The top of the tree

Following Jim's process I've now started working on the top of the tree.  Jim suggested picking 1 UDE, or since I had quite a few, a collection of related UDES and mapping out the effects of the UDE(s) and any links between them.

So I picked one UDE that was really annoying me -

20  Projects often fail, late in the project, during the integration phase.

- and tried to pull out of my head the effects caused by that UDE.

It was slow going at first because I realised there were actually three things that I was trying to say with this UDE, so I broke it out into 21, 22, and 23:

1. "21. Many quality problems are not revealed until  the integration phase". We have no idea of the quality of the components until we reach integration testing.  Where I've worked they have always been optimistic about the quality of code and then been bitten upon the buttocks when testing took much much longer.
2. "22. Sometimes insurmountable problems are discovered when separate components are integrated".  We often hit BIG problems when we try to integrate components that have been developed separately.  For instance, the first project I managed was re-engineering a prior project that had gone belly-up on the 2nd-to-last week of a 9 month project because box A couldn't talk to box B using protocol C.
3. "23  Many quality problems  (defects) are not revealed until the testing phase".  Much like 21.

[I wonder if 21 and 23 should be combined?]

Here's the resulting tree.  Jim suggested that I read the tree OUT LOUD - he accused the eyes of being lazy and willing to agree with just about anything (you should see them when they've got a drink or two in them), but said the ears are more discerning.  I tried it and - you know - he's right.

 

You'll notice that the following UDES fit in too:

• (a reworded version of) 50 - "Projects often take a lot longer than planned to complete their final stages
   (90 percent syndrome)"
• 10 - "Projects often miss their promised deadline."
• 130  Relationships between IT and their customer ("The business") are poor.

Do you see the ???'s on the dotted arrow at the top-right-hand corner?  There's a cause and effect link here, but I ran out of omph.  Any suggestions?

So I picked one UDE that was really annoying me -

20  Projects often fail, late in the project, during the integration phase.

- and tried to pull out of my head the effects caused by that UDE.

It was slow going at first because I realised there were actually three things that I was trying to say with this UDE, so I broke it out into 21, 22, and 23:

1. "21. Many quality problems are not revealed until  the integration phase". We have no idea of the quality of the components until we reach integration testing.  Where I've worked they have always been optimistic about the quality of code and then been bitten upon the buttocks when testing took much much longer.
2. "22. Sometimes insurmountable problems are discovered when separate components are integrated".  We often hit BIG problems when we try to integrate components that have been developed separately.  For instance, the first project I managed was re-engineering a prior project that had gone belly-up on the 2nd-to-last week of a 9 month project because box A couldn't talk to box B using protocol C.
3. "23  Many quality problems  (defects) are not revealed until the testing phase".  Much like 21.

[I wonder if 21 and 23 should be combined?]

Here's the resulting tree.  Jim suggested that I read the tree OUT LOUD - he accused the eyes of being lazy and willing to agree with just about anything (you should see them when they've got a drink or two in them), but said the ears are more discerning.  I tried it and - you know - he's right.

 

You'll notice that the following UDES fit in too:

• (a reworded version of) 50 - "Projects often take a lot longer than planned to complete their final stages
   (90 percent syndrome)"
• 10 - "Projects often miss their promised deadline."
• 130  Relationships between IT and their customer ("The business") are poor.

Do you see the ???'s on the dotted arrow at the top-right-hand corner?  There's a cause and effect link here, but I ran out of omph.  Any suggestions?

Comments

[John Sambrook]

Clarke,

I'd like to offer some scrutiny, if that's of interest. It would help if you could number all entities on the tree, instead of just the UDEs.

1. Cause insufficiency from 10 to "Sometimes project just take too long and are cancelled."

2. I guess I have a clarity reservation on "Sometimes projects just take too long and are cancelled as well." Maybe break it up into "Sometimes projects take too long" leading to the effect that "Sometimes projects are cancelled."

3. Clarity on "Projects are sometimes cancelled late in the project due to insurmountable problems." In this effect, I'd suggest not saying what this is "due to." The CRT is supposed to be telling us what causes this. Having this restated as text in the effect itself is redundant.

OK, my build just finished, so I have to get back to work. I'll offer more scrutiny in the future, if it's helpful.

John

[Jason Yip]

I'm a TOC novice but here's my attempt for the ??? bit...

Customers start to trust IT *staff* less -> IT staff start to trust customers less -> less informal communication channels -> customers are frustrated with the lack of communication -> customers insist on running projects more formally -> a lot of time and effort is spent on project overhead activities