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Case 1.1

A Day in the Life Rachel, the project manager of a large information systems project, arrives at her office early to get caught up with work before her co- workers and project team arrive. However, as she enters the office she meets Neil, one of her fellow project managers, Page 21 who also wants to get an early start on the day. Neil has just completed a project overseas. They spend 10 minutes socializing and catching up on personal news. It takes Rachel 10 minutes to get to her office and settle in. She then checks her voice mail and turns on her computer. She was at her client’s site the day before until 7:30 p.m. and has not checked her e-mail or voice mail since 3:30 p.m. the previous day. There are 7 phone messages, 16 e-mails, and 4 notes left on her desk. She spends 15 minutes reviewing her schedule and “to do” lists for the day before responding to messages that require immediate attention. Rachel spends the next 25 minutes going over project reports and preparing for the weekly status meeting. Her boss, who just arrived at the office, interrupts her. They spend 20 minutes discussing the project. He shares a rumor that a team member is using stimulants on the job. She tells him that she has not seen anything suspicious but will keep an eye on the team member.

The 9:00 a.m. project status meeting starts 15 minutes late because two of the team members have to finish a job for a client. Several people go to the cafeteria to get coffee and doughnuts while others discuss last night’s baseball game. The team members arrive, and the remaining 45 minutes

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of the progress review meeting surface project issues that have to be addressed and assigned for action. After the meeting Rachel goes down the hallway to meet with Victoria, another IS project manager. They spend 30 minutes reviewing project assignments since the two of them share personnel. Victoria’s project is behind schedule and in need of help. They broker a deal that should get Victoria’s project back on track.

She returns to her office and makes several phone calls and returns several e-mails before walking downstairs to visit with members of her project team. Her intent is to follow up on an issue that had surfaced in the status report meeting. However, her simple, “Hi guys, how are things going?” elicits a stream of disgruntled responses from the “troops.” After listening patiently for over 20 minutes, she realizes that among other things several of the client’s managers are beginning to request features that were not in the original project scope statement. She tells her people that she will get on this right away.

Returning to her office she tries to call her counterpart John at the client firm but is told that he is not expected back from lunch for another hour. At this time, Eddie drops by and says, “How about lunch?” Eddie works in the finance office and they spend the next half hour in the company cafeteria gossiping about internal politics. She is surprised to hear that Jonah Johnson, the director of systems projects, may join another firm. Jonah has always been a powerful ally.

She returns to her office, answers a few more e-mails, and finally gets through to John. They spend 30 minutes going over the problem. The conversation ends with John promising to do some investigating and to get back to her as soon as possible.

Rachel puts a “Do not disturb” sign on her door, and lies down in her office. She listens to the third and fourth movement of Ravel’s string quartet in F on headphones.

Rachel then takes the elevator down to the third floor and talks to the purchasing agent assigned to her project. They spend the next 30

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minutes exploring ways of getting necessary equipment to the project site earlier than planned. She finally authorizes express delivery.

When she returns to her office, her calendar reminds her that she is scheduled to participate in a conference call at 2:30. It takes 15 minutes for everyone to get online. During this time, Rachel catches up on some e-mail. The next hour is spent exchanging information about the technical requirements associated with a new version of a software package they are using on systems projects like hers.

Rachel decides to stretch her legs and goes on a walk down the hallway where she engages in brief conversations with various co-workers. She goes out of her way to thank Page 22 Chandra for his thoughtful analysis at the status report meeting. She returns to find that John has left a message for her to call him back ASAP. She contacts John, who informs her that, according to his people, her firm’s marketing rep had made certain promises about specific features her system would provide. He doesn’t know how this communication breakdown occurred, but his people are pretty upset over the situation. Rachel thanks John for the information and immediately takes the stairs to where the marketing group resides. She asks to see Mary, a senior marketing manager. She waits 10 minutes before being invited into her office. After a heated discussion, she leaves 40 minutes later with Mary agreeing to talk to her people about what was promised and what was not promised.

She goes downstairs to her people to give them an update on what is happening. They spend 30 minutes reviewing the impact the client’s requests could have on the project schedule. She also shares with them the schedule changes she and Victoria had agreed to. After she says good night to her team, she heads upstairs to her boss’s office and spends 20 minutes updating him on key events of the day. She returns to her office and spends 30 minutes reviewing e-mails and project documents. She logs on to the MS project schedule of her project and spends the next 30 minutes working with “what-if” scenarios. She reviews tomorrow’s schedule and writes some personal reminders before starting off on her 30-minute commute home.

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Case 1.2

The Hokies Lunch

Group1 Part A Fatma settled down for lunch at the Yank Sing Chinese restaurant. She was early and took the time to catch up on her e-mail. Soon she would be joined by Jasper and Viktoria, two fellow 2014 grads from Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia.

Jasper worked as a software engineer for a start-up company that wanted to expand the boundaries of sharing economy. Viktoria was an electrical engineer who worked for a German healthcare company in San Francisco. They had met each other at a Silicon Valley alumni reception hosted by Virginia Tech. Each of them felt a bit like a fish out of water on the West Coast, so they decided to have lunch together each month. The lunch evolved into a professional support group. A major part of each of their jobs was managing projects, and they found it useful to share issues and seek advice from each other.

Fatma worked for a very successful Internet company whose founders believed that everyone in the firm should devote three days a year to community service projects. The company was partnering with several companies in the construction industry to renovate abandoned buildings for low income families. The next project was the renovation of an empty warehouse into eight two-bedroom apartments. Fatma was part of the core team in charge of scheduling and managing work assignments.

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Viktoria and Jasper entered the restaurant together. Viktoria was the first to move to the Bay area. She was currently working on the next- generation neural Page 23 stimulator (“PAX 2”). Neural stimulators are electronic devices that doctors implant in patients with wires connected to sources of pain in the patient's spine. In the past, patients would have to have an operation to replace the stimulator battery every 10 years. PAX 2 was being designed to take advantage of new battery technologies and use a rechargeable battery. In concept, this battery system would eliminate the need for replacement surgeries and allow the implanted battery to be recharged externally. Viktoria's team had just completed the second prototype and was entering a critical testing phase. It had been tricky trying to predict the life span of the new rechargeable battery without testing it in real time. She was anxious to begin seeing the test results. Jasper was working for a start-up company after doing contract work for his first nine months in San Francisco. He was sworn to secrecy about the project and all Fatma and Viktoria knew was that the project had something to do with sharing economy. He was working with a small development team that included colleagues from Bangalore, India, and Malmo, Sweden.

After ordering and chit-chatting a bit, Fatma started the discussion. “I will be glad when this week is over,” she said. “We’ve been struggling defining the scope of the project. At first glance our project seems relatively simple, build eight two-bedroom apartments in an old warehouse. But there are a lot of unanswered questions. What kind of community space do we want to have? How efficient should the energy system be? What kind of furniture? Everybody wants to do a good job, but when does low income housing morph into middle income housing?”

Viktoria offered, “Scope defining is one of the things my company does very well. Before a project is authorized, a detailed scope statement is developed that clearly defines the project objectives, priorities, budget, requirements, limits, and exclusions. All of the key stakeholders sign off on it. It is really important to identify priorities up front. I know on the PAX 2 project that scope is the number one priority. I know no matter how long it takes it is imperative that my work is done right.”

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Fatma responded, “That’s exactly what my Project manager is preparing for Friday’s meeting. I guess that is one of the things you have to do as a project manager is end discussions. He is going to make the tough calls and finalize the project scope so we can begin planning.”

Jasper interjected, “You guys are so lucky, for the most part your scope remains the same. In my work the scope is constantly changing. You show the founders a feature they wanted, and they say well if you can do that, can you do this? You know it's going to happen, but you really can’t plan for it.”

Jasper went on to say, “We do know what our number one priority is: time. There are a lot of players trying to move in to the 'space' we are working on. We have to demonstrate we are ahead of the pack if we are going to continue to get VC funding.”2 Jasper said that despite the pressure, his project had been a lot of fun. He especially liked working with his Swedish and Indian counterparts, Axel and Raja. They worked like a global tag team on their part of the project. Jasper would code and then pass his work onto Raja who would work on it and pass it on to Axel, who would eventually hand it off to Jasper. Given the time zones, they were able to have at least one person working on the code around the clock.

Jasper said it was hard at first working with someone you never met personally other than on a video screen. Trust was an issue. Everyone was trying to prove themselves. Eventually a friendly competition arose across the team. The programmers Page 24 exchanged funny cartoons and YouTube videos. He showed Fatma and Viktoria a YouTube video about scope creep that got a chuckle from everyone. They made plans to meet next at the New Peruvian restaurant on SE 8th Street.

Part B The Peruvian cilantro/lime ceviche was a big hit at the next lunch. Viktoria began their discussion by reporting, “I have good and bad news. The bad news is that our first prototype failed its tests miserably. The good news is that I have a smart project manager. She knew this could happen, so she mitigated the risk by having us working on two

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alternative battery technologies. The alternative technology is passing all of the tests. Instead of falling behind months we are only days behind schedule.”

This precipitated a discussion of risk management. Fatma reported that there had been a two-day session on risk management for the renovation project. They spent the first day brainstorming what could go wrong, and the second day coming up with strategies for dealing with risks. A big help was the risk report that was generated after the last project. The report detailed all of the problems that had occurred on the last renovation project as well as recommendations. Fatma said, “I couldn’t believe how much time and attention was devoted to safety, but as my project manager said, ‘all it takes is one bad accident to shut down a project for weeks, even months.’”

Jasper reported that on his project they spent very little time on risk management. His project was driven by a build-test mentality. “Everybody assumes that daily testing eliminates problems, but when it’s time to integrate different features, that’s when the real bugs will emerge,” Jasper said.

Jasper went on to say that things were not going well at work. They had missed their second straight milestone, and everyone was feeling the pressure to show results. “I even slept by my cubicle three nights ago,” Jasper confessed. Fatma asked, “How many hours are you working?” “I don’t know, at least 70, maybe 80 hours,” Jasper answered. He went on to say, “This is a high stakes project, with a BIG upside if successful. I am doing some of my best programming and we’ll just have to see what happens.”

Jasper showed them a cartoon that was being circulated across his team. The caption read: “When did you want it done? Yesterday.”

Fatma turned to her friends and said, “I need some advice. As you know I'm responsible for scheduling work assignments. Well, some of my colleagues have been pretty aggressive lobbying for choice assignments. Everyone wants to work alongside Bruno or Ryan. Suddenly I am everyone’s friends, and certain people are going way out of their way to

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do favors for me. I am sure they think it will influence my decisions. It’s getting awkward and I am not sure what to do.”

“Quid pro quo,” answered Jasper, “that’s how the business world works. You scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours. Within reason, I don’t have a problem with someone taking advantage of their position to garner favors and build relationships.”

Viktoria said, “I disagree. You don’t want to be seen as someone whose influence can be bought. You need to think what’s best for the company. You need to ask yourself what would Bruno and Ryan want you to do? And if you don’t know, ask them.”

After much discussion, Fatma left the restaurant leaning towards Viktoria’s advice, but she wasn’t sure what the guidelines should be.

Part C It took two months for the Hokie lunch group to get together again. Jasper had canceled the last meeting because of work, so Viktoria and Fatma saw a movie together instead.

Page 25 Jasper was the last person to arrive and it was clear from the look on his face that things were not going well. He sat down, avoided eye contact, before blurting, “I’m out of work.” “What do you mean?” Fatma and Viktoria cried. Jasper explained after months and months of work they had been unable to demonstrate a functional product.

Jasper went on to say, “Despite our best efforts we couldn’t deliver. The founders couldn’t get an ounce of second round venture funding, so they decided to cut their losses and kill the project. I just spent the best six months of my programming life for nothing.”

Fatma and Viktoria tried to comfort their friend. Fatma asked Jasper how the others were taking the news. Jasper said the Swedish programmer, Axel, took the news very hard. He went on to say, “I think he was burning a lot of bridges at home with the long work hours and now he has nothing to show for it. He started blaming us for mistakes we

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never made.” Raja, his Indian counterpart, was a different story. “Raja seemed to shrug his shoulders.” Jasper added, “He said, I know I am a good programmer. There are lots of opportunities here in Bangalore.”

Fatma broke the silence that followed by saying to Jasper, “Send me your resume. My company is always looking for top notch programmers and it is a really great company. Can you believe it, the two founders, Bruno and Ryan, are working side by side with everyone on renovating the warehouse? In fact, people were amazed at how good Bruno was with sheet rock. A big part of my job now is scheduling their time so they can work with as many different people as possible. They really want to use the project to get to know their employees. This hasn’t been easy. I have had to juggle their calendars, their abilities, and work opportunities.”

Viktoria interjected, “You’re using Microsoft Project to do this?” “Not really,” responded Fatma. “At first I tried scheduling their work in Project, but it was too cumbersome and time consuming. Now I just use the Project master schedule and each of their calendars to schedule their work. This seems to work best.”

Viktoria added, “Yeah, Microsoft Project is a great program, but you can get lost trying to get it to do everything. Sometimes all you need is an Excel sheet and common sense.”

Viktoria felt awkward, given what had happened to Jasper. She was just wrapping up the successful PAX 2 project. She was also getting ready for a well-deserved holiday in Vietnam paid for by her project bonus. “I hate closing out a project,” Viktoria said. “It’s so boring. Document, document, document! I keep kicking myself for not tracking things when they happened. I am spending most of my time scouring my computer for files. I can’t wait to take off to Vietnam.”

Viktoria went on to say, “The only thing I liked doing was the project retrospective.”

Jasper asked, “What’s a project retrospective?” Viktoria answered, “It’s when the project team gets together and reviews what went well, what didn’t, and identifies lessons learned that we can apply to future projects.

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For example, one of the things we learned was that we needed to bring the manufacturing people on board a lot sooner in the design process. We focused on designing the very best product possible, regardless of cost. We found out later that there were ways for reducing production costs without compromising quality.”

Fatma added, “We do that too at the end of our projects, but we call it an audit.”

Fatma asked Viktoria, “Do you know what your next assignment will be?” “No,” she replied, “I will probably go back to my department and do some testing. I’m not worried. I did good work. I am sure someone will want me for their project.”

Jasper chimed in, “I sure hope someone wants me for their next project.” Fatma and Viktoria immediately went into action trying to lift their friend’s spirits.

A little while later, they walked out of the Tapa restaurant and gave each other hugs. Fatma reminded Jasper to send her his latest resume.

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Case 2.1

Hector Gaming

Company Hector Gaming Company (HGC) is an educational gaming company specializing in young children’s educational games. HGC has just completed their fourth year of operation. This year was a banner year for HGC. The company received a large influx of capital for growth by issuing stock privately through an investment banking firm. It appears the return on investment for this past year will be just over 25 percent with zero debt! The growth rate for the last two years has been approximately 80 percent each year. Parents and grandparents of young children have been buying HGC’s products almost as fast as they are developed. Every member of the 56-person firm is enthusiastic and looking forward to helping the firm grow to be the largest and best educational gaming company in the world. The founder of the firm, Sally Peters, has been written up in Young Entrepreneurs as “the young entrepreneur to watch.” She has been able to develop an organization culture in which all stakeholders are committed to innovation, continuous improvement, and organization learning. Last year, 10 top managers of HGC worked with McKinley Consulting to develop the organization’s strategic plan. This year the same 10 managers had a retreat in Aruba to formulate next year’s strategic plan using the same process suggested by McKinley Consulting. Most executives seem to have a consensus of where the firm should go in the intermediate and long term. But there is little consensus on how this should be accomplished. Peters, now president of HGC, feels she may be

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losing control. The frequency of conflicts seems to be increasing. Some individuals are always requested for any new project created. When resource conflicts occur among projects, each project manager believes his or her project is most important. More projects are Page 58 not meeting deadlines and are coming in over budget. Yesterday’s management meeting revealed some top HGC talent have been working on an international business game for college students. This project does not fit the organization vision or market niche. At times it seems everyone is marching to his or her own drummer. Somehow more focus is needed to ensure everyone agrees on how strategy should be implemented, given the resources available to the organization. Yesterday’s meeting alarmed Peters. These emerging problems are coming at a bad time. Next week HGC is ramping up the size of the organization, number of new products per year, and marketing efforts. Fifteen new people will join HGC next month. Peters is concerned that policies be in place that will ensure the new people are used most productively. An additional potential problem looms on the horizon. Other gaming companies have noticed the success HGC is having in their niche market; one company tried to hire a key product development employee away from HGC. Peters wants HGC to be ready to meet any potential competition head on and to discourage any new entries into their market. Peters knows HGC is project driven; however, she is not as confident that she has a good handle on how such an organization should be managed—especially with such a fast growth rate and potential competition closer to becoming a reality. The magnitude of emerging problems demands quick attention and resolution.

Peters has hired you as a consultant. She has suggested the following format for your consulting contract. You are free to use another format if it will improve the effectiveness of the consulting engagement.

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Case 3.1

Moss and McAdams

Accounting Firm Bruce Palmer had worked for Moss and McAdams (M&M) for six years and was just promoted to account manager. His first assignment was to lead an audit of Johnsonville Trucks. He was quite pleased with the five accountants who had been assigned to his team, especially Zeke Olds. Olds was an Army vet who returned to school to get a double major in accounting and computer sciences. He was on top of the latest developments in financial information systems and had a reputation for coming up with innovative solutions to problems.

M&M was a well-established regional accounting firm with 160 employees located across six offices in Minnesota and Wisconsin. The main office, where Palmer worked, was in Green Bay, Wisconsin. In fact, one of the founding members, Seth Moss, played briefly for the hometown NFL Packers during the late 1950s. M&M’s primary services were corporate audits and tax preparation. Over the last two years the partners decided to move more aggressively into the consulting business. M&M projected that consulting would represent 40 percent of their growth over the next five years.

M&M operated within a matrix structure. As new clients were recruited, a manager was assigned to the account. A manager might be assigned to several accounts, depending on the size and scope of the work. This was especially true in the case of tax Page 95 preparation projects, where it

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was not uncommon for a manager to be assigned to 8 to 12 clients. Likewise, senior and staff accountants were assigned to multiple account teams. Ruby Sands was the office manager responsible for assigning personnel to different accounts at the Green Bay office. She did her best to assign staff to multiple projects under the same manager. This wasn’t always possible, and sometimes accountants had to work on projects led by different managers. M&M, like most accounting firms, had a tiered promotion system. New CPAs entered as junior or staff accountants. Within two years, their performance was reviewed and they were either asked to leave or promoted to senior accountant. Sometime during their fifth or sixth year, a decision was made to promote them to account manager. Finally, after 10 to 12 years with the firm, the manager was considered for promotion to partner. This was a very competitive position. During the last five years, only 20 percent of account managers at M&M had been promoted to partner. However, once a partner, they were virtually guaranteed the position for life and enjoyed significant increases in salary, benefits, and prestige. M&M had a reputation for being a results-driven organization; partner promotions were based on meeting deadlines, retaining clients, and generating revenue. The promotion team based its decision on the relative performance of the account manager in comparison to his or her cohorts.

One week into the Johnsonville audit, Palmer received a call from Sands to visit her office. There he was introduced to Ken Crosby, who recently joined M&M after working nine years for a Big 5 accounting firm. Crosby was recruited to manage special consulting projects. Sands reported that Crosby had just secured a major consulting project with Springfield Metals. This was a major coup for the firm: M&M had competed against two Big 5 accounting firms for the project. Sands went on to explain that she was working with Crosby to put together his team. Crosby insisted that Zeke Olds be assigned to his team. Sands told him that this would be impossible because Olds was already assigned to work on the Johnsonville audit. Crosby persisted, arguing that Olds’s expertise was essential to the Springfield project. Sands decided to work out a compromise and have Olds split time across both projects.

At this time Crosby turned to Palmer and said, “I believe in keeping things simple. Why don’t we agree that Olds works for me in the

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mornings and you in the afternoons. I’m sure we can work out any problems that come up. After all, we both work for the same firm.”

SIX WEEKS LATER Palmer could scream whenever he remembered Crosby’s words, “After all, we both work for the same firm.” The first sign of trouble came during the first week of the new arrangement when Crosby called, begging to have Olds work all of Thursday on his project. They were conducting an extensive client visit, and Olds was critical to the assessment. After Palmer reluctantly agreed, Crosby said he owed him one. The next week when Palmer called Crosby to request that he return the favor, Crosby flatly refused and said any other time but not this week. Palmer tried again a week later and got the same response.

At first Olds showed up promptly at 1:00 p.m. at Palmer’s office to work on the audit. Soon it became a habit to show up 30 to 60 minutes late. There was always a good reason. He was in a meeting in Springfield and couldn’t just leave, or an urgent task took longer than planned. One time it was because Crosby took his entire team out to lunch at the new Thai restaurant—Olds was over an hour late because of slow service. In the beginning Olds would usually make up the time by working after hours, but Palmer could tell from conversations he overheard that this was creating tension at home.

Page 96 What probably bothered Palmer the most were the e-mails and telephone calls Olds received from Crosby and his team members during the afternoons when he was supposed to be working for Palmer. A couple of times Palmer could have sworn that Olds was working on Crosby’s project in his (Palmer’s) office.

Palmer met with Crosby to talk about the problem and voice his complaints. Crosby acted surprised and even a little bit hurt. He promised things would change, but the pattern continued.

Palmer was becoming paranoid about Crosby. He knew that Crosby played golf with Olds on the weekends and could just imagine him badmouthing the Johnsonville project and pointing out how boring

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auditing work was. The sad fact was that there probably was some truth to what he was saying. The Johnsonville project was getting bogged down, and the team was slipping behind schedule. One of the contributing factors was Olds’s performance. His work was not up to its usual standards. Palmer approached Olds about this, and Olds became defensive. Olds later apologized and confided that he found it difficult switching his thinking from consulting to auditing and then back to consulting. He promised to do better, and there was a slight improvement in his performance.

The last straw came when Olds asked to leave work early on Friday so that he could take his wife and kids to a Milwaukee Brewers baseball game. It turned out Springfield Metals had given Crosby their corporate tickets, and he decided to treat his team with box seats right behind the Brewers dugout. Palmer hated to do it, but he had to refuse the request. He felt guilty when he overheard Olds explaining to his son on the telephone why they couldn’t go to the game.

Palmer finally decided to pick up the phone and request an urgent meeting with Sands to resolve the problem. He got up enough nerve and put in the call only to be told that Sands wouldn’t be back in the office until next week. As he put the receiver down, he thought maybe things would get better.

TWO WEEKS LATER Sands showed up unexpectedly at Palmer’s office and said they needed to talk about Olds. Palmer was delighted, thinking that now he could tell her what had been going on. But before he had a chance to speak, Sands told him that Olds had come to see her yesterday. She told him that Olds confessed that he was having a hard time working on both Crosby’s and Palmer’s projects. He was having difficulty concentrating on the auditing work in the afternoon because he was thinking about some of the consulting issues that had emerged during the morning. He was putting in extra hours to try to meet both of the projects’ deadlines, and this was creating problems at home. The bottom line was that he was stressed out and couldn’t deal with the situation. He asked that he be assigned full- time to Crosby’s project. Sands went on to say that Olds didn’t blame Palmer, in fact he had a lot of nice things to say about him. He just

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enjoyed the consulting work more and found it more challenging. Sands concluded by saying, “I told him I understood, and I would talk to you about the situation and see what could be done. Frankly, I think we should pull him from your project and have him work full-time on Crosby’s project. What do you think?”

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Case 3.2

Horizon Consulting Patti Smith looked up at the bright blue Carolina sky before she entered the offices of Horizon Consulting. Today was Friday, which meant she needed to prepare for the weekly status report meeting. Horizon Consulting is a custom software development company that offers fully integrated mobile application services for iPhone™, Android™, Windows Mobile® and BlackBerry® platforms. Horizon was founded by James Thrasher, a former marketing executive, who quickly saw the potential for digital marketing via smartphones. Horizon enjoyed initial success in sports marketing, but quickly expanded to other industries. A key to their success was the decline in cost for developing smartphone applications, which expanded the client base. The decline in cost was primarily due to learning curve and ability to build customized solutions on established platforms. Patti Smith was a late bloomer who went back to college after working in the restaurant business for nine years. She and her former husband had tried unsuccessfully to operate a vegetarian restaurant in Golden, Colorado. After her divorce, she returned to University of Colorado where she majored in Management Information Systems with a minor in Marketing. While she enjoyed her marketing classes much more than her MIS classes, she felt the IT know-how acquired would give her an advantage in the job market. This turned out to be true as Horizon hired her to be an Account Manager soon after graduation.

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Patti Smith was hired to replace Stephen Stills who had started the restaurant side of the business at Horizon. Stephen was “let go” according to one Account Manager for being a prima donna and hoarding resources. Patti’s clients ranged from high-end restaurants to hole-in- wall mom and pop shops. She helped develop smartphone apps that let users make reservations, browse menus, receive alerts on daily specials, provide customer feedback, order take-out, and in some cases order delivery. As an Account Manager she worked with clients to assess their needs, develop a plan, and create customized smartphone apps. Horizon appeared to be a good fit for Patti. She had enough technical training to be able to work with software engineers and help guide them to produce client-ready products. At the same time she could relate to the restaurateurs and enjoyed working with them on web design and digital marketing.

Horizon was organized into three departments: Sales, Software Development, and Graphics, with Account Managers acting as project managers. Account Managers generally came from Sales, and would divide their time between projects and making sales pitches to potential new clients. Horizon employed a core group of software engineers and designers, supplemented by contracted programmers when needed.

The first step in developing a smartphone application involved the Account Manager meeting with the client to define the requirements and vision for the application. The Account Manager would then work with a Graphic User Interface (GUI) designer to come up with a preliminary story board of how the application would function and look. Once the initial concept and requirements were approved the Account Manager was assigned two pairs of software engineers. The first pair (app engineers) would work on the smartphone side of the application while the second pair would work on the client side of the application. Horizon preferred to have software engineers work in tandem so they could check each other’s work. The two app engineers would typically work full Page

98 time on the application until it was completed while the other engineers would work on multiple projects as needed. Likewise, GUI designers would work on the project at certain key stages in the product development cycle when their expertise was needed.

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The head of Graphics managed the GUI designers’ schedule while the head of Software managed the software engineer assignments. At the end of each project Account Managers submitted performance reviews of their team. The Director of Sales was responsible for the Account Managers’ performance reviews based on customer satisfaction, generation of sales, and project performance.

Horizon believed in iterative development, and every two to three weeks Account Managers were expected to demonstrate the latest version of applications to clients. This led to useful feedback and in many cases redefining the scope of the project. Often clients wanted to add more functionality to their application once they realized what the software could do. Depending upon the complexity of the application and changes introduced once the project was under way, it typically took Horizon two to four months to deliver a finished product to a client.

Patti was currently working on three projects. One was for Shanghai Wok, a busy Chinese mom and pop restaurant located in downtown Charlotte, North Carolina. The owners of Shanghai Wok wanted Horizon to create a smartphone app that would allow customers to order and pay in advance for meals they would simply pick up at a walk-up window. The second project was for Taste of India that operated in Kannapolis, North Carolina. They wanted Horizon to create a phone app that would allow staff at the nearby bio-tech firms to order food that would be delivered on-site during lunch and dinner hours. The last project was for Nearly Normal, a vegetarian restaurant which wanted to send out e-mail alerts to subscribers that would describe in detail their daily fresh specials.

James Thrasher was an admirer of Google and encouraged a playful but focused environment at work. Employees were allowed to decorate their work spaces, bring pets to work, and play ping-pong or pool when they needed a break. Horizon paid its employees well but the big payoff was the annual Christmas bonus. This bonus was based on overall company profits, which were distributed proportionately based on pay grade and performance reviews. It was not uncommon for employees to receive a 10–15 percent boost in pay at the end of the year.

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STATUS REPORT MEETING As was her habit Patti entered the status report meeting room early. David Briggs was in the midst of describing the game-winning catch John Lorsch had made in last night’s softball game. Horizon sponsored a co-ed city league softball team which most of the Account Managers played on. Patti had been coaxed to play to ensure that the requisite number of “females” were on the field. She balked at the idea at first; softball wasn’t really her sport, but she was glad she did. Not only was it fun, but it gave her a chance to get to know the other managers.

James Thrasher entered the room and everyone settled down to business. He started off as he always did by asking if anybody had important news to bring to everyone’s attention. Jackson Browne slowly raised his hand and said, “I am afraid I do. I just received notification from Apple IOS that they have rejected our TAT app.” TAT was a phone app that Jackson was the project lead on that allowed subscribers to reserve and see in real time what swimming lanes were available at a prestigious athletic club. This announcement was followed by a collective groan. Before an Apple app could go operational it had to be submitted and approved by Apple. Usually this was not a problem, but lately Apple had been rejecting apps for a variety of reasons. Jackson went on Page

99 to circulate the list of changes that had to be made before Apple would approve the app. The group studied the list, and in some cases ridiculed the new requirements. Ultimately, James Thrasher asked Jackson how long it would take to make the necessary changes and resubmit the app for approval. Jackson felt it would probably take two to three weeks at most. Thrasher asked who the engineers that worked on this project were. Patti’s heart fell. One of the app engineers who had developed the TAT app was working on her Shanghai Wok project. She knew what was going to happen next. Thrasher announced, “OK everyone, it only makes sense that these engineers are the best ones to finish what they had started so they are all going to have to be reassigned back to the TAT project. Those affected are going to have to get together after this meeting and figure how you are going to replace them.” The meeting then proceeded as planned with all the account managers reporting the status of their projects, and sharing relevant issues with the group.

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POST-MEETING As everyone filed out, Patti looked around to see who else was in her same boat. There were three other Account Managers as well as Jackson Browne. Resource assignments were a reoccurring issue at Horizon given the nature of their work. Horizon had developed a policy where decisions were made based on project priority. Each project was assigned a Green, Blue or Purple designation based on the company priority. Priority status was based on the extent the project contributed to the mission of the firm. The Shanghai Wok project given its limited size and scope was a Purple project, which was the lowest ranking. The list of available software engineers was displayed on the big screen. Patti was only familiar with a few of the names.

Leigh Taylor who had the only Green project immediately selected Jason Wheeler from the list. She had used him before and was confident in his work. Tom Watson and Samantha Stewart both had Blue Projects and both needed to replace a mobile app engineer. They both immediately jumped on the name of Prem Mathew, claiming he was the best person for their project. After some friendly jousting, Tom said, “OK, Sam, you can have him; I remember when you helped me out on the Argos project; besides my project is just beginning. I’ll take Shin Chen.” Everyone looked at Patti; she started by saying, “You know, I am only familiar with a few of these names; I guess I’ll go with Mike Thu.” Jackson interjected, “Hey everyone, I am really sorry this happened, and I am sure Mike is a good programmer, but I recommend you work with Axel Gerthoff. I have used him before, and he is a very quick study and a joy to work with.” This was a relief to Patti and she quickly took his advice. They left to submit a report to Thrasher detailing the decisions they each had made and the impact on their projects.

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Case 4.2

The Home Improvement

Project Lukas Nelson and his wife, Anne, and their three daughters had been living in their house for over five years when they decided it was time to make some modest improvements. One area they both agreed needed an upgrade was the bathtub. Their current house had one standard shower bathtub combination. Lukas was 6 feet four, and could barely squeeze into it. In fact, he had taken only one bath since they moved in. He and Anne both missed soaking in the older, deep bathtubs they enjoyed when they lived back East.

Fortunately, the previous owners that built the house had plumbed the corner of a large exercise room in the basement for a hot tub. They contacted a trusted remodeling contractor who assured them it would be relatively easy to install a new bathtub and it shouldn’t cost more than $1,500. They decided to go ahead with the project.

First the Nelsons went to the local plumbing retailer to pick out a tub. They soon realized that for a few hundred dollars more they could buy a big tub with water jets (a Jacuzzi). With old age on the horizon a Jacuzzi seemed like a luxury that was worth the extra money.

Originally the plan was to install the tub using the simple plastic frame the bath came with and install a splash guard around the tub. Once Anne saw the tub, frame, and splashguard in the room she balked. She did not

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like how it looked with the cedar paneling in the exercise room. After significant debate, Ann won out, and the Nelsons agreed to pay extra to have a cedar frame built for the tub and use attractive tile instead of the plastic splashguard. Lukas rationalized the changes would pay for themselves when they tried to sell the house.

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The next hiccup occurred when it came time to address the flooring issue. The exercise room was carpeted, which wasn’t ideal when getting out of a bathtub. The original idea was to install relatively cheap laminated flooring in the drying and undressing area adjacent to the tub. However, the Nelsons couldn’t agree on the pattern to use. One of Anne’s friends said it would be a shame to put such cheap flooring in such a nice room. She felt they should consider using tile. The contractor agreed and said he knew a tile installer who needed work and would give them a good deal.

Lukas reluctantly agreed that the laminated options just didn’t fit the style or quality of the exercise room. Unlike the laminated floor debate both Anne and Lukas immediately liked a tile pattern that matched the tile used around the tub. Anxious not to delay the project, they agreed to pay for the tile flooring.

Once the tub was installed and the framing was almost completed, Anne realized that something had to be done about the lighting. One of her favorite things to do was to read while soaking in the tub. The existing lights didn’t provide sufficient illumination for doing so. Lukas knew this was “non-negotiable” and they hired an electrician to install additional lighting over the bathtub.

While the lighting was being installed and the tile was being laid, another issue came up. The original plan was to tile only the exercise room and use remnant rugs to cover the area away from the tub where the Nelsons did their exercises. The Nelsons were very happy with how the tile looked and fit with the overall room. However, it clashed with the laminated flooring in the adjacent bathroom. Lukas agreed with Ann, that it really made the adjacent bathroom look cheap and ugly. He also felt the bathroom was so small it wouldn’t cost much more.

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After a week the work was completed. Both Lukas and Anne were quite pleased with how everything turned out. It cost much more than they had planned, but they planned to live in the house until the girls graduated from college so they felt it was a good long-term investment.

Anne had the first turn using the bathtub followed by their three girls. Everyone enjoyed the Jacuzzi. It was 10:00 p.m. when Lukas began running water for his first bath. At first the water was steaming hot, but by the time he was about to get in, it was lukewarm at best. Lukas groaned, “After paying all of that money I still can’t enjoy a bath.”

The Nelsons rationed bathing for a couple weeks, until they decided to find out what if anything could be done about the hot water problem. They asked a reputable heating contractor to assess the situation. The contractor reported that the hot water tank was insufficient to service a family of five. This had not been discovered before because baths were rarely taken in the past. The contractor said it would cost $2,200 to replace the existing water heater with a larger one that would meet their needs. The heating contractor also said if they wanted to do it right they should replace the existing furnace with a more energy efficient one. A new furnace would not only heat the house but also indirectly heat the water tank. Such a furnace would cost $7,500, but with the improved efficiency and savings in the gas bill, the furnace would pay for itself in 10 years. Besides, the Nelsons would likely receive tax credits for the more fuel-efficient furnace.

Three weeks later, after the new furnace was installed, Lukas settled into the new bathtub. He looked around the room at all the changes that had been made and muttered to himself, “And to think that all I wanted was to soak in a nice, hot bath.”

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Case 10.1

The Blue Sky Project* Garth Hudson was a 29-year-old graduate of Eastern State University (ESU) with a B.S. degree in management information systems. After graduation he worked for seven years at Bluegrass Systems in Louisville, Kentucky. While at ESU he worked part time for an oceanography professor, Ahmet Green, creating a customized database for a research project he was conducting. Green was recently appointed director of Eastern Oceanography Institute (EOI), and Hudson was confident that this prior experience was instrumental in his getting the job as information services (IS) director at the Institute. Although he took a significant pay cut, he jumped at the opportunity to return to his alma mater. His job at Bluegrass Systems had been very demanding. The long hours and extensive traveling had created tension in his marriage. He was looking forward to a normal job with reasonable hours. Besides, Jenna, his wife, would be busy Page 368 pursuing her MBA at Eastern State University. While at Bluegrass, Hudson worked on a wide range of IS projects. He was confident that he had the requisite technical expertise to excel at his new job. Eastern Oceanography Institute was an independently funded research facility aligned with Eastern State University. Approximately 50 full- and part-time staff worked at the Institute. They worked on research grants funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the United Nations (UN), as well as research financed by private industry. There

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were typically 7 to 9 major research projects under way at any one time as well as 20 to 25 smaller projects. One-third of the Institute’s scientists had part-time teaching assignments at ESU and used the Institute to conduct their own basic research.

FIRST YEAR AT EOI Hudson made a point of introducing himself to the various groups of people upon his arrival at the Institute. Still, his contact with the staff had been limited. He spent most of his time becoming familiar with EOI’s information system, training his staff, responding to unexpected problems, and working on various projects. Hudson suffered from food allergies and refrained from informal staff lunches at nearby restaurants. He stopped regularly attending the biweekly staff meetings in order to devote more time to his work. He now only attended the meetings when there was a specific agenda item regarding his operation.

The IS staff at EOI consisted of two full-time assistants, Tom Jackson and Grant Hill. They were supported by five part-time student assistants from the computer science department. Grant Hill was assigned full-time to a large five-year NSF grant aimed at creating a virtual library of oceanographic research. Hill worked out of the project leader’s office and had very little interaction with Hudson or Jackson. Hudson’s relationship with Jackson was awkward from the start. He found out, after the fact, that Jackson thought he would get the job as director. They never talked about it, but he sensed tension the first couple of months on the job. One of the problems was that he and Jackson were totally different personalities. Jackson was gregarious and very talkative. He had a habit of after lunch walking around the Institute talking to different scientists and researchers. Often this would lead to useful information. Hudson, on the other hand, preferred to stay in his office working on various assignments and ventured out only when called upon. While Hudson felt Jackson was not on top of the latest developments as he was, he respected Jackson’s work.

Last month the system was corrupted by a virus introduced over the Internet. Hudson devoted an entire weekend to restoring the system to operation. A recurring headache was one of the servers, code-named “Poncho,” that would occasionally shut down for no apparent reason.

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Instead of replacing it, he decided to nurse Poncho along until it could be replaced. His work was frequently interrupted by frantic calls from staff researchers who needed immediate help on a variety of computer-related problems. He was shocked at how computer illiterate some of the researchers were and how he had to guide them through some of the basics of e-mail management and database configuration. He did find time to help Assistant Professor Amanda Johnson on a project. Johnson was the only researcher to respond to Hudson’s e-mail announcing that the IS staff was available to help on projects. Hudson created a virtual project office on the Internet so that Johnson could collaborate with colleagues from institutes in Italy and Thailand on a UN research grant. He looked forward to the day when he could spend more time on fun projects like that.

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THE BLUE SKY CONVERSION PROJECT The “Blue Sky” conversion project began in earnest four months ago. Ahmet Green returned from Washington, D.C., with grim news. The economic downturn was going to lead to a dramatic reduction in funding. He anticipated as much as a 25 percent reduction in annual budget over the next three to five years. This would lead to staff reductions and cutting operating costs. One cost-cutting measure was moving IT operations to the “cloud.” Green had first proposed the idea to Hudson after attending a meeting with several directors of other institutes who faced similar financial challenges.

The basic strategy was to move all of the Institute’s databases, software, and even hardware to a “private cloud.” Staff would use their current PCs to simply access more powerful machines over the Internet. These powerful machines could be partitioned and configured differently as per the needs of research staff, giving each staff their own virtual machine (VM). Staff could also access, use, and share virtual servers over the Internet as needed. Hudson worked with the Institute’s accountant on a cost/benefit analysis. From their standpoint it made perfect sense. First, the Institute would not have to replace or upgrade aging computers and servers. Second, the Institute would enjoy significant IT savings since they would pay for only IT resources actually used. They would not have to make any major IT capital expenditures. Third, cloud computing

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would provide scientists greater flexibility by accessing desired resources or software from anywhere at any time. And finally, once the system was up and running, the Institute would no longer need the services of at least one full-time IT worker. Green decided to name the project “Blue Sky” to put a positive spin on the conversion.

At first the associate directors balked at the idea. Some had a hard time conceptualizing what cloud computing meant. Others were worried about security and reliability. In the end they reluctantly signed off on the project when given alternative cost-cutting initiatives. Hudson assured them that cloud computing was the wave of the future and setting up or accessing virtual machines on the “cloud” was as simple as setting up or accessing their g-mail account.

The conversion project would be completed in stages. The first stage was selecting a provider. The next stage was migrating non–mission critical information to the cloud. The next stages would entail migrating each of the six big grant projects in waves to the cloud. The final stage would focus on the remaining smaller projects. Training would be an integral part of each stage. The Institute would maintain a back-up for all the data until 6 months after complete conversion. After that the cloud service provider would be responsible for backing up the data.

At first Jackson was excited about the project. He was savvy enough to realize that this was the future of computing and he was intrigued with how the whole system would work. His feelings soon changed when he started thinking about the potential ramifications for his job. He asked Hudson more than once what the department would look like after the conversion. Hudson replied vaguely that they would figure it out once the system was up and running.

A task force was formed, headed by Hudson, to select a cloud service provider. Hudson was surprised by how many choices there were. Plans and cost structures varied considerably. After much deliberation the committee narrowed the choices to three. The first two were among the bigger providers in the industry, VMWARE and Microsoft. The third choice was a relatively new company, OpenRange, which offered a cheaper solution. Jackson argued that even though the bigger providers

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would cost more, they were a much safer bet. Hudson responded that he had confidence in OpenRange and cutting costs was the primary goal behind the project. In the end, Hudson Page 370 persuaded the committee to choose OpenRange. Not only would cost be significantly cheaper, but OpenRange would help in the training of the personnel. Hudson liked this idea; training was not his strength, and he wasn’t looking forward to holding senior scientists’ hands through the process. It took Hudson and Jackson six weeks to identify non-critical data. Hudson worked on the back end while Jackson met with staff to identify non-critical information. The motto was when in doubt, leave it out. The actual migration only took a couple of days. Training proved to be more problematic. The staff sent by OpenRange appeared to be straight out of college. While enthusiastic, they were inexperienced in the art of getting older staff to accept and use new technology. Many trainers had the habit of simply doing things for the staff instead of showing them how to do it themselves. It all came to a head when a power outage at the OpenRange storage system shut down and disrupted operations at the Institute for 36 hours.

Ahmet held an emergency meeting. Hudson reported that the power outage occurred in North East India and that OpenRange was expanding their back-up systems. Several members argued that the Institute should switch to one of the bigger providers. When this came up Hudson looked at Jackson and was relieved when he remained silent. In the end, Ahmet announced that it would be too costly to switch providers and Hudson and his staff would have to make the conversion work. Jackson stepped forward and volunteered to manage the training. Everyone agreed that the Institute should hire 3 more part-time assistants to help the staff with the transition.

Hudson worked behind the scenes, coordinating with his counterparts at OpenRange and planning the conversion of the next segment of the project. Jackson worked closely with the OpenRange trainers and refocused their attention on teaching. Resistance was pretty high at first. Jackson used his personal contacts within the Institute to rally support for the change. He persuaded Hudson to change the conversion schedule to begin with those projects in which the leads were most supportive of the change. Training improved and Jackson created some useful training materials, including short videos on how to access the virtual machines.

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One problem that occurred early in the process involved a graduate research assistant who mistakenly hit the wrong commands and terminated her virtual machine instead of logging off. This resulted in complete loss of that machine’s data in the cloud. Fortunately, the Institute still had back-up and Jackson was able recover the work. Collaborating with some programmers at OpenRange, Jackson wrote a program that triggered a pop-up message on the screen warning users not to terminate their virtual machine when logging off.

CLOSING OUT THE BLUE SKY PROJECT It took almost a year to complete the Blue Sky project. After the rocky beginning things went relatively smoothly. Acceptance was slow, but Jackson and his staff worked with the staff to demonstrate how the new system would make their work easier. Two student assistants were always on call to address any problem or question. Hudson spent most of his time interacting with the OpenRange counterparts and rarely ventured out of his office. He had his student assistants collect information from staff so he could configure the new virtual machines to exactly match staff needs. He put in long hours so that customized databases would work in the new environment. This proved to be a very difficult task and he was quite pleased with his work. Twice OpenRange experienced momentary power shortages at their server facility which disrupted work at the Institute. Hudson was happy to report that OpenRange was breaking ground on an alternative server system in Ukraine.

Page 371 When the Institute conducted a retrospective (project review) on the Blue Sky project, some still questioned the choice of OpenRange as a cloud service provider, but praised Jackson’s work on helping the staff make the transition. Despite the criticism over the choice of OpenRange, Hudson felt good about the project. The system was up and running and the staff was beginning to enjoy the flexibility it provided. Besides, the Institute would achieve real savings from the new system.

Soon after the retrospective, Hudson was surprised when Ahmet walked into his office and closed the door. Ahmet began by thanking Hudson for his work on the project. He then cleared his throat and said, “You know,

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Garth, one of the consequences of Blue Sky is reducing our IT staff. Grant Hill is needed for the data library project. So it comes down to you or Jackson. Frankly there is general agreement among the Associate Directors that Jackson is essential to the Institute. I know this might come as a surprise to you, and before I make a decision I want to give you a chance to change my mind.”

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Case 10.2

Tom Bray Tom Bray was mulling over today’s work schedule as he looked across the bay at the storm that was rolling in. It was the second official day of the Pegasus project and now the real work was about to begin.

Pegasus was a two-month renovation project for AtlantiCorp, a major financial institution headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. Tom’s group was responsible for installing the furniture and equipment in the newly renovated accounts receivable department on the third floor. The Pegasus project was a dedicated project team formed out of AtlantiCorp facilities department with Tom as the project lead.

Tom was excited because this was his first major league project and he was looking forward to practicing a new management style—MBWA, aka management by wandering around. He had been exposed to MBWA in a business class in college, but it wasn’t until he attended an AtlantiCorp leadership training seminar that he decided to change how he managed people. The trainer was a devout MBWA champion (“You can’t manage people from a computer!”). Furthermore, the testimonies from his peers reinforced the difference that MBWA can make when it comes to working on projects. Tom had joined the facilities group at AtlantiCorp five years earlier after working for EDS for six years. He quickly demonstrated technical competences and good work habits. He was encouraged to take all the internal project management workshops offered by AtlantiCorp. On his

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last two projects he served as assistant project manager responsible for procurement and contract management.

He had read books about the soft side of project management and MBWA made sense—after all, people not tools get projects done. His boss had told him he needed to refine his people skills and work on developing rapport with team members. MBWA seemed like a perfect solution.

Tom reviewed the list of team member names; some of the foreign names were real tongue twisters. For example, one of his better workers was from Thailand and her name was Pinyarat Sirisomboonsuk. He practiced saying “Pin-ya-răt See-rē-som-boon-sook.” Page 372 He got up, tucked in his shirt, and walked out of his office and down to the floor where his team was busy unloading equipment. Tom said “Hi” to the first few workers he met until he encountered Jack and three other workers. Jack was busy pulling hardware out of a box while his teammates were standing around talking. Tom blurted, “Come on guys, we’ve got work to do.” They quickly separated and began unloading boxes.

The rest of the visit seemed to go well. He helped Shari unload a heavy box and managed to get an appreciative grin from Pinyarat when he almost correctly pronounced her name. Satisfied, Tom went back up to his office thinking that MBWA wouldn’t be that tough to do.

After responding to e-mail and calling some vendors, Tom ventured back out to see how things were going downstairs. When he got there, the floor was weirdly quiet. People were busy doing their work and his attempts at generating conversation elicited stiff responses. He left thinking that maybe MBWA is going to be tougher than he thought.

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Case 10.3

Cerberus Corporation* Cerberus is a successful producer of specialty chemicals. It operates nine large campus sites in the United States, with a number of different business units on each site. These business units operate independently, with direct reporting to corporate headquarters. Site functions such as safety, environmental, and facilities management report to a host organization—typically the business unit that is the largest user of their services.

SUSAN STEELE Susan Steele has worked in the Facilities group at the Cerberus Richmond site for the last two years. The Facilities manager, Tom Stern, reports to the General Manager of the largest business unit on site, the highly profitable Adhesives and Sealants Division. Susan started with Cerberus when she graduated with her business degree from Awsum University. She was excited about her new assignment—leading a project for the first time. She remembered Tom saying, “We’ve got office furniture dating back to the 80s. There are those ugly green-top desks that look like they came from military surplus! I’m especially concerned about computer workstation ergonomics—it’s a major issue that we absolutely must fix! I want you to lead a project to transition our office furniture to the new corporate standard.”

Susan assembled her project team: Jeff, the site safety/ergonomics engineer; Gretchen, the space planner; Cindy, the move coordinator; and

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Kari, the accounting liaison for Facilities. At their first meeting, everyone agreed that ergonomics was the most urgent concern. All five business units responded to a workstation survey that identified injury-causing ergonomics. The team was developing a plan to replace old desks with new, ergo-adjustable furniture by the end of the year. Susan asked Kari about the budget, and Kari responded, “Facilities should not pay for this. We want the individual business units to pay so that the costs will show where they are incurred.”

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Gretchen spoke up: “You know, we’ve got lots of department moves going on constantly. Everybody is always jockeying for space and location as their business needs change. Besides the ergonomics, could we say that only corporate standard furniture gets moved? That would force changing some of the stuff that’s just plain ugly.” Everyone agreed that this was a great idea.

Susan presented the project plan to Tom and got a green light to proceed.

JON WOOD Jon Wood is a planning manager, with 22 years experience at Cerberus. His business unit, Photographic Chemicals Division (PCD), is losing money. Digital photography is continuing to reduce the size of the market, and PCD is having trouble matching the competition’s relentless price-cutting. Jon recently transferred to Richmond from corporate headquarters, where he ran the economic forecasting group. He is considered a new broom, and he is determined to sweep clean.

One of Jon’s early actions was to negotiate with his general manager for a department move. Money was tight, and the site facilities function charged an arm and a leg for moves (covering all their fixed overhead, the operations people groused). However, Jon felt it was important to move from Building 4, where they were next to Production, to Building 6, where they could be close to Marketing, Forecasting, and Accounting. His General Manager agreed, and there was lots of excitement in his team about their upcoming move. Jon assigned one of his planners, Richard, to work with the Facilities team on the layout and move plan for

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the group. Things seemed to be going fine—Jon saw Richard sitting down with the move coordinator, and they seemed to be on track.

The day before the move, Jon hung up the phone from a particularly tense teleconference with a Canadian subcontractor. Production was not going well, and product availability would be tight for the rest of the quarter. Clustered around his desk were Richard, Cindy, and a person he hadn’t met yet, Susan. After hurried introductions, Susan told Jon that his filing cabinets could not be moved. The cabinets are large lateral files, five feet wide and two feet deep, a combination of both filing cabinets and bookshelves. Jon brought them with him from Corporate because he thought they looked nice with their dark grey steel sides and wood veneer tops. Susan told him that he would have to replace them with new corporate standard cabinets, virtually the same size. Jon said, “You mean you want me to throw away perfectly good filing cabinets and spend another $2,000 on new ones, just so they match? I won’t do it!”

Susan replied, “Then I won’t authorize the movement of the old cabinets.”

Jon said, “You’re joking—these cabinets are grey, the new ones are grey— the only difference is the wood top! You’d throw away $2,000 for nothing?”

Susan replied stiffly, “I’m sorry, that’s the policy.”

Jon said, “I don’t care what the policy is. If I have to move them myself, those cabinets are not going to the dump. My division is losing money and I’m not going to throw money away. If you don’t like it, you’re going to have to get your general manager to convince my general manager to make me do it. Now would you please leave so I can get some work done.”

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Case 11.1

Kerzner Office

Equipment Amber Briggs looked nervously at her watch as she sat at the front of a large table in the cafeteria at Kerzner Office Equipment. It was now 10 minutes after 3:00 and only 10 of the 14 members had arrived for the first meeting of the Kerzner anniversary task force. Just then two more members hurriedly sat down and mumbled apologies for being late. Briggs cleared her throat and started the meeting.

Kerzner Office Equipment Kerzner Office Equipment is located in Charleston, South Carolina. It specializes in the manufacture and sales of high-end office furniture and equipment. Kerzner enjoyed steady growth during its first five years of existence with a high-water employment mark of more than 1,400 workers. Then a national recession struck, forcing Kerzner to lay off 25 percent of its employees. This was a traumatic period for the company. Justin Tubbs was brought in as the new CEO, and things began to slowly turn around. Tubbs was committed to employee participation and redesigned operations around the concept of self-managing teams. The company soon introduced an innovative line of ergonomic furniture designed to reduce back strain and carpal tunnel. This line of equipment proved to be a resounding success, and Kerzner became known as a leader in the industry. The company currently employs 1,100 workers and has just been selected for the second straight time by the Charleston

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Post and Courier as one of the 10 best local firms to work for in South Carolina.

Amber Briggs Amber Briggs is a 42-year-old human resource specialist who has worked for Kerzner for the past five years. During this time she has performed a variety of activities involving recruitment, training, compensation, and team building. David Brown, vice president of human resources, assigned Briggs the responsibility for organizing Kerzner’s 10th anniversary celebration. She was excited about the project because she would report directly to top management.

CEO Tubbs briefed her as to the purpose and objectives of the celebration. Tubbs stressed that this should be a memorable event and that it was important to celebrate Kerzner’s success since the dark days of the layoffs. Moreover, he confided that he had just read a book on corporate cultures and believed that such events were important for conveying the values at Kerzner. He went on to say that he wanted this to be an employee celebration—not a celebration conjured up by top management. As such, she would be assigned a task force of 14 employees from each of the major departments to organize and plan the event. Her team was to present a preliminary plan and budget for the event to top management within three months. When discussing budgets, Tubbs revealed that he felt the total cost should be somewhere in the $150,000 range. He concluded the meeting by offering to help Briggs in any way he could to make the event a success.

Soon thereafter Briggs received the list of the names of the task force members, and she contacted them either by phone or e-mail to arrange today’s meeting. She had to scramble to find a meeting place. Her cubicle in human resources was too small to accommodate such a group, and all the meeting rooms at Kerzner were booked or being refurbished. She settled on the cafeteria because it was usually Page 411 deserted in the late afternoon. Prior to the meeting she posted the agenda on a flipchart (see Figure C11.1) adjacent to the table. Given everyone’s busy schedules, the meeting was limited to just one hour.

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FIGURE

C11.1 Celebration Task Force

The First Meeting Briggs began the meeting by saying, “Greetings. For those who don’t know me, I’m Amber Briggs from human resources and I’ve been assigned to manage the 10th anniversary celebration at Kerzner. Top management wants this to be a special event—at the same time they want it to be our event. This is why you are here. Each of you represents one of the major departments, and together our job is to plan and organize the celebration.” She then reviewed the agenda and asked each member to introduce him/herself. The tall, red-haired woman to the right of Briggs broke the momentary silence by saying, “Hi, I’m Cara Miller from Plastics. I guess my boss picked me for this task force because I have a reputation for throwing great parties.”

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In turn each member followed suit. Below is a sampling of their introductions:

• “Hi, I’m Mike Wales from maintenance. I’m not sure why I’m here. Things have been a little slow in our department, so my boss told me to come to this meeting.”

• “I’m Megan Plinski from domestic sales. I actually volunteered for this assignment. I think it will be a lot of fun to plan a big party.”

• “Yo, my name is Nick Psias from accounting. My boss said one of us had to join this task force, and I guess it was my turn.”

• “Hi, I’m Rick Fennah. I’m the only one from purchasing who has been here since the beginning. We’ve been through some rough times, and I think it is important to take time and celebrate what we’ve accomplished.”

• “Hi, I’m Ingrid Hedstrom from international sales. I think this is a great idea, but I should warn you that I will be out of the country for most of the next month.”

• “I’m Abby Bell from engineering. Sorry for being late, but things are a bit crazy in my department.”

Briggs circled the names of the two people who were absent and circulated a roster so that everyone could check to see if their phone numbers and e-mail addresses were correct. She then summarized her meeting with Tubbs and told the group that he expected them to make a formal presentation to top management within 10 weeks. She acknowledged that they were all busy people and that it was her job to manage the project as efficiently as possible. At the same time, she reiterated the importance of the project and that this would be a very public event: “If we screw up, everyone will know about it.”

Briggs went over the ground rules and emphasized that from now on meetings would start on time and that she expected to be notified in advance if someone was going to be absent. She summarized the first part of the project as centering on five key questions: when, where, what, who, and how much? She created a stir in the group when she responded to a question about cost by informing them that top management was willing to pay up to $150,000 for the event. Megan quipped, “This is going to be one hell of a party.”

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Briggs then turned the group’s attention to identifying a common meeting time. After jousting for 15 minutes, she terminated the discussion by requesting that each member submit a schedule of free time over the next month by Friday. She would use this information and a new planning software to identify optimal times. She ended the meeting by thanking the members for coming and asking them to begin soliciting ideas from co-workers about how this event should be celebrated. She announced that Page 412 she would meet individually with each of them to discuss their role on the project. The meeting was adjourned at 4:00 p.m.

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Case 11.2

Ajax Project Tran was taking his dog Callie on her evening walk as the sun began to set over the coastal range. He looked forward to this time of the day. It was an opportunity to enjoy some peace and quiet. It was also a time to review events on the Ajax project and plot his next moves.

Ajax is the code name given by CEBEX for a high-tech security system project funded by the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD). Tran is the project manager and his core team consisted of 30 full-time hardware and software engineers.

Tran and his family fled Cambodia when he was four years old. He joined the U.S. Air Force when he was 18 and used the education stipend to attend Washington State University. He joined CEBEX upon graduating with a dual degree in mechanical and electrical engineering. After working on a variety of projects for 10 years Tran decided he wanted to enter management. He went to night school at the University of Washington to earn an MBA.

Tran became a project manager for the money. He also thought he was good at it. He enjoyed working with people and making the right things happen. This was his fifth project and up to now he was batting .500, with half of his projects coming ahead of schedule. Tran was proud that he could now afford to send his oldest child to Stanford University.

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Ajax was one of many defense projects the CEBEX Corporation had under contract with DOD. CEBEX is a huge defense company with annual sales in excess of $30 billion and more than 120,000 employees worldwide. CEBEX’s five major business areas are Aeronautics, Electronic Systems, Information & Technology Services, Integrated Systems & Solutions, and Space Systems. Ajax was one of several new projects sponsored by the Integrated Systems & Solutions division aimed at the homeland security business. CEBEX was confident that it could leverage its technical expertise and political connections to become a major player in this growing market. Ajax was one of several projects directed at designing, developing, and installing a security system at an important government installation.

Tran had two major concerns when he started the Ajax project. The first was the technical risks inherent in the project. In theory the design principles made sense and the project used proven technology. Still the technology had never been applied in the field in this matter. From past experience, Tran knew there was a big difference between the laboratory and the real world. He also knew that integrating the audio, optical, tactile, and laser subsystems would test the patience and ingenuity of his team.

The second concern involved his team. The team was pretty much split down the middle between hardware and electrical engineers. Not only did these engineers have different skill sets and tend to look at problems differently, but generational differences between the two groups were evident as well. The hardware engineers were almost all Page 413 former military, family men with conservative attire and beliefs. The electrical engineers were a much motlier crew. They tended to be young, single, and at times very cocky. While the hardware engineers talked about the Seattle Mariners, raising teenagers, and going to Palm Desert to play golf, the software engineers talked about Vapor, the latest concert at the Gorge amphitheater, and going mountain biking in Peru. To make matters worse, tension between these two groups within CEBEX festered around salary issues. Electrical engineers were at a premium, and the hardware engineers resented the new hires’ salary packages, which were comparable to what they were earning after 20 years of working for CEBEX. Still the real money was to be made from

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the incentives associated with project performance. These were all contingent on meeting project milestones and the final completion date.

Before actual work started on the project, Tran arranged a two-day team- building retreat at a lodge on the Olympic peninsula for his entire team as well as key staff from the government installation. He used this time to go over the major objectives of the project and unveil the basic project plan. An internal consultant facilitated several team-building activities that made light of cross-generational issues. Tran felt a real sense of camaraderie within the team.

The good feelings generated from the retreat carried over to the beginning of the project. The entire team bought into the mission of the project and technical challenges it represented. Hardware and electrical engineers worked side by side to solve problems and build subsystems.

The project plan was built around a series of five tests, with each test being a more rigorous verification of total system performance. Passing each test represented a key milestone for the project. The team was excited about conducting the first Alpha test one week early—only to be disappointed by a series of minor technical glitches that took two weeks of problem solving to resolve. The team worked extra hard to make up for the lost time. Tran was proud of the team and how hard members had worked together.

The Alpha II test was conducted on schedule, but once again the system failed to perform. This time three weeks of debugging was needed before the team received the green light to move to the next phase of the project. By this time, team goodwill had been tested, and emotions were a bit frayed. A cloud of disappointment descended over the team as hopes of bonuses disappeared with the project falling further behind schedule. This was augmented by cynics who felt that the original schedule was unfair and the deadlines were impossible to begin with.

Tran responded by starting each day with a status meeting where the team reviewed what they accomplished the previous day and set new objectives for that day. He believed these meetings were helpful in establishing positive momentum and reinforcing a team identity among

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the engineers. He also went out of his way to spend more time with the “troops,” helping them solve problems, offering encouragement, and a sincere pat on the back when one was deserved.

He was cautiously optimistic when the time came to conduct the Alpha III test. It was the end of the day when the switch was turned on, but nothing happened. Within minutes the entire team heard the news. Screams could be heard down the hallway. Perhaps the most telling moment was when Tran looked down at the company’s parking lot and saw most of his project team walking by themselves to their cars.

As his dog Callie chased some wild bunnies, Tran pondered what he should do next.

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Case 11.3

Franklin Equipment,

Ltd.* Franklin Equipment, Ltd. (FEL), with headquarters and main fabrication facilities in Saint John, New Brunswick, was founded 75 years ago to fabricate custom-designed large machines for construction businesses in the Maritime Provinces. Over the years its product lines became strategically focused on creating rock-crushing equipment for dam and highway construction and for a few other markets that require the processing of aggregate. FEL now designs, fabricates, and assembles stationary and portable rock-crushing plants and services its own products and those of its competitors.

In the 1970s, FEL began to expand its market from the Maritime Provinces to the rest of Canada. FEL currently has several offices and fabrication facilities throughout the country. More recently, FEL has made a concerted effort to market its products internationally.

Last month, FEL signed a contract to design and fabricate a rock- crushing plant for a Middle East construction project, called Project Abu Dhabi. Charles Gatenby secured this contract and has been assigned as project manager. This project is viewed as a coup because FEL has wanted to open up markets in this area for a long time and has had difficulty getting prospective customers to realize that FEL is a Canadian firm and not from the United States. Somehow these customers view all

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North American vendors as the same and are reluctant to employ any of them because of international political considerations.

A project of this scope typically starts with the selection of a team of managers responsible for various aspects of the design, fabrication, delivery, and installation of the product. Manager selection is important because the product design and fabrication vary with the unique needs of each customer. For example, the terrain, rock characteristics, weather conditions, and logistical concerns create special problems for all phases of plant design and operations. In addition, environmental concerns and labor conditions vary from customer to customer and from region to region.

In addition to the project manager, all projects include a design engineer; an operations manager, who oversees fabrication and on-site assembly; and a cost accountant, who oversees all project financial and cost reporting matters. Each of these people must work closely together if a well-running plant is to be delivered on time and within cost constraints. Because international contracts often require FEL to employ host nationals for plant assembly and to train them for operations, a human resource manager is also assigned to the project team. In such cases, the human resource manager needs to understand the particulars of the plant specifications and then use this knowledge to design selection procedures and assess particular training needs. The human resource manager also needs to learn the relevant labor laws of the customer’s country.

FEL assigns managers to project teams based on their expertise and their availability to work on a particular project given their other commitments. This typically means that managers without heavy current project commitments will be assigned to new projects. For instance, a manager finishing one project will likely be assigned a management position on a new project team. The project manager typically has little to say about who is assigned to his or her team.

Page 415 Because he secured Project Abu Dhabi and has established positive working relationships with the Abu Dhabi customer, Gatenby was

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assigned to be project manager. Gatenby has successfully managed similar projects. The other managers assigned to Project Abu Dhabi are Bill Rankins, a brilliant design engineer, Rob Perry, operations manager with responsibility for fabrication and installation, Elaine Bruder, finance and cost accounting manager, and Sam Stonebreaker, human resource manager. Each of these managers has worked together on numerous past projects.

A few years ago, FEL began contracting for team facilitator services from several consulting firms to help new project teams operate effectively. Last month, FEL recruited Carl Jobe from one of these consulting firms to be a full-time internal consultant. A number of managers, including Gatenby, were so impressed with Jobe’s skills that they convinced FEL top management of the need to hire a permanent internal facilitator; Jobe was the obvious choice.

Because Gatenby was instrumental in hiring Jobe at FEL, he was excited at the prospect of using Jobe to facilitate team building among Project Abu Dhabi team members. Gatenby was very proud of having secured this project and had expected to be appointed project manager. He knew that this project’s success would be instrumental in advancing his own career.

Gatenby told Jobe, “This project is really important to FEL and to me personally. I really need for you to help us develop into a team that works well together to achieve the project’s goals within budget. I’ve observed your success in developing teams on other projects, and I expect you’ll do the same for Project Abu Dhabi. I’ll take care of you if you help me make this work.”

Jobe outlined for Gatenby how he would proceed. Jobe would begin by interviewing team members individually to learn their perceptions of each other and of the promises and pitfalls of being involved in this project. Meetings of the entire team would follow these interviews using the information he collected to help establish a team identity and a shared vision.

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Jobe interviewed Bruder first. She expressed skepticism about whether the project could succeed. During the interview, Bruder appeared to be distant, and Jobe could not figure out why he had not established good rapport with her. Bruder intimated that she expected a lot of cost overruns and a lot of missed production deadlines. But not knowing Jobe well, Bruder was reluctant to identify any specific barriers to the project’s success. While she would not directly say so, it was clear to Jobe that Bruder did not want to be a part of Project Abu Dhabi. Jobe left this interview confused and wondering what was going on.

Jobe’s next interview was with Perry, the operations manager. Perry has worked at FEL for 15 years, and he immediately came to the point: “This project is not going to work. I cannot understand why upper management keeps assigning me to work on projects with Rankins. We simply cannot work together, and we don’t get along. I’ve disliked him from day one. He keeps dropping the fact that he has earned all these advanced degrees from Purdue. And he keeps telling us how things are done there. I know he’s better educated than I am, and he’s really smart. But I’m smart too and am good at what I do. There’s no need for Rankins to make me feel like an idiot because I don’t have a degree. Jobe, I’ll be honest with you. Rankins has only been here for five years, but I hold him personally responsible for my problem with alcohol, and for its resulting effect on my marriage. I got divorced last year, and it’s Rankins’s fault.”

Jobe next talked with Rankins, who said, “I don’t care what you do. Perry and I simply can’t work closely together for the nine months it will take to get it done. One of us will kill the other. Ever since I arrived at FEL, Perry has hated my guts and Page 416 does everything he can to sabotage my designs. We usually worry about customers creating change orders; here it’s the fabrication and operations manager who is responsible for them. Perry second-guesses everything I do and makes design changes on his own, and these are always bad decisions. He is out of control. I swear he stays awake at nights thinking up ways to ruin my designs. I don’t have this problem with any other manager.” Jobe left these interviews thoroughly discouraged and could not imagine what would come up in his interview with Stonebreaker. But Stonebreaker was quite positive: “I enjoy these international projects

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where I get to travel abroad and learn about different cultures. I can’t wait to get started on this.”

Jobe asked Stonebreaker about the ability of various team members to work together. Stonebreaker replied, “No problem! We’ve all worked together before and have had no problems. Sure, there have been ruffled feathers and hurt feelings between Rankins and Perry. Rankins can be arrogant and Perry stubborn, but it’s never been anything that we can’t work around. Besides, both of them are good at what they do—both professionals. They’ll keep their heads on straight.”

Jobe was even more bewildered. Gatenby says this project’s success rides on Jobe’s facilitation skills. The finance manager appears to want off this project team. The design engineer and operations manager admit they detest each other and cannot work together. And the human resources manager, having worked on projects with Perry and Rankins before, expects a rosy working relationship and anticipates no problems.

Jobe had a second meeting with Gatenby. Before discussing the design of the team-building sessions, he asked questions to learn what Gatenby thought about the ability of team members to work together. Gatenby admitted that there has been very bad blood between Perry and Rankins, but added, “That’s why we hired you. It’s your job to make sure that the history between those two doesn’t interfere with Project Abu Dhabi’s success. It’s your job to get them to work well together. Get it done.”

Their dialogue toward the end of this meeting progressed as follows:

1. Jobe:“Why do you expect Rankins and Perry to work well together, given their history? What incentives do they have to do so?”

2. Gatenby:“As you should know, FEL requires formal goal setting between project managers and functional managers at the beginning of each project. I’ve already done this with Bruder, Stonebreaker, Perry, and Rankins. Perry and Rankins have explicit goals stating they must work well together and cooperate with each other.”

3. Jobe:“What happens if they do not meet these goals?”

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4. Gatenby:“I’ve already discussed this with top management. If it appears to me after two months that things are not working out between Perry and Rankins, FEL will fire Rankins.”

5. Jobe:“Does Perry know this?” 6. Gatenby:“Yes.”

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Case 15.1

AMEX, Hungary Michael Thomas shouted, “Sasha, Tor-Tor, we’ve got to go! Our driver is waiting for us.” Thomas’s two daughters were fighting over who would get the last orange for lunch that day. Victoria (“Tor-Tor”) prevailed as she grabbed the orange and ran out the door to the Mercedes Benz waiting for them. The fighting continued in the back seat as they drove toward the city of Budapest, Hungary. Thomas finally turned around and grabbed the orange and proclaimed that he would have it for lunch. The back seat became deadly silent as they made their way to the American International School of Budapest.

After dropping the girls off at the school, Thomas was driven to his office in the Belvéros area of Budapest. Thomas worked for AMEX Petroleum and had been sent to Budapest four months earlier to set up business operations in central Hungary. His job was to establish 10 to 14 gas stations in the region by purchasing existing stations, building new ones, or negotiating franchise arrangements with existing owners of stations. Thomas jumped at this project. He realized that his career at AMEX was going nowhere in the United States, and if he were going to realize his ambitions, it would be in the “wild, wild east” of the former Soviet empire. Besides, Thomas’s mother was Hungarian, and he could speak the language. At least he thought he could until he arrived in Budapest and realized that he had greatly exaggerated his competence.

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As he entered the partially refurbished offices of AMEX, he noticed that only three of his staff were present. No one knew where Miklos was, while Margit reported that she would not be at work today because she had to stay at home to take care of her sick mother. Thomas asked Béla why the workmen weren’t present to work on finishing the office. Béla informed him that the work had to be halted until they received approval from the city historian. Budapest, anxious to preserve its historical heritage, required that all building renovations be approved by the city historian. When Thomas asked Béla how long it would take, Béla responded, “Who knows—days, weeks, maybe even months.” Thomas muttered “great” to himself and turned his attention to the morning business. He was scheduled to interview prospective employees who would act as station managers and staff personnel.

The interview with Ferenc Erkel was typical of the many interviews he held that morning. Erkel was a neatly dressed, 42-year-old, unemployed professional who could speak limited English. He had a masters degree in international economics and had worked for 12 years in the state- owned Institute for Foreign Trade. Since being laid off two years ago, he had been working as a taxicab driver. When asked about his work at the Institute, Erkel smiled sheepishly and said that he pushed paper and spent most of the time playing cards with his colleagues.

To date Thomas had hired 16 employees. Four quit within three days on the job, and six were let go after a trial period for being absent from work, failing to perform duties, or showing a lack of initiative. Thomas thought that at this rate it would take him over a year just to hire his staff.

Thomas took a break from the interview schedule to scan the Budapest Business Journal, an English newspaper that covered business news in Hungary. Two items caught his eye. One article was on the growing threat of the Ukrainian Mafia in Hungary, which detailed extortion attempts in Budapest. The second story was that inflation had risen to 32 percent. This last item disturbed Thomas because at the time Page

575 only one out of every five Hungarian families owned a car. AMEX’s strategy in Hungary depended on a boom in first-time car owners.

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Thomas collected his things and popped a few aspirin for the headache he was developing. He walked several blocks to the Kispipa restaurant where he had a supper meeting with Hungarian businessman Zoltán Kodaly. He had met Kodaly briefly at a reception sponsored by the U.S. consulate for American and Hungarian businesspeople. Kodaly reportedly owned three gas stations that Thomas was interested in.

Thomas waited, sipping bottled water for 25 minutes. Kodaly appeared with a young lady who could not have been older than 19. As it turned out Kodaly had brought his daughter Annia, who was a university student, to act as translator. While Thomas made an attempt to speak in Hungarian at first, Kodaly insisted that they use Annia to translate.

After ordering the house specialty, szekelygulas, Thomas immediately got down to business. He told Kodaly that AMEX was willing to make two offers to him. They would like to either purchase two of his stations at a price of $150,000 each, or they could work out a franchise agreement. Thomas said AMEX was not interested in the third station located near Klinikak because it would be too expensive to modernize the equipment. Annia translated, and as far as Thomas could tell she was doing a pretty good job. At first Kodaly did not respond and simply engaged in side conversations with Annia and exchanged pleasantries with people who came by. Thomas became frustrated and reiterated his offer. Eventually Kodaly asked what he meant by franchising, and Thomas tried to use the local McDonald’s as an example of how it worked. He mentioned that Kodaly would still own the stations, but he would have to pay a franchisee fee, share profits with AMEX, and adhere to AMEX procedures and practices. In exchange, AMEX would provide petroleum and funds to renovate the stations to meet AMEX standards. Toward the end of the meal Kodaly asked what would happen to the people who worked at the stations. Thomas asserted that according to his calculation the stations were over-staffed by 70 percent and that to make a profit, at least 15 workers would have to be let go. This statement was greeted with silence. Kodaly then turned the conversation to soccer and asked Thomas if it was true that in America girls play “football.” Thomas said that both of his daughters played AYSO soccer in America and hoped to play in Hungary. Kodaly said girls don’t play football in Hungary and that Annia was an accomplished volleyball player. Thomas pressed Kodaly for a response to his offer, but Kodaly rose and thanked

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Thomas for the meal. He said he would think about his offer and get back in touch with him.

Thomas left the Kispipa wondering if he would ever see Kodaly again. He returned to his office where an urgent message was waiting from Tibor. Tibor was responsible for retrofitting the first station Thomas had purchased for AMEX. The new tanks had not arrived from Vienna, and the construction crew had spent the day doing nothing. After several phone calls he found out that the tanks were being held at the border by customs. This irritated him because he had been assured by local officials that everything had been taken care of. He asked his secretary to schedule an appointment with the Hungarian trade office as soon as possible.

At the end of the day he checked his e-mail from the States. There was a message from headquarters asking about the status of the project. By this time he had hoped to have his office staffed and up and running and at least three stations secured. So far he had only one-third of his staff, his office was in shambles, and only one station was being retrofitted. Thomas decided to wait until tomorrow to respond to the e-mail.

Before returning home Thomas stopped off at the English Pub, a favorite hangout for expats in Budapest. There he met Jan Krovert, who worked for a Dutch company Page 576 that was building a large discount retail store on the outskirts of Budapest. Thomas and Krovert often talked about being “strangers in a strange land” at the pub. Thomas talked about the interviews and how he could just see in their eyes that they didn’t have the drive or initiative to be successful. Krovert responded that Hungary has high unemployment but a shortage of motivated workers. Krovert confided that he no longer interviewed anyone over the age of 30, claiming that what fire they had in their bellies was burned out after years of working in state-run companies.

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Case 15.2

Phuket A On December 26, 2004, an earthquake reaching 9.1 on the Richter scale triggered a series of devastating tsunamis off the coast of Indonesia. They spread throughout the Indian Ocean, killing large numbers of people and inundating coastal communities across South and Southeast Asia, including parts of Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, and Thailand. The 2004 Asian tsunami was one of the deadliest catastrophes in modern history, with more than 220,000 lives lost.

Nils Lofgrin, who had managed several construction projects in Australia and New Guinea, was sent by his construction firm to restore a five-star resort along the Andaman coast in southern Thailand that had been ravaged by this tsunami. Casualties at the resort included 12 staff and 37 guests. This was Nils’s first assignment in Thailand.

Nils flew down and toured the site. His assessment of the damage was that it was not as severe as feared. The basic infrastructure was intact but debris needed to be cleared and the resort refurbished. He reported back to headquarters that with a bit of luck he should have the resort up and running in a matter of months. Little did he realize how soon he would regret making such a promise.

The problems began immediately when he was unable to recruit workers to help clean up the mess at the resort. Burmese migrant workers comprised a significant portion of the workforce in the region. The heavy

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government presence caused them to flee into the hills out of growing fears of being arrested and deported. Even when he offered double wages he was not able to recruit many Thais.

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Case 16.1

Introducing Scrum at

P2P PART A Kendra Hua had worked for six years as a software engineer in the IT department at Point 2 Point (P2P), a large freight moving company. She liked her job and the people she worked with. While she did some maintenance work, she worked primarily on projects, usually full time. Her work covered a wide range of projects including system upgrades, inventory control, GPS tracking, billing, and customer databases. These projects were typically able to meet project requirements but were consistently late. Within the IT department it was common practice for a betting pool to emerge regarding completion dates. The rule of thumb was to take the original schedule and multiply it by 1.5 and start guessing from then on.

Management decided to try to turn things around by changing the way P2P completed IT projects. Instead of the traditional waterfall approach in which all the requirements were defined upfront, the IT department was to start using Agile project management, and more specifically Scrum, to complete their projects.

Kendra had just been assigned to the Big Foot project, which involved developing a system for monitoring P2P’s carbon footprint. To prepare

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for this project, Kendra and her entire team of software engineers would attend a two-day Scrum workshop.

Everyone was given a book on Scrum to prepare themselves for the workshop. At first Kendra was overwhelmed by terminology—Scrum master, sprints, product manager, sprint logs, and so forth. She questioned the rugby metaphor, since the only thing she knew about the sport was that one of her ex-boyfriends in college would come back to the dorm inebriated and bloodied after a match. And why was the project manager called a master? It seemed demeaning to her. Still, she had heard some good things about Scrum from a friend who was using it in another company. He claimed it gave programmers more freedom to do their work and work at a faster pace. So she approached the two-day workshop with an open mind.

The workshop was facilitated by a trainer who was well versed in the world of software development. Participants included her other five team members as well as Prem Gupta, a veteran project manager who would now assume the role of Scrum master, and Isaac Smith, who would act as the product manager representing the interests of the customers. At first everyone gave Prem a hard time, by bowing to him, pleading “master, master, master …” The facilitator quickly corrected them by saying he was not their master but rather master of the Scrum process. The facilitator went on to emphasize that they would work as a self- organizing team. Kendra wasn’t exactly sure what that meant, but she felt it had something to do with the team managing itself, not Prem.

The workshop covered all the basic Scrum tools, concepts, and roles. Everyone got to practice the process by completing a simulated project involving the creation of a new board game. Kendra liked the idea of the standing Scrum meeting, since most of her meetings at P2P took way too long. She also liked having the product manager, who was the ultimate decider on features and when work was completed. Everyone laughed at the “only one neck to wring” analogy that the facilitator used to describe this role. Overall she thought the process had promise and she was excited about trying it out on the Big Foot project. The Big Foot project was estimated to be completed after five sprints with each sprint lasting four weeks.

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Page 600

THE FIRST SPRINT The first sprint planning meeting went pretty much by the book. Isaac had done his homework and came to the meeting with a comprehensive list of features the software needed to provide. There was healthy discussion, and Isaac amended the list to include some features that the team felt was necessary. The afternoon session featured Isaac, the product owner, prioritizing the features in the product backlog with feedback from the team. The final segment was devoted to the team deciding among themselves which high priority features they would commit to build within the four-week sprint. Prem did a good job of reminding the team that they were expected to build a fully functional feature. This tempered the team’s enthusiasm, and in the end a challenging but doable set of features was assigned to the sprint backlog for the first sprint.

The first couple of daily Scrum meetings were a bit awkward as members were careful not to step on each other’s toes. One of the first impediments identified was not having a shared understanding of how a self-organizing team worked. Prem kept emphasizing that it was up to the team to decide who does what and when. Then one morning it just suddenly clicked and members came forward claiming work they felt needed to be done. After that the daily scrums took on a life of their own, interrupted only when a member had to do five push-ups for every minute late. The pace of work picked up, and there was a shared enthusiasm as tasks and ultimately functional features were completed in rapid fashion. Kendra worked side by side with the other software engineers to solve problems and share what they had learned. Occasionally Isaac would be called into the project room to answer questions about specific features and be shown work in progress.

By the time of the first sprint review meeting, the team was able to demonstrate all but one of the designated features to Isaac and even three more that were not on the initial hit list. The team got some useful feedback not only from Isaac but also from a couple of the end users he brought with him. Eighty percent of the features were proclaimed done by Isaac while the others needed only slight modifications. Everyone agreed that the next Sprint review would even be more successful.

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The sprint retrospective meeting was refreshing as members spoke candidly about both the good and the bad. Everyone agreed that the team needed to do a better job at documentation. Issues regarding fairness and spreading both the fun work and the tough work among the entire team were brought to the surface. Kendra was impressed by how everyone focused on what was best for the project not just themselves.

THE SECOND SPRINT The second sprint meeting went well. The features that needed rework after the first sprint review meeting were at the top of the backlog and Isaac made appropriate adjustments in priorities, and a couple of new features that were discovered during the sprint review meeting were added. The meeting convened with the team confident that they would be able to complete the work they had committed to.

Project work progressed quickly over the next week. Kendra felt pressure to accomplish what she said she would at the daily Scrum. At the same time, she felt a tremendous amount of satisfaction reporting work done. The entire team seemed energized. Then one day everything came to a standstill over a sticky integration problem. The team struggled over the next three days trying to solve the problem until, at the next Scrum, Prem stepped forward saying, “I think you should do this …” He then proceeded to outline a specific method for solving the problem, even assigning specific Page 601 tasks to each team member. During the next two days Prem went back and forth between team members coordinating their work and solving problems. While there was some grumbling within the team, his solution worked, and Kendra was grateful to get back on track. From then on Prem took a more active role in daily Scrum meetings, often having the final say as to the work agenda for that day. The meetings took on a different tone as members waited for Prem to speak first. Isaac was absent from the project room during this time as he was visiting sites that would be using the new software. Still, features were being completed and Kendra was happy with the progress. Then one day Isaac showed up at the morning Scrum meeting. He had just gotten back and had fresh information he wanted to introduce into the project. He had rewritten the product log and added several new, high priority features and eliminated a few of the features that the team had been

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working on. He wanted the team to shift their efforts and complete the new features by the end of the sprint.

The team was shocked because one of the principles they had been taught is that you don’t change course midway through a sprint. Prem did his best to explain this to Isaac, but he was insistent. He kept saying that these changes had to be made, otherwise much of the sprint output would be a waste of time. He kept repeating that the team needed to be flexible. “After all, isn’t that what the Agile approach is all about?” The meeting came to an impasse until Prem came forward with a compromise. The team would agree to do the new work, but the sprint needed to be extended by two weeks. Everyone agreed and Kendra went back to work.

Up till the end of the second sprint, Prem continued to direct project work. When it came for the sprint review meeting four of the five new features were completed as well as most of the original features. However, the feature demonstrations did not go well. Isaac and several of the end users that were present were critical of the user friendliness of several of the completed features. Kendra and other team members defended their work by saying, “Why didn’t you tell us you wanted it to perform that way?” Prem did his best to keep the meeting under control, but the team had little to say when an important feature simply did not work. In the end, only half of the features were accepted as being done.

Kendra walked out of the sprint review discouraged. Tomorrow morning was the sprint retrospective meeting. She had a lot on her mind, but wasn’t sure what she should say or how to say it at the meeting.

PART B Prem opened the retrospective by saying he had gotten a call from his boss and she was not happy with the progress. Prem said that he and the team were under the gun to get back on track. The list of things that went well during the second sprint was short and when it came time to discuss improvements there was an awkward silence. Kendra spoke up and began by saying she had gone back and reviewed the Scrum book. She went on to say that she thought the whole idea behind Scrum was that the team was to work to solve their own problems and it wasn’t Prem’s

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role to play task master. A Page 602 couple of other team members murmured agreement. Prem became defensive and said if he had not intervened it would have taken days for the team to solve the problem. Another member said he thought it was a mistake allowing Isaac to change the sprint commitments. Prem agreed that in principle that was true, but said sometimes you have to bend the rules to do what is right. He admonished the team by saying that they had to practice being more agile. The retrospective ended with few specific recommendations other than that in order to get back on track, Prem felt he would have to get even more involved in the execution of the project.

The subsequent sprint 3 planning meeting was more of a formality. Isaac updated the product backlog with revised priorities and Prem signed off for the team as to what they would commit to. There was little interaction between the team and Isaac except seeking clarification on performance requirements for specific features.

The team met under Prem’s leadership for their daily Scrums. Sometimes the Scrums went beyond the normal 15 minutes as Prem reviewed progress and described in detail what needed to be done that day. Isaac would occasionally show up, change priorities, review work and answer questions. Kendra worked hard on her assignments and often received praise from Prem for work well done.

One evening when the team got together for a few beers and sushi, one of the team members pulled out a spreadsheet and asked who wanted to make the first bet on when they thought the project would be done.

After several sprints, Isaac finally signed off on the last feature and declared the project completed. A collective “yahoo” sprang from the team. After the meeting Kendra went around collecting money from each of her teammates—she had predicted that the project would take 12 weeks longer than planned.