Why open source software is hot - Rediff

December 20, 2005

What is common ton products such as JBoss and Mono framework? Nothing, except that both of them are open source initiative in Java and .NET world.
Products like Linux, Apache Web Server, and JBoss have shown that open source software can be technically superior to any commercial software available. These products have been successful in competing and acquiring market share with some commercial software equivalents such as Microsoft, Sun, BEA systems and IBM. Companies such as RedHat, have coupled open source software with a viable business strategy for a sustainable long term haul.
The purpose of this article is to outline some ways to make business sense of open source software. Open source has joined the main stream. Studies, surveys and experience have shown that majority of IT managers of global corporations are using open source software.
In several domains, there are competing open-source and commercial software choices for enterprises to choose from. In reality, I suspect, most of the companies developing commercial software are using open source behind the scenes. At least this is true to certain extent in Java world, where the majority of Java library framework is open source.

What is open source software?
According to Wikipedia, open source is regarded by some as a philosophy and by others a pragmatic methodology, relates to practices in the production of products which promote access to their sources.
The IT community in general, the developers and producers had used many different phrases and jargon words before, it was not until the 1998 when open source became a brand to denote widely adopted as the early Internet years provided a rapid convergence of socially diverse production models.
Technically, 'open source' means software that is supplied with the original code in which it was written allowing others to view, modify, adapt, and improve the code.
This can include software that cannot be redistributed without explicit permission (and often a payment) to the software owner. Most people now define "open source" more narrowly to as software with the following further characteristics:
It is protected by copyright, but not patents.
It has a 'copy-left' license (GNU license or similar), which states that it can be redistributed for no charge, but the source code and modifications must be licensed out under the same terms that it was licensed in. Please visit the http://www.opensource.org/ to learn about the intricacies and latest updates on open source licensing.
Please note, that it is acceptable to sell commercial software in a bundle with this 'open source' software. Open source software is not the same as 'shareware' or 'freeware' which often does not come with source code and has zero cost as its defining characteristic. Open source software, may or may not be zero cost.
The benefit of open source software is that when people are allowed to read, distribute, and modify the source code for a piece of software, the software evolves and gets better.
History of open source
The concept of open source software evolved as early as 1960s. Most software developed then was readily given out to users in order to better the experience for all users.
In the 1980s, the free software movement led by Richard Stallman began its campaign for free software, meaning software that respects users' freedom and community.
Stallman asserted that software should be treated the same way as academic research is treated. The source code (knowledge) should be available to others just like academic papers circulate freely.
Science advances because knowledge is shared, subject to peer review, and built on by others. GNU Emacs editor and GNU C compiler was among Stallman's early successes which continue to be popular in their categories.
Stallman created the GNU license and the concept of 'copy left' to ensure these products were open to others to improve. The GNU license is the basis for most open source licenses.
Another major milestone was the development of Linux, which was developed by a large, geographically dispersed team of unpaid programmers sharing code over the Internet, coordinated by Linus Torvalds.
This group created an operating system that was more robust, elegant and error-free than UNIX or Microsoft Windows and they created it in much less time and cost. This further proved the power of this software development model.
There is an interesting background to Apache Web Server. A group of Web administrators took some freely-available code for a web server and patched it to create a 'patchy Web server' that became named 'Apache' Web Server, and this became the best web server available on the internet.
Although Microsoft has tried to displace this by distributing its IIS Web Server at no cost as part of the Windows operating system, Apache continues to be more popular, helping to substantiate the benefits of the open cooperative software development.
In English, 'free' also means zero cost (free as in beer), the movement adopted the term 'open source' to help clarify that this category of software can be sold, as long as programmers have the "freedom" to view, modify, and redistribute the product along with its source code.

Open source software: business proposition
In the late 1990s companies started working out how to turn the superior reliability and development speed of shared open software development into a business proposition.
The following are some of the most popular business ways companies are doing this:
Sell service and support of open source software that your company does not control. This is what companies like Red Hat and Suse (Novell) do with Linux, which is controlled by Linus Torvalds and his followers.
Create open source software your firm controls, and sell service, support, and commercial versions related to this software. Examples are: JBoss, the #3 Java-based Web Application Server; OpenOffice (StarOffice), Sun Microsystems' alternative to Microsoft Office and mySQL, a database that competes against Oracle and IBM's DB2.
Sell a product or service that uses open source software as an element of a total solution offering. This is what companies do when they make commercial
Web applications that use PHP, run on Linux, are written in Perl or provide web services running on the Apache Web Server.
Provide open source software for hardware you sell. For example, companies that make computer printers sometimes provide the source code for their printer drivers so that experienced programmers can adapt these printer drivers to fit operating systems or perform functions that the company is not interested in writing themselves. As a result of having the drivers available as open source, the company sells more printers.
Open source a software product to reduce support costs at the end of life.
Companies, by adopting open source improve their reputation and reduce the support and maintenance costs for products, where the revenue growth is flat. On the other hand, for new applications, products and services, companies have embraced open source, to develop the commodity at low cost and achieve higher revenue growth.
Provide dual licensing for a software product. This is actually how mySQL is marketed. Companies can either use the version based on an open source license for free or can pay to have a license that allows them to sell a modified version of the database as part of their total product offering.
Build an ecosystem. For example Palm has successfully shared the source code of their PDAs to make it easier for other companies to write software that works with this product, making the overall offering more attractive.

Open Source Resources
It is worth pointing out that there are a lot of development and marketing opportunities available when a company chooses to go down the open source route that are not available if you keep your software proprietary. These can improve product quality, reduce development cost or reduce marketing cost.
Examples are:
Quality control and improvement. By providing your source code, others can review this and suggest improvements and provide valuable feedback.
New applications. By providing your source code, others can adapt this to applications you never thought of.
Easy distribution. There are many websites such as FreshMeat and SourceForge etc) that will freely publicize your open source product.

http://sourceforge.net
http://jboss.org


Conclusion
This article just portrays an outline about the avenues available to make money from Open Source.

Make consulting a career choice - Rediff

December 22, 2005

This article tries to provide a career path for consulting careers by making smart choices developing and nurturing skills during the early years of professional life. The purpose of this article is to outline the career options available to information technology consultants.
It is in the hands of individuals to how to design, develop and leverage their skills to be competitive in the global village of information.

Introduction
Consulting careers have gained lot of momentum since the information technology boom of the 1990s. The fundamental nature has also undergone a sea change since the year 2000. Any project execution or product development or for that matter any domain, such as accounting, human resources, finance or industries such as oil and gas, retail sector, etc, requires individuals specialised in a skill set not easily found among the employees of the organisation.
The nature of consulting is temporary and limited to project, product development and marketing.
Though consulting careers existed prior to the 1990s, the shortage of information workers during the 1990s' IT boom and flexibility in immigration policies triggered a mass exodus of qualified engineers from developing nations, mostly from South East Asia to developed nations, majorly to the United States.
The term consultant has remained same, but it is often prefixed with the demands that exist during the period. For instance, during the enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementations in the mid-1990s, they were called ERP consultants or supply chain consultants.
During the Y2K problems, they were called Y2K consultants. With technology advancements, there are J2EE consultants, .NET consultants, Seibel consultants, etc. There is also another cult called management consultants, more trained in devising and developing strategies for the top management in organisations to deliver high ROI (return on investment) to customers and stakeholders.
What was called pure technical consulting or IT consulting has transformed into a business consulting practice in recent years. Over the years, with organisations adopting open source and basically the technology becoming commoditised, affordable and easy to use, technology adoption is more a coincidence.
The strategy of organisations is to leverage technology to provide high value products, services and ROI to customers. A business consultant is an individual, who has a deep understanding of technology and a broad grasp of the line of businesses.

Being a consultant: Phase 1
There are some guidelines that require strict practice to make a successful career out of consulting. Consulting is sometimes like self-employment. You have to be ready for fluctuating pay checks, long hours of work, adaptability to changing client's business scenarios, flexibility to learn and adopt new technologies, jargons, process, regulations, etc., at a quick pace.
Work experience: Various experiences can be applied in future consulting projects. From necessary engineering tasks to menial jobs, you can always learn people skills. Be a student of how to understand people from varying backgrounds and ways to approach them.
Involvement with professional organisation: Professional societies can help you network with other engineers who specialise in various areas. They are a good way of keeping up-to-date with the latest information.

Learn the art of Googling: Information does not walk or run, you have to crave for information. You are young and enthusiastic; channel your efforts to acquire knowledge over a wide variety of topics. Read articles on popular Web sites as and when you have time. Keep yourself current on ongoing political, business and industry discussions.

Learn and contribute: When you learn some thing, you have to practice the learnings and contribute to the community. Just like the Vedas are impossible to master, consulting or any career for that matter is hard to excel in. Learn the art of learning and 'unlearning' as information transforms. Try to contribute to the community, by sharing information such as technical or business skills.

Career centre: Practice and learn interviewing techniques, wearing the proper attire, and speaking skills. These are necessary skills to develop to be a successful consultant.

Survival of the fittest: Darwin's theory
During initial phases, you have to be a strong minded and intelligent to understand the intricacies of consulting. You have to be flexible in your attitude, generous to your client and adaptable to changing technological and business demands of the customer. I would modify the theory to suit the consulting business. It is the 'Survival of knowledgeable adaptable, flexible and talented.'

Build and maintain consulting career: Phase 2
To reach this phase, you have worked hard and achieved the first goal. The following discusses some strategies to build and maintain the consulting career. Some of the strategies could be used in Phase 1 as well, if you are an exceptional consultant.
Learn to cultivate business: Be pro-active to solve customer problems. Take courses in marketing and selling. They will help with communication skills between managers and upper level personal as well as help you with your own development.
Writing proposals: Learn the finer points of language and try to learn the language of the customer. Shut up and listen to the client and then write it down. Try to quantify the client's needs as much as possible and avoid vague goals and objectives. Work in stages with evaluation points (milestones), which can be used to show progress to the client.
Deliver a little extra: Deliver a little more than what the client expects. This helps in getting more referrals and repeat business. This practice will generate follow-on and referral business.
Learn how to identify pertinent information: Read up on the subject at hand and find out what is considered relevant and important. Learn from previous assignments and your mistakes. If you stay focussed on your goals it is easier to decide what is pertinent and you can stay headed in the right direction.

Professional registration/certification (PMP, CAPM, technical certifications): Take the certifications as soon as possible and always practice, what they preach. Passing the certifications will always leave you with your options open.

Advanced degree: Evaluate options and try to get an advanced degree in the area of specialisation, such as MS, MBA etc. This will add lot of value on resume, problem solving and analytical skills. The problem solving, logical and analytical skills are crucial to be a successful business consultant in the ever-demanding Information era.

Professional societies: Continue being involved. Organisations such as IEEE, PMI are important.
Networking: Keeping up and sharing with classmates and friends from other organisations and industries is a good source of ideas and information.

Maintain your edge when consulting
Since being a consultant demands a lot of your time and the hours can be irregular. Following are some suggestions for coping with these conditions:

Maintain discipline for personal well being: In order to have the energy to be a consultant over the long haul, it is necessary to eat healthy food, get plenty of sleep, and perform some type of physical activity to relieve stress.

When travelling, learn how to take a break from work. You will need one schedule or routine for while you are at home and one for when you are travelling.

Maintain discipline if you are working at home: You need to separate work from home life. When starting your workday at home, do not stop for anything personal. Treat work time as mandatory and should not change work routine unless it is an emergency.

Closer to Nirvana -- as good as it gets: Phase 3
Remember that you can never achieve Nirvana in any profession. If you reach Phase 3, modestly be proud of your accomplishment. This is as close as one can get to it in life. It is always good to have choices, whether it is buying products or choosing a job profile.
After years of consulting, individuals could be client engagement manager, programme managers or delivery manager in services in consulting practices of global organisations. Better still you could practice the occupation, being a practice manager, nurturing technology, business and consultants like yourself.

The following are two options widely adopted by many experienced individuals:
Joining a consulting company; or starting own business in consulting with associates. As in every option, there are advantages and disadvantages. Here are some of my comments:

Employee of consulting company
Advantages
Established for many years
Usually work in a single function (selling, marketing, etc.)
Easy to establish mentor(s)
Steadier income

Disadvantages
Working for a company and having a boss
Continuous traveling
Constant push on justifying billable hours

Starting own business in consulting
Advantages
You get to be your own boss, from writing your own proposals to making your own hours
Potentially great financial rewards function (selling, marketing, etc.)

Disadvantages
Stretched for time due to working in other functions such as marketing, selling, tech support, etc
Requires self-discipline

Competitive Forces Model and Value Chain Model à Is it Viable in modern era of Digitalization, Globalization and De-regulation

Competitive Forces Model and Value Chain Model à Is it Viable in modern era of Digitalization, Globalization and De-regulation

Abstract
Harvard Professor Michael E Porter, the management guru developed the two most widely acclaimed and influential models for Information Systems planning and Strategic Management
1. Competitive Forces Model
2. Value Chaining.
Porter had a lasting influence on strategic management with the books he authored about the competitive advantages at industry level and global level in eighties. Since then, these models have become a guiding bible for organizations world wide.
The ideas of Porter has faced some criticism in the last decade and half, due to developing of the new economy called Internet Economy. Compared to old economy, the conditions to do business have changed fundamentally in the Internet world. The rise of various e-business applications and various companies relying on Internet for business, knowledge etc., has strongly influenced all industries.
In eighties, the economic situation illustrated
1. A period of strong competition
2. Cyclical Development
3. Relatively stable market
4. Changes in Technology were not as rapid as today.

In Porter’s model, the focus was on
1. Actual situation such as organization’s relation with customers, suppliers etc.,
2. Intensity of competition.
3. Predictable developments in areas of new entrants, substitutes etc.,

The Porter’s frame work relies on developing the competitive advantages from strengthening the parameters with in the Five forces framework. These models do not address the today’s dynamic changes, which has power to transform industries.

Three New forces by Larry Downes
Larry Downes is a consultant, educator and speaker on developing business strategies in an age of constant change caused by information technology. He works with Fortune 500 businesses in a variety of industries, and serves on the advisory boards of several startups. In his article “Beyond Porter”, the five forces model is no longer viable. He introduces three new forces that require a new strategic framework and set of very different analytic and business design tools.
a. Digitalization
b. Globalization
c. Deregulation

a. Digitalization: As computing power and communications bandwidth becomes cheaper, more and more activities move to a digital format. The rise of public networks makes this information more widely available, increasing the possibilities for collaborating and competing. Downes quotes example of the rise of online shopping malls, operated by telecom operators and credit card organizations. Organizations that use Five Forces model and base on thinking strategy of today, would never see changes coming in time. This has been the trend in last couple of years, with improvements in network bandwidth, information is available in digital format and more widely adopted. The online communication, collaboration, coordination and competition has gained the traction and increased the possibilities and strategies for innovation.

b. Globalization: The world is rapidly migrating to one very large network (the Internet) whose attraction, based on Metcalfe's Law, is irresistible. The effects are felt throughout the production and distribution chain, as local businesses become global overnight, customers engage in borderless commerce, and competition kicks into overdrive. Since the rise of Internet, we are seeing a steep increase in business process outsourcing and IT enabled services such as call center activities, e-learning etc., It has improved the distribution logistics. Customers have a chance to shop around and compare prices globally. As a result, local mid-sized companies have to compete in a global market, even though they do not import or export their products and services. Global and networked markets impose new demands on organization’s strategies. Competitive advantages emerge from the ability to develop lasting relationships with customers and partners leveraging far-reaching networks for mutual advantage.

c. De-regulation: The current trend towards deregulation reflects a belief by governments and regulated industries alike that the disease (open, international competition) is better than the cure (laws to protect local economies). The result is a radical shrinking, outsourcing, and restructuring of traditional enterprises. Countries around the world are going through this phase. For instance, the Insurance, Telecom, Aviation sectors are de-regulated in India. The Energy sector was de-regulated in US in 2002, giving rise to competition and good service to consumers.

Downes summarizes that the role of IT differentiates strategy of porter world and new forces in new world. In old economy, IT was used as tool for implementing change. Technology has become the most important driver for change.

Is Five Forces of Porter still viable?
In fact, digitalization, globalization and deregulation have become powerful forces in last few years. Porter;s models rarely consider the three forces of Downes. Technological progress, especially IT has influenced today’s market to a great extent. Hence forth, it is not practical and viable to just develop a strategy solely on Porter’s models.

The new economy has transformed from its initial euphoria to a more sustainable economic eco- system. But the speed of technological change and innovation has not slowed down. Economic laws that apply to products and services cannot be simply transferred to the new category called Information goods. The production, marketing, etc., of products and services are different for different categories.

However, I am of the opinion that, if one were to base strategy development on few selected models, then they are not useful. This was true in eighties too. Every strategy should base on a careful analysis of all internal and external factors and on their potential future development. This is no new insight.

Further more, we have realized and learnt that the basic laws of economy holds good for new economy, which is the basis for sustainability of Porters ideas. Porter, who is an economist, based the five forces of model on microeconomics. IT just explains microeconomics in a more understandable way. Porter talks about the attractiveness of an industry that is influenced by the shape of five forces. In economics, the constellation of factors determines issues like profit maximization or supernormal profits.

Mapping Porter’s Five forces and Areas of Microeconomics
Porters Five Forces Areas of Microeconomics
Supplier’s bargaining power Supply and demand theory, cost of roduction theory price flexibility
Customer’s bargaining power Supply and demand theory, customer behavior, price flexibility
Rivalry between Existing players Number of competitors, market size, growth
Substitutes Threat Effects of Substitution
New Entrants Threat Market Entry Barriers
Attractiveness of Industry Profitability

These laws are unquestionable. In reality, what Porters model demonstrates is how the fundamental laws of economics tells the stories of all industries covering all aspects of product/service selling starting by raw-materials supplied by suppliers to manufacturing, to distribution to customers.

Therefore despite all changes in industry dynamics and business models – Porters ideas are not totally obsolete. Their underlying idea is that every business operates in a framework of suppliers, buyers, competitors, new entrants and substitutes. This idea is valid in every competition-based economy. Even today, every organization in the old economy and in the new economy has to produce its goods and services and to sell them by offering an attractive bundle of value for money and supporting services. Every online portal has to produce or buy content, to present it, and to find buyers for its offerings – be it visitors or advertisers. Hence, organizations still operate in the framework of the five forces described by Porter.

Transformation
The three forces mandated by Downes made the five forces framework, instable, dynamic and complex.
Even careful market observation cannot foresee all potential new entrants or substitutes that might enter the market virtually overnight, driven by technological progress. Organizations have to adjust their structures, processes, business models and strategies to this new dynamics. Nevertheless, it is not less important to think about the own bargaining power towards suppliers or customers. The difference is that organizations today have more means to influence competitive forces. Traditional thinking in Porters world was largely limited to achieving a better competitive position against other players. Now it is more important to form collaborations for mutual benefits. This can be ad hoc networks of partners, common standards, strategic alliances and much more in-between.

As a result, Porters ideas have become just one tool in a wide array of tool sets available to organizations. This tool is no longer the only or the most important tool. But it is not obsolete either. Rather it should be used in company with new and traditional management techniques in order to gain the most comprehensive picture.

It is just that, Porter’s models focus too much on economic conditions of olden age. The viability is limited under the transformed business conditions. It is clear that Downes new forces were derived from the transformed economic conditions in a particular era. In next few years or a decade, the three forces would lose some of their importance because other developments would take a driver’s role.

The most sustainable of Downes new forces will probably be Digitalization. The good ‘information’ will become more and more important for any economy. There will be more technological progress in information technology that has the power to transform industries again and again.

Deregulation and Globalization are just temporary drivers. Within few years, governments will have deregulated everything which requires it. Similarly, all companies would adjust their operations to a serve the global economy. Otherwise, companies will have to fear the failure to succeed in the market place. We are already experiencing this phenomenon. Today, global thinking is fast becoming a standard management activity as cost control or selling. In all probability, there would not be major transformations from deregulation and globalization.

Conclusion
Michael Porter’s models will have to be considered for learning how the fundamental of economies work. Then base the decision to develop the strategy for building and nurturing companies on the forces that drive the economy specific to market, industry and customers. We should apply the knowledge with their limitations in mind and use them as a part of larger framework of management tools and techniques. I would advise this approach suitable for any organization’s business model, either new or old economy.
References
http://www.killer-apps.com/
http://www.valuebasedmanagement.net/methods_porter_five_forces.html
http://www.cio.com/archive/061503/architecture.html?printversion=yes
D’Aveni R. A., with Robert Gunther, Hypercompetition. Managing the Dynamics of Strategic
Maneuvering, The Free Press, New York, 1994.
Dierickx I., Cool K., ‘Asset Stock Accumulation and Sustainability of Competitive Advantage’,
Management Science, Vol. 35, No. 1, Dec. 1989.
Ghemawat P., Commitment: the dynamic of strategy, Free Press, New York, 1991.
Hammel G., Prahalad C. K., Competing for the future, Harvard Business School Press, Boston,
1994.
Hofer C. W., Schendel D., Strategy formulation: Analytical concepts, West Publishing Company,
St. Paul, MN, 1978

10 tips to manage a global project - Published on Rediff.com

10 tips to manage a global projectSudhi Seshachala

A recent study shows 90 per cent of large companies are engaged in global projects. Ironically less than one third of them have effective, established practices to help project managers and team members communicate, collaborate and coordinate with each other.
Global projects should allow organizations to take advantage of distributed skills, around-the-clock operations and virtual team environments.

Currently many of these organizations struggle to reach the required levels of quality and effectiveness from these projects because their structure and their methodologies are not adapted to a global multi-cultural environment, where most communication is in writing and asynchronous.

Purpose
This article describes how organizations can adopt simple steps and procedures for projects to thrive in global project management. It also considers the differences, from project manager's perspective; between managing a global project and managing one where all involved are co-located within easy reach.

Visualizing the goals
Performance Bonus: Clearly define global goals and goals for the countries/functions/business units where the project is going to have an impact.
These sub-goals must be:

• Fully aligned with, and contributing to, the global goals
• Agreed with the country/functional/business unit sub-project manager who will be elivering them.
• Agreed with the country sponsor if local funding is required
  Validated, in the country, for compliance with local culture and legislation
• Getting Step 1 right is critical for the success of any project. The following sub-steps will assist you to get it right on your global project.

1. Global project scoping
Work with the global project sponsor and steering committee to determine the high-level scope and goals. You must also identify the key functions and countries that will be impacted by the project.
2. Appoint sub-project managers
Now is the time to appoint sub-project managers not when you realize that you are disappearing without trace! You must have sub-project managers in each of the key functional areas and countries identified in your global scope. The country sub-project managers must be based in the country to ensure that they understand local culture and practice.
3. Sub-project scoping
Each of the sub-project managers will now scope their sub-projects. You will manage this to ensure that they are cascading down from the global scope. This exercise is likely to lead to changes in the global scope and you will control this. To ensure buy-in and commitment the sub-project scope documents should be reviewed and approved bymanagement in the country or function.
4. Review and approval
You now have a Work Breakdown Structure that scopes the project from a macro, global level to a micro, country/function level. This should be reviewed and approved by the global project sponsor and steering committee. This may seem like excessive effort for one step however being an experienced project manager you know what happens if you cut corners at the scoping stage.
5. Make a list of the jobs that need to be done
This is best done using a matrix approach that captures all of the functions and countries identified in Step 1 and drills down from the scoping done in Step 1.
Business Unit/Country All Countries Country A Country B
All Functions
R & D
Logistics
Finance
This step is complete when every cell in the matrix has both an owner and a list of jobs preferably compiled by the owner. The owner should be either the functional sub-project manager or the country sub-project manager. You cannot afford to own more than a handful of cells if you are to manage the global project effectively.
Benefits of the Approach
You will not miss any major jobs - either generic or national.
It provides a task breakdown structure with both detailed and high-level views.
It gives you an opportunity to assess the sub-project manager's ability and willingness to contribute.
The sub-project managers get buy-in at the planning stage.
It demonstrates that you are the global project manager and overall trail boss.
Either you or the project sponsor can compare the costs and benefits of implementing the project in Country X and make informed decisions on how best to proceed.
Some tasks, for example user training, are likely to feature across all sub-projects. You should identify these tasks and ensure that experiences are shared across the sub-projects.
In addition to the tasks that you would expect based on the scope there are likely to be additional tasks to satisfy national legal and cultural requirements.
In some industries in India for example, any project that involves significant organisational change requires lengthy consultation with the union. Your country sub-project managers must understand that you require them to include these tasks and that local management should be consulted if they have any doubts about such issues.
On completion of this step you should have a detailed, cascaded list of tasks for the project and all of the sub-projects.
6. There must be one leader
It is very important to establish one's leadership in the early stages of project endeavor. Hopefully you have got off to a good start in Steps 1 & 2 both by inspiring confidence in the sub-project managers and by demonstrating your leadership abilities to the project sponsor giving her a feeling of confidence that you can trail boss the project.
Leadership is like justice, it must be seen to happen! This is particularly important on aglobal project where communication should be effective, regular and is critical.
You also demonstrate your leadership, particularly to the sub-project managers, by working with them in a no blame manner to take effective corrective action when problems arise and by mentoring them if that is appropriate.
Shooting the messenger is even dumber on a global project than it is normally! If you don't have a warm feeling that you are in charge of all global activities you must address the issues now or else you are putting both the project and your job at risk.
7. Assign people to jobs
If you adopted the matrix approach recommended in Steps 1 & 2 this should be straightforward since the sub-project managers will do most of the assignment.
Auditing the plans and providing feedback to the sub-project managers
Preparing a consolidated global plan
Continuing your assessment of the sub-project managers, this is your final opportunity to make changes before the implementation phase commences
Continuing to demonstrate that you are the overall trail boss
This is also a suitable time for you to ensure that your project infrastructure is appropriate to the size of the project. This may involve setting up a project office with project coordinators, finance staff and a communications prime.
Given that global projects generally cross several financial reporting lines you should meet with finance management to ensure that there will be adequate financial reporting for the project.
8. Manage expectations / allow a margin for error
Fallback position You should now have:
A detailed, cost consolidated global project plan.
A consolidated risk register with both your assessment and the sub-project managers assessment.
A consolidated open issues log again both yours and the sub-project managers.
Your assessment of the sub-project managers.
Your audit of the plans in Step 4 ensured that the sub-project managers had included adequate contingency.
Prepare a number of implementation scenarios.
While you need to take account of business drivers your preferred approach is to deliver early successes by commencing the implementation in countries that you have identified as high added value (significant benefits, low risk and low cost).
Any country where you have concerns about the sub-project manager's ability to deliver is high risk and should be kept well down the list. Address cost concerns by using your matrix from Step 2 to highlight countries that are low added value.
Review these implementation scenarios with the sponsor/steering committee
You have been keeping your sponsor and the key stakeholders fully informed so there should be no surprises here. Presenting a range of implementation scenarios both forces them to make the difficult decisions and demonstrates that you are on top of the project.
Get sign-off on the plan
Stand firm and ensure reality prevails! You then do all of the usual things, calculate your PSI, and communicate with the teams etc. as you move from planning to implementation.
Use an appropriate leadership style
This may involve using a different leadership style for each country. You can only lead effectively if you have the time and space to do so in Step 4. The sub-project managers will probably not report to you
The motivation for them to deliver is that they are part of a high profile, winning team and that you are developing their skills by transferring knowledge to them.
Key leadership issues to considerCommunicationThis is so important I make no apology for mentioning it repeatedly. You will be managing a virtual team and you will probably never have a face-to-face meeting with your sub-project managers.
Virtual MeetingsAudio conference calls are valuable but need to be chaired effectively to avoid time wasting. If your company does not have audio conference facilities there are service providers who provide conferencing facilities.
There are a number of Internet based software packages that allow you to share information such as project plans during conference calls. I find this combination very effective and I tend to avoid videoconferences. I don't like them and they are very expensive.
Direct CommunicationElectronic mail and regular telephone calls are likely to be your main contact with your sub-project managers. Don't rely exclusively on electronic mail - telephone calls often provide valuable early warning signs.
Broadcast CommunicationsIn addition to your regular status reports you also need to communicate with a larger audience about the project. How you do this depends both on the culture within your company and the technology available.
The conventional wisdom is that you set-up a website and leave it at that. This might work if your target audience obediently bookmark your website and check it regularly. My preference is to set-up a website and sends regular broadcast e-mails with a summary of the project and hyperlinks to the website for those who require more information.
One of the benefits of this is that people will respond to e-mails providing valuable two-way communication.
Time zonesThe biggest single difference you are likely to encounter between managing a local project and a global project is time zones. This permeates all project activities; I have chosen to discuss it here because time zone management is one of the key skill sets you will need.
It is imperative, that you factor in time zone differences in the contingency. In addition, synchronize the working hours of groups who need constant interaction, for example by getting one group to work from 14:00 to 22:00 daily.
Doing this for even a short period can have a major impact on your critical path. Clearly this is a sensitive issue and needs to be discussed with those affected, with line management and with human resources.
You also need to consider how you will be contactable by your sub-project managers in other time zones - without spending 24 hours a day at your desk. The best option is to set-up a home office with links to your company's telephone and computer systems. This enables you, for example, to participate in a conference call from 21:00 to 22:00 at home. If this set-up is not possible a mobile phone is the next option.Know what's going onIf you don't believe you are getting accurate information from a particular country you have two options. Provide assistance or replacementSend somebody you know and trust out there to provide you with accurate information. You should include a certain amount of travel in your project budget to cater for situations like this.
If the sub-project manager is enthusiastic but inexperienced then the person you parachute in should support and advise the sub-project manager who remains, at least nominally, in charge. This is the preferred option.Scope reductionTake the country out of scope this is one of the contingency/fallback options that you discussed with your sponsor during Step 5. Regardless how you communicate this it will be perceived as a failure by the country sub-project manger and may lead to action from management in the country.
You should ensure that both the country sub-project manager and his line manager fully understand what you intend doing and are given an opportunity to take corrective action.
Tell people what's going onAgain you need to be attuned to cultural sensitivities particularly when communicating bad news. While a certain amount of competition between countries can be good for the project you need to be careful to avoid stirring up nationalistic jingoism.
9. Repeat Steps 1 through 8 until Step 10
Nothing much to say about this provided you have followed my advice in the earlier steps and mapped out discrete phases and milestones with the low risk milestones in close and the high-risk milestones a long way out.In addition to the normal scope creep that you are constantly beating off you also need to watch for sub-project managers and stakeholders in the various countries attempting to use global funding for their pet projects.
10. Performance bonus
Congratulations you have successfully managed a global project!
The author has been working in the IT industry in various capacities, currently working for a Houston, Texas-based company.