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Summary:

This is a true case story listing the Key Success Factors that led to the delivery of all software projects on time. This was a record by me in a SEI Level 5 software company.

[This summary of my book was published in a reputed online magazine Sulekha.com. It has been copied and reproduced below as the site is extremely slow to load. It is still available at sulekha.com website at this link. (Note: Please wait patiently till the article loads.)].

Introduction

It was a bright sunny morning and I was feeling as energetic as ever as I entered my office. My team had just completed a software project for my client Mondaq, UK. My Project Manager and Technical leader had successfully delivered the custom developed software solution to the client and returned from the UK that morning. On reaching my room, I settled comfortably in my seat and opened my mail Inbox. When I looked at the first mail from my client Mondaq, I was in for a shock. The mail read,

"The management of Mondaq is shocked to know that..."

I missed a heartbeat thinking that all hell had broken loose at my client's site. Images quickly started building in front of my mind's eye -- images depicting that the delivered software solution was either not performing or had crashed, and my client was furious. I feared the worst.

Reading further, I was pleasantly surprised. The mail read: "The management of Mondaq is shocked to know that the site went live on the day it was supposed to."

Mondaq was my first client after joining a new company. That was enough reason to be concerned, and luckily it was only for that moment and never again. For, thereafter, I am extremely happy to state that five client projects have been delivered on time and to the utmost delight of the customer. All my clients are simply delighted. One of my clients who is the MD of another firm in the UK was recently in India, and he told me that even in the UK he had rarely seen projects being delivered both on time and to specifications.

The completed projects have some unique features:

As stated, all of them have extremely delighted customers. All of them have been led by project leaders who led projects for the first time. Multiple client projects were running simultaneously. And finally, parallel to these client projects, there were other internal projects completed successfully. Completing five successive projects on time, my UK client felt, must be a record of sorts. Considerable credit goes to the Project Leaders (PLs) and the team members themselves. The team members and the PLs showed utmost responsibility. They never had to be told to work hard. I strongly believe that IT personnel are self-motivated. Given the right environment and the right freedom, they feel motivated to work. And all my PLs and team members, both for internal and external projects, have proved me right.

Key Success Factors

People have asked me the secret behind this success. Frankly, I did not myself know, but their questions have prompted me to do some thinking, some soul searching and I have come to some conclusions. Right or wrong, I thought it was worth sharing my thoughts.

Team Strength

The most significant factor, according to me, which could have contributed to it is an understanding that each human being has strengths and weaknesses. Nobody is perfect. I am not perfect too.

This is a very important issue which is often forgotten. Different people have different strengths -- some people can do certain things naturally and the same people may be very uncomfortable or messy while doing something else. At the same time, different people enjoy doing different types of work. While some people may enjoy doing one job, some may just not be able to sit down and get going with it. This is perfectly natural for human beings.

A good manager would look at the strengths of people, and get the right jobs done by the right people within the team so that the team as a whole is strong, so that the team delivers. There are certain things my Project Managers are good at doing and certain things they may not be very good at. I help them sometimes do things they are not comfortable with if I can do it better. I don't get upset about it because I know that there may be umpteen other things they can do better than I can. What is important is that together we should team up and do great things.

In a team, it is important that one member's weakness is covered by someone else's individual strengths in such a way that each one contributes through his strengths and the team as an entity is solid. A good team is one where everyone puts in his or her strength and covers others' weaknesses -- without any ego problems, without taking pride and without belittling others.

I am sure you will ask, "With this approach, you can never help people overcome their weaknesses." On the contrary, a good manager uses the strengths of his teammates while slowly working on their weaknesses, so that the weaknesses are overcome without making the teammate too conscious of his or her deficiencies. A person normally does a great job when working on a job that he loves to do. Success is a big motivator and the motivation of a job well done gives him the energy to do other jobs which he does not like to do, and thus also helps him overcome his shortcomings in the course of time. A motivated person can work on his weaknesses better than a person who cannot even use his strengths. I believe that it is the manager's job to see that the individual's strength is used and he feels motivated.

I have seen some people who mainly look at the weaknesses and keep pointing out errors and personal deficiencies. Nagging a person for his weaknesses makes him very conscious of himself and it reduces his confidence in his strengths. Only a very strong person, who is truly self-motivated and strongly believes in himself, can continue to perform consistently in spite of continuous nagging by his superior.

Commitment

The other very important factor is a strong commitment to deliver on time.

This may sound trivial, but it is this commitment that drives you to see that you deliver on time. When you believe that software projects are never on schedule, then you are unlikely to deliver on time. This commitment begins with and is evident in small things. Ask yourself a few questions: When you schedule a meeting at a particular time, or you are attending a meeting, how committed are you to be there on time and begin on time? Do you feel committed to keep your word given to your friend or colleague? When you can start honouring these small commitments, you can keep bigger commitments like delivering a software project on time.

Belief in People

The other factors which have contributed to the success are a strong belief in people, particularly IT people and immense trust in their integrity. I believe that most IT personnel normally try to give their best. They do not need to be driven. They are self-motivated. A sure way to de-motivate them is to doubt their commitment. And lastly, a high degree of motivation to give their best comes from the right amount of freedom given to the Project Leaders and team members.

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