Finding IT projects is not difficult in today's world, but making sure your company's IT resources are doing the right things is.

1. Keeping your IT on track
Michael Küsters

2. Make projects measurable

3. Value
•Business Benefit / Cost
Challenge
• Risk / Capability
Realism
•Clarity / Urgency

4. Value
Aim for high value
No value = No go
Business Benefit / Cost

5. Challenge
Low Challenge,
high success rate
No risk, no fun
Risk / Capability

6. Realism
Clarity / Urgency
Keep it real
Aim for the sky

7. Classify your projects

8. Go binary
“low, moderate, fairly high, very high” project value.
Has Value
No Value

9. Redefine Growth opportunity
Clarify Go – Do !
High Value ProjectsLowRealism
HighRealism
Low Challenge
High Challenge

10. SCRAP Candidate for
“Training on the job”
SCRAP Good to burn idle time
Low Value ProjectsLowRealism
HighRealism
Low Challenge
High Challenge

11. Optimize your Project Backlog

12. Focus
Scrap
Kill
Reject
Po stpo neNo case,
no
project
You need it later -
We’ll do it later
Not worth it Times have
changed
Minimizing your product backlog takes courage!

13. A product backlog before optimization
This isn’t done
because of that
We work on
this, this, this, this
And that
Project name Priority Focus
SpringCore security plugin for user portal 1 Full
Linux server security patch 1 High
Ordering platform for ABC product 1 High
Create a blog for sales team 2 Medium
Internal Wiki 3 Medium
Internal chat tool 3 Medium
Business report for ABC product 3 Medium
Product homepage for ABC product 3 Medium
Interface to tool XYZ 3 Low
Install Jenkins 3 Low
Many ongoing projects reduce efficiency and cause delay.

14. Link value to time
Will it make a difference if the solution is
delayed by 1 month?
Focus on stuff
that can’t wait
If it can wait,
Let it wait!

15. An optimized project backlog
Project name Mandatory? Value Realism Challenge Priority Action
Linux server security patch Y 1 Do
SpringCore security plugin for user portalY 1 Do
Ordering platform for ABC product N 1 Do
Install Jenkins N 3 Do
Create a blog for sales team N 2 Postpone
Internal Wiki N 3 Postpone
Internal chat tool N 3 Postpone
Business report for ABC product N 3 Scrap
Product homepage for ABC product N 3 Scrap
Interface to tool XYZ N 3 Scrap
Don’t ask again.
Never.
Ever.
Getting a few things done is better than having many things “not yet done”.
We’ll do that
if nothing better
comes up.
Later.
Out of focus,
out of mind
Focus

16. Kill projects

17. The Kill
Projects aren’t people.
Don’t hesitate to kill them.

18. Lingering projects
Frustration
The drag of “undone”.

19. Kill Triggers
Customer gone
New assignments
Technology changed
Release date exceeded
Productivity decline
Objectives changed

20. Don’t linger
Kill
Bury
Move
on
What was good,
what went wrong?

21. Get things done
Don’t deliver big packages.
Get pieces done.

22. Visible Progress
Tasks
• Every task, a
few commits
People
• Every person,
every day one
task
Stories
• Every couple of
days, at least
one story
Iteration
• Every iteration,
at least a
handful of
“stories”
Releases
• Every release,
significant new
features
Product
• Every 1-3
months, one
release
Is this happening? Permanent Sanity-Check

23. Establish momentum
Get things done
Celebrate small victories
Build on what you have
Make realistic promises - and keep them!
Make results visible

24. Keep time in mind

25. Constantly re-evaluate
Product value over time
should increase
Be wary if
value deprecates

26. Thanks for watching
Contact:
Michael.kuesters@se-co.de