In the last two entries I summarized our takeaways after thirteen years of implementing project management software for organizations throughout the World. I described how US companies, in a comparison to their Canadian, Australian and European peers, are more likely to make faster go/no-go decisions in the pre-sales process and dedicate a focused team to the project that is not interrupted by other tasks once the implementation begins. Lets now turn our attention to the differences between US companies and their peers as it relates to project scope management.
In general, US companies have done a better job of defining project scope prior to vendor selection, as well as understanding the strengths and limitations of the enterprise software they have selected prior to project execution. We have run into fewer scope change requests and have been more successful with managing change with a US team. On the other hand, non-US companies are more likely to discover signficant new gaps that adversely impact the project schedule. Let me give you a typical example.
Following a six month sales cycle, including an RFP, demos and vendor selection process, we signed a quarter million dollar deal with a non-US company to remain anonymous but nicknamed ABC for this story. Our service team engaged company ABC’s team to kick off the project. Within days, ABC’s project team had come up with three new system integration projects, many more billing/charge back scenarios, and pay rule exceptions that were not part of the original project scope. Our original service estimates had to be tripled and project timeline risk increased exponentially as a result of these change requests. Needless to say, ABC’s management was not pleased and a blame game ensued where both teams pointed fingers at each other. Ultimately the project was successful, but only at a much higher cost, a much longer period of time before go-live was acheived, and a lot of heated argumented between the two teams.
These are of course generalizations. These findings are not based on any scientific survey or research, and are merely the observations of one software company executive. On many occasions we have worked with organizations outside the United States that operate with the same agility and spirit of innovation as US companies.
