20+ Methods and Tools for Predicting the Success of Your Project at the Start

In the previous article, we covered "7 actionable steps to prepare for automation". Let's introduce ...

In a previous article, we dealt with "7 actionable steps to prepare for automation." Let's pretend they're passed and we know for sure that personal automation is a business need.

Aggregation of requirements

The first and important stage in the creation of a project. This is where the project is defined and shaped:

- goals and objectives of the future project;

- exact budget and timeline;

- competitive advantages and user expectations;

- structure, priorities and vision

An important detail!
Goals and objectives are often confused, but they are 2 different entities.

Purpose

more upper-level, answers the question, "What effect is expected after successful implementation?".

For example:

The goal of the project is to speed up the time it takes to process a customer's request and get it into production.

Task

a more specific entity. There are many methodologies for setting objectives. We use SMART. In other words, the objective must be: specific, achievable, measurable, meaningful (realistic), time-bound.

For example:

By the end of the month, reduce 20% customer request processing time by implementing a request acceptance system and training 50% operators.

There are extended versions of the SMART methodology that flesh out more of the task parameters.
For example:

  • SMARTER;
  • SMARTTA;
  • SMARRT;

and others.
Everyone chooses according to their own needs.

An example of one of the realized projects:

Project Objective:

Reduce the cost of servicing and maintaining the company's customers by creating an automated web-based system.

Project Objectives:
  • Speed up the process of adding a new company to the 90%;
  • Exclude the operator from the process of adding a company;
  • Reduce the processing time of the 20% application;
  • Exclude the operator from the reporting generation process;
  • Add recurring payment with companies.

Competitive advantages
and user expectations

If you have reached the automation stage, you already have a competitive advantage. There are several types of competitive advantage:

1. technological;
2. Resource;
3. Market-based;
4. innovative;
5. Cultural;
6. Managerial.

You may have one clear advantage, or you may have a little bit of everything.

To understand what really matters, you need to use 2 key techniques:

  • In-depth survey of current customers;
  • Competitive Analysis.

We won't spell out the technology, because that's mostly a function of marketing. Let's just list the main ones:
1. SWOT analysis;
2. Porter's analysis;
3. PEST;
4. CustDev;
5. 4P to 7P.

in the past, it used to look like this. Where red is a direct competitor, yellow is a direct competitor with additional services, green is not our segment, blue is a potential partner.

Determination of budget and timeline

There is no concept of average price on the development market. One and the same project can have a 10x difference in both cost and implementation time.

This is not about the greed of the owner at all. There are quite a lot of processes inside that are sometimes not evaluated. Test environment, maintenance, project testing, team professionalism, workload, training and many other things. Even the use of paid/free/own graphics with or without copyright.

More often than not, a business will interview a few studios and make a competitive sheet with a tentative fork and key advantages.

But, you only need to understand two parameters:
1. Whether a particular company will fulfill the project;
2. whether the investment will pay off.

On the first point, you need to look at the following parameters:

  • Testimonials;
  • Building a workflow process;
  • Relevant Experience;
  • Approach to work in the initial stages;
  • Promises are the result;
  • Ratings, portfolio, reputation.

The second is more complicated.....
We calculate the following data:

ROI = investment/expected result in money * 100%

ROI is often considered only on direct costs, forgetting about indirect costs.
For example, the cost of training employees on the updated process, system implementation, possible user attrition, etc.

The following methods can be used to estimate projected time and cost:
1. Gauss Bell;
2. Poisson distribution;
3. Top-down/bottom-up;
4. Game theory method;
5. Mastered volume method.

But most often for business it is rocket science, so relevant teams are found and the project starts. Or flexible project methodologies are used. We will talk about this a little later.

an example of estimating the range of labor costs by hour.

Composition
terms of reference

Depending on the planned format of the project, a different format of the terms of reference is required.

In the classic waterfall model, the statement of work is the primary document.

More often than not, a business will interview a few studios and make a competitive sheet with a tentative fork and key advantages.

The Terms of Reference (hereinafter referred to as ToR) should include:
1. Goals and Objectives;
2. design description and prototype;
3. Project Structure;
4. Roles;
5. Description of functional blocks;
6. Description of special requirements;
7. Safety Requirements;
8. Cost and implementation period;
9. Criteria for acceptance of works;
10. Process Description.

Half of these items are under- or over-detailed. The other half is interpreted in two ways.

We recommend:
Describe project milestones and decompose tasks into sprints. But, even the initial ToR is useful for all parties, as it creates an understanding of the result for all parties.

A list of tools that can help:
1. Miro;
2. Microsoft Project;
3. Figma;
4. MakeMyPersona;
5. LucidChart;
6. Camunda;
7. Aiava;
8. GanttPro;
9. Trello;
10. Asana;
11. GoogleDocs;
12. and many analogs.

example of process descriptions for automation.

example mindmap of one of the modules to demonstrate the structure.

Conclusion

Above, we've outlined the key steps that will allow you to form a clear and understandable outcome from your automation launch.

All of this should/can be delegated. But, hopefully, you have done well and you now have a clear understanding of the process of predicting the outcome.

✦ Schedule a consultation right now

and learn more about how implementing IT solutions can help your business improve.
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