Last week we talked about getting it Right the First Time and started with Step 1. The next question many people ask is “How”. Usually they agree that this would be be a good thing for their project or organization and wish it could be done but stumble over How. There is a requirement for a cultural change if this is to occur throughout the organization but it is always possible to start small and implement this within a single project.
The key points are as follows:
- Take the diagram created as part of Step 1 last week.
- Concentrate on each piece in turn.
- Determine the needs of that piece of the diagram in terms of who is involved; what their involvement is and what they are expected to complete by the end
- Look at the process or processes ahead of the one on which we just concentrated and determine what outputs are needed or can be anticipated.
- Revise (if necessary) our understanding of the current piece of the diagram based on what can be expected from the previous steps.
- Look at the pieces of the diagram that are recipients of the products of the current step and determine their needs.
With all the above understanding in place, we are now in a position to get each step as close to perfect as we can. Get the relevant stakeholders together and with their undivided attention start deconstructing each step Combining the steps, while still considering any differences or modifications will give us something that is a lot closer to ‘Right the First Time’ than any process that sketches a diagram and starts development immediately based on incomplete knowledge.
Step 2: Break the high level diagram into pieces and determine who is involved with each step; their involvement; the time and effort required and then get their time and commitment. Now we can launch the next step.