Work toward a systems implementation that will deliver, in twelve months or less, incremental, useable levels of functionality which support specific business objectives. The detailed concept of operations should explain how the architecture will satisfy these objectives and how it will prioritize them. It should also communicate responsibilities for implementing and managing the architecture.

Coordinate Technical Standards

Which standards are essential to ensure that the technical architecture ultimately supports business objectives? Define these, paying particularly close attention to technical interfaces. Develop a plan to ensure compliance with architecture standards. The technical architecture must be documented to ensure its consistency with the overall agency-level design.

Gain Agreement on the Project Plan

The project plan formally captures and documents agreements among customers, stakeholders and project participants. Secure an informed agreement up front, and maintain this agreement throughout the project life. This will ensure that the project meets expected results. This will also help align the project with the organization’s business plans and supporting IT plans. Over time, manage the project scope carefully, since there will be a tendency for different areas of the project to acquire their own divergent momentum.

People
Understand the project participants

Organizational Leadership

Listen to the Customer and Create a Vision

The project sponsor manages high-level customer relationships, translating key customer expectations into a practical vision for the project. To be effective, this vision must be broadly communicated.

Commit to the Project

The most frequent cause of project failure is the lack of involvement of the organizational leaders. Ongoing involvement is crucial. It is critical to structure the project in such a way that go/no-go decisions may be made at highly visible milestones. Leadership commitment stabilizes the project so that it can accommodate changes over time.

Leverage the Existing Organizational Structure

The roles and responsibilities of the project and its partners are most effective when they correspond with the way in which the overall agency is managed. For example, in an organization in which field offices have a great deal of autonomy, a centralized approach to IT management could bring about unnecessary conflict.

Empower the CIO

The Chief Information Officer (CIO) position requires extraordinary qualifications in both IT management skills and general management skills. The CIO needs authority and visibility to guide the organization in key decisions. The CIO focuses on three things:

Synergy. Bring realistic synergy to IT strategy by focusing disparate IT activities on their contribution to the organization’s mission. Ensure that business objectives take precedence over technological advances. Direct architectural compliance across the enterprise. Create a formal strategic IT plan that reflects business priorities.

Sharing. Leverage the centralized technical authority to reduce redundancy across different organizational units. Enable them to share systems and data, as well as IT training, approaches, and other commonly needed resources. Coordinate a coherent strategy for commercial off-the-shelf software. Seek to make the enterprise technologically seamless.

Support. Establish complementary managerial and technical structures to provide support for critical enterprise functions. Do this in a way that provides different organizational units with the flexibility they require.

Project Leadership

Select a Strong Project Manager

Empower a central point of responsibility for project decisions, and clearly distinguish this role from functional program management roles. Clarify the risks which the project manager is expected to manage strategically. "Leadership ability" is difficult to articulate, and even more difficult to find. At a minimum, it includes the following characteristics:

Drive. Does the project manager have a strong desire to succeed?

Ability to Build Consensus. Can the project manager get key individuals to work together towards common ends?

Ability to Take Risks. Can the project manager recognize opportunities and find ways to seize them?

Ability to Communicate. Is the project manager able to communicate clearly and convincingly to all parties?

Experience. Does the project manager have a track record of success? Look for characteristics and experiences that relate directly to the project at hand.

Technical Knowledge. Does the project manager possess demonstrated knowledge in the appropriate technical fields?

Sense of the Big Picture. Does the project manager understand the project from a broad business perspective?

Enable a Cooperative Environment

Nurture cooperation among members of the leadership, including the project sponsor, functional program manager, project manager, contracting officer and contractor. Create a learning environment which attracts individual skills to the table. Actively encourage team members to innovate by rewarding judicious risk-taking.

Ensure Accountability

The project manager is responsible for results. Successful project managers actively encourage team members to make minor challenges known before they become major problems. The project needs a "truth culture" – let the messenger live. Stress the importance of accountability by systematically introducing constructive criticism into current practices. One recommended technique is to outsource for independent validation and verification (IV&V) support. It is critical for the executive leadership to listen to IV&V advice. Another technique is to create an anonymous channel for reporting problems.