS hosting to understand their runtime operations and their upgrade/update process for new versions, features and bug fixes.
  4. Summarize and publish the results

Outline

  • Motivation
    • That Nagging feeling
    • Can’t be in control of everything, can’t have trusted experts in everything
    • Goal: Not project methodology
  • Characterize Automation Projects
    • Large, Complex
    • Process (OR) \(\cap\) Physical Technology \(\cap\) IT \(\cap\) Org/People
    • Trend towards software, but software may not be capable ERPs cannot handle Supply Chains
  • How Automation Projects fail
    • Some References
    • Project as a System
      • Goal
      • People
      • Process
      • Technology
    • Role of Change
    • What is a failure
      • Traditional
      • In the presence of uncertainty and change
    • How Failures Happen
      • What causes failures:
        • Goal/Environment Misalignment failures
        • Interaction Failures
        • Components failures
      • Interaction Failures
        • People-Goal: Alignment
        • Technology-Goal: Capabilities
        • People-Technology: Training, Skills
        • Process-XXX: Change Control
        • Technology-Process: Coupling, Sequencing
        • Oversight and Feedback
      • Component Failures
        • Goal
          • Scope
          • Domain Maturity
          • Requirements Discipline
          • Definition of Success
            • Milestones
        • People & Organization
          • People
            • Ownership
            • Alignment
            • Skills
            • Communication
            • Training
          • Organization
            • Resources
            • Sponsorship
            • Reporting
            • Change Management
        • Process
          • Execution
            • Cadence
            • Planning
            • Tracking
            • ProjectOps
              • Defined Design Practices
              • Peer Reviews
              • Version Control
          • Quality Assurance
          • Release Management
        • Technology
          • Maturity
          • Platform Fit
          • Customization
  • Evaluating a Project:
    • Foundations:
      • Focus on People
      • Cadence & OODA
      • Peer & Producer/Consumer Reviews
      • Verification
      • Tracking
    • Pull the thread to causes
      • Assess the Goal
        • From Sponsors to IC’s
        • History of Change
        • Current Goal

TO CONTINUE

References

All References

  1. Eventual consistency. 2023. Wikipedia. ↩

  2. Matta, N., R. Ashkenas. 2003. Why Good Projects Fail Anyway. Harvard Business Review. ↩

  3. What a Sale Is, How It Works, Different Types & Ways to Pay. (n.d.). Investopedia. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/sale.asp. ↩

  4. Why Process Automation Initiatives Fail (And How Yours Can Succeed). (n.d.). https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2021/10/12/why-process-automation-initiatives-fail-and-how-yours-can-succeed/?sh=4b0ec39d3b62. ↩

  5. Naur, P. 1985. Programming as theory building. Microprocessing and Microprogramming 15(5): 253–261. ↩

  6. Systems and Systems Failure Analysis Concepts. 2009. ↩

  7. Berk, J. 2009. Systems Failure Analysis. ASM International. ↩

  8. ISO 9000 Series of Standards - What is ISO 9000? ASQ. (n.d.). https://asq.org/quality-resources/iso-9000. ↩

  9. Matta, N., R. Ashkenas. 2003. Why Good Projects Fail Anyway. Harvard Business Review. ↩

  10. Spinning the Main Cables - The History of the Design and Construction Golden Gate. (n.d.). https://www.goldengate.org/exhibits/spinning-the-main-cables/. ↩

  11. Capability Maturity Model. 2023. Wikipedia. ↩

  12. Paulk, M. C., B. Curtis, M. B. Chrissis, C. V. Weber. 1993. Capability Maturity Model for Software, Version 1.1: (No. CMU/SEI-93-TR-024). Fort Belvoir, VA: Defense Technical Information Center. ↩

  13. Doerr, J. 2018. Measure what matters: How Google, Bono, and the Gates Foundation rock the world with OKRs (International edition). New York, Portfolio/Penguin. ↩

  14. Goldratt, E. M. 2001. Critical chain. Great Barrington, Mass, North River Press. ↩

  15. Monden, Y. 2012. Toyota production system: An integrated approach to just-in-time (4th ed). Boca Raton, CRC Press. ↩

  16. Wheeler, D. J., D. S. Chambers. 2010. Understanding statistical process control (3rd ed). Knoxville, Tenn, SPC Press. ↩

  17. OODA loop. 2024. Wikipedia. ↩

  18. To a Mouse. 2023. Wikipedia. ↩

  19. Eventual consistency. 2023. Wikipedia. ↩

  20. What a Sale Is, How It Works, Different Types & Ways to Pay. (n.d.). Investopedia. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/sale.asp. ↩

  21. Why Process Automation Initiatives Fail (And How Yours Can Succeed). (n.d.). https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2021/10/12/why-process-automation-initiatives-fail-and-how-yours-can-succeed/?sh=4b0ec39d3b62. ↩