Not so much less is more, what we find when we break down work efforts is that the sum of the smaller pieces is generally bigger than what we would have sized for the project as a whole. Typically our enthusiasm and optimism lead us to a scope for an entire effort that doesn't really take into account all the stumbling blocks, details and gotchas. By breaking down the work, and considering all the possible roadblocks at a more granular level, we find that the sum of the parts exceeds the assumed effort of the work when viewed as a whole.
This is very helpful to more accurately set work time involved in an effort. Rather than add some ambiguous buffer to the overall scope, we can take each segment of work and analyze it for potential problems then plan time to resolve those problems and bake that into the granularized scope. It also provides more refined balance to time (overage for one segment can be regained by not needing the "problem time" in another) that should present a better adherence to the overall budget (of time and money).
Friday, April 26, 2013
Friday, December 21, 2012
Communicating in steps
Our local Dunkin Donuts appears to have a high turnover rate. There always seems to be a new person behind the counter and they appear to be new. They struggle with the register, don't seem to know what items are on the menu and can't seem to find the strawberry frosted donuts with sprinkles in the first dozen attempts (my youngest son's favorite). Although it is somewhat understandable, it is annoying.
When working with this new employee, expectations are low. You can't rattle off everything you want like you would in a fancy restaurant with one of those waiters who can remember everything for a table of 10 without writing any of it down. You have to be patient and walk through the things you want to order step by step. Most of the time they don't simply type in your order and then refer to the register for recall; they typically run off to get the coffee, then walk over to pull the donuts then call back the sandwich order. Not efficient but once you understand it, you can work with it.
The trick is to give them individual instructions. You say you want coffee then wait to see what they do. You wait for them to return their attention to your order (or say "Is that all?" as if to assume I came to Dunkin Donuts for just coffee- there are hundreds of circles of goodness behind you, of course that is not all!!). It is a slow, and sometimes painful, process but by granularizing your order, it can be accomplished correctly.
That is what this site is about. Our company, a small development shop, has struggled with structure. We continue to seek what will work best for our environment - our people, our culture and our clients. One thing we have found is that by breaking work down into smaller pieces, we can more accurately plan scope and size of effort. We are in the process of granularizing our work even more, breaking down the effort and deliverables into three day chunks.
To "Granularize" takes planning. Perhaps that has been our problem all along, not putting too much time into planning because everyone wanted to get in, get their hands dirty, start to make progress, even if the outcome was only a prototype (which around here has really meant a flawed first version). Whatever the root of the push, breaking it down seems to be working. With this site we hope to expand on the how, the what (what works, what doesn't) and record our growth as we granularize.
When working with this new employee, expectations are low. You can't rattle off everything you want like you would in a fancy restaurant with one of those waiters who can remember everything for a table of 10 without writing any of it down. You have to be patient and walk through the things you want to order step by step. Most of the time they don't simply type in your order and then refer to the register for recall; they typically run off to get the coffee, then walk over to pull the donuts then call back the sandwich order. Not efficient but once you understand it, you can work with it.
The trick is to give them individual instructions. You say you want coffee then wait to see what they do. You wait for them to return their attention to your order (or say "Is that all?" as if to assume I came to Dunkin Donuts for just coffee- there are hundreds of circles of goodness behind you, of course that is not all!!). It is a slow, and sometimes painful, process but by granularizing your order, it can be accomplished correctly.
That is what this site is about. Our company, a small development shop, has struggled with structure. We continue to seek what will work best for our environment - our people, our culture and our clients. One thing we have found is that by breaking work down into smaller pieces, we can more accurately plan scope and size of effort. We are in the process of granularizing our work even more, breaking down the effort and deliverables into three day chunks.
To "Granularize" takes planning. Perhaps that has been our problem all along, not putting too much time into planning because everyone wanted to get in, get their hands dirty, start to make progress, even if the outcome was only a prototype (which around here has really meant a flawed first version). Whatever the root of the push, breaking it down seems to be working. With this site we hope to expand on the how, the what (what works, what doesn't) and record our growth as we granularize.
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