Each chef has his own secrets and signature dishes. Our signature dish is Bitrix24 and we definitely know how to cook it ;).
In this article, we share some valuable advice from experienced chef-implementers and talk about our principles of project management.
Secret 1: Listen
No, it's not a typo, and no, we are not moralists, at least not in this article. Listening is a really important skill. The more it's honed by both parties, the easier it is to establish contact, the smoother the project goes and the more adequate direction it has. We cannot change the other person's character, but we can expand our ability to listen in ourselves and in our team in general.
Advice:
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listen to each other and make sure you understand the core of the problem before making any kind of decision.
Secret 2: Identify the problem
Customers don't always know what they need. For example, their requests often sound like this: "We need to automate sales". But when you start clarifying the details, it turns out that the sales processes are not verified, and the main business task here is to restore order, not automate chaos. In this case, automation will not help matters and might even worsen the situation. The desired CRM will not solve customers' problems and they will be tempted to put labels such as "bad integrator" or "useless product" and perceive an initially good idea as a waste of money.
Not to anger the decision maker but to bring value, you should take the side of their business and always ask yourself a question: how the implementation of this or that function will benefit the customer with regard to current business processes? If the processes are not fully set or formalized, make sure to bring them to order and only after that proceed with automation. By the way, the implementation of Bitrix24 is a good reason to declutter the processes. At the same time, the business owners should be ready to make some changes, while the integrator should act primarily as an analyst and only after that as an implementer.
Advice:
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do not limit yourself to the functional level, always assess the value of the project and of its parts from the business point of view;
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engage people from the customer's side who know business — top-managers or those who understand the company's specifics and current problems;
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study the current business processes and you will be able to articulate the problem and find new opportunities for growth.
Secret 3: Trust and skin in the game
The main issue between a customer and an integrator before they sign a contract is to which extent the parties can trust each other during the implementation process. It's a good thing if there is a special manager from the customer's side who is responsible for the project and who (ideally) will take over the exploitation of Bitrix24 in the future. However, it's not only the contact at the managerial level that is important. It's quite appropriate to have contact with top-managers as well. This kind of communication always helps to solve all problematic issues in a swift and efficient manner.
Equally important is that all participants have skin in the game. In the implementation process, it's often necessary to overcome resistance as any innovation always has both supporters and opponents. Without any skin in the game, the process may linger for days and months. Often customers ask integrators to work as fast as possible but with the lack of proper motivation among the members of customer's project team some simple actions such as providing the integrator with necessary information get delayed and the deadlines (as well as the budget) have to be revised.
Trust is critically important for the success of the project as well. Of course, no one is perfect, but if the customer constantly doubts the solutions offered by the integrator, it demotivates all participants of the process and puts in doubt the whole project. Remember that from the moment when the project has been launched, the customer and the integrator are on the same team and the success vector is formed as a sum of efforts invested by all parties. To avoid unnecessary questions make effort to maintain informal relationships with your customers. It doesn't mean that you should go to a bar together, a business lunch or a friendly phone call will do.
Advice:
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make sure that managers and top-managers are interested in the project and have some skin in the game;
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never eat alone: keep the ball of informal communication rolling.
Secret 4: Integrated informational space of the project
It's a lucky situation when the customer is ready to communicate with the integrator and actively participate in the project. Bitrix24 is a perfect tool for it: you can create an extranet group at the developer's portal and solve all the issues there.
The customer can track all development tasks in the group as well. The benefit here is that the customer sees how the tasks are being accomplished in real time and stays up to date on what's going on at each implementation stage. Besides, this way the customer gets to master the tool itself — the Bitrix24 corporate portal. It's quite helpful when the customer himself is eager to work on the tasks and take responsibility for solving some current issues.
It's also important that the customer introduces the integrator to all project team members. For example, to IT specialists, external infrastructure contractors, etc. They should not only be aware of the project but also be ready to get involved in deployment and implementation, if necessary.
Advice:
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set up an integrated workspace for the project: work groups, tasks, and chats in Bitrix24.
Secret 5: Put design prior to development
In the course of the designing process, we make interactive and non-interactive prototypes keeping in mind the needs of each project. Then we show them to the customer, explain how it works, collect feedback, make some necessary changes and when everything is approved we proceed to the realization. At this point, the project broken into a number of tasks goes to the developers.
Thus the customer gets the product that meets their expectations and cuts down the number of development hours. In this case, it's quite unlikely that we'll need to make some changes during the realization process. The prototype allows us to check the convenience of the proposed solution with future users. Also, it minimizes the risks of developing solutions with new user interfaces.
However, designing complex systems does not end on prototyping. Often we are asked to create an architectural solution or think through some special details of the particular implementation, specify scenarios of integration with an external system or testing scenarios for the acceptance procedure. If the customer wants to have a stable system as the result of the project, the best choice is to make a one-time investment in design rather than to spend money on numerous fixes.
Advice:
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always put design prior to development. In case you can't design, contact us :).
Secret 6: Proper project decomposition
At the planning stage of the project, we evaluate all the tasks and break the project into certain blocks, if possible. Blocks are functionally separate parts of the project that can be executed in any order alongside each other. Decomposition allows us to deliver the project in blocks, rather than in one piece, and move along gradually, making iterations. Therefore the final result is made up of a number of intermediate results, and at each reference point, the whole project team gets a product with some specific functions. It's ideal to have an idea about iterations as early as at the stage of composing the terms of reference.
In the age of flexible development methodologies, almost everybody knows the basic ideas of agile approaches. We do not limit ourselves to theory but practice various principles in our everyday work. Hybrid development methodology that contains both waterfall and flexible (agile) elements has shown the best results. Major technical task created at the stage of design is decomposed and forms the basis of the backlog for subsequent development iterations. This method reduces the risks of development, cuts the total time of implementation and puts in order (regulates) the selection of technical solutions.
Advice:
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break large projects into blocks.
Secret 7: Constant feedback
Uncertainty is the main enemy of order. What can be worse than an en overdue task without comments? The efforts of the most courageous and brave managers die in the depth of the unknown.
Feedback allows the participants to be always aware of what is going on with the project at the moment and learn about risks and problems in due time. Don't leave each other in an informational vacuum even if there are some delays in the implementation process or with access providing. Open dialogue can solve everything, while silence in such cases is not the best friend.
Advice:
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constantly give and ask for feedback;
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have a conference call at least once a week;
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do not put problems under the rug.
Conclusion
These are the main secrets of cooking delicious projects in your kitchen. If you want to try one out, please feel free to contact us. We will be glad to see you as our clients and will do our best to satisfy your needs and put your ideas into reality.
