Summary
This is a case study of a strategic, enterprise-level IT project that was stalled due to organizational and cultural issues within company. By applying a few familiar research techniques and frameworks (and one unfamiliar modeling framework) towards understanding and solving organizational problems, the project team found its footing and was able to deliver a complex application that will position the company for success.
Key Insights
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Project delays often originate from organizational and cultural issues rather than team capabilities.
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Engaging stakeholders as co-creators improves buy-in and eases persuasion.
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Understanding both immediate and extended domains helps clarify project boundaries and success criteria.
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Unstated cultural assumptions drive unconscious behaviors that impede project progress.
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Cross-functional projects often fail when participants prioritize their silo over the project team.
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Taking meeting notes and assigning action items with responsible managers reduces conflict and clarifies accountability.
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Pairing technical and domain experts to create detailed process flows enables better user story creation and shared understanding.
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Facilitating after-action reviews and empowering teams to lead meetings fosters ownership and engagement.
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Assigning team members to participate in related projects’ meetings improves cross-team integration and collaboration.
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Soft Systems Methodology can visualize intangible organizational and cultural influences that affect project outcomes.
Notable Quotes
"Project delays are frequently due to organizational and cultural issues rather than actions of the project team."
"I like to engage my stakeholders as co-creators and co-discoverers because that makes persuasion so much easier."
"A cross-functional project in name only means people report back to their management silos, not to the project team."
"In many organizations, people believe the team from their functional area is their real team, not the cross-functional project team."
"Taking meeting minutes and assigning action items with director names reduced arguing and helped move things forward."
"We converted process boxes directly into user stories to create a common language for the team."
"The project team gradually realized they were in charge of their own process and could get work done."
"We assigned people to attend other teams’ meetings to help with integration and started being seen as leaders."
"Hardest to uncover are the unconscious assumptions people make about how things should be done."
"Sometimes you just have to do what you can and come back to it later when analyzing culture versus delivery demands."
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