Improvement Plan

Is continuous improvement better than one decisive action? Too many companies are waiting until external threats become reality before they commit to an improvement plan. ...

... "Now that its independence is at stake, it is taking decisive actions. It may not work because the plan probably comes too late. " ...

Via BloggingStocks: Anheuser-Busch

Project Management Delays Are Sometimes Good

There's an interesting article on Computerworld about the need to procrastinate more in project management.

Huh? No, really. In reality, it's about slowing down the early stages of a project in order to get the true client needs and requirements understood and prioritized. It also suggests procrastinating by moving some complex items later in the plan to accomplish some quick wins early.

Maybe good things really do come to those who wait.

How to Manage by Procrastination

Who Should Manage IT Projects?

Who should manage the big projects? Professional project managers and management methods are a step in the right direction. We need to make this happen and embrace this specialization. ...

... "IT professionals should not be allowed to manage these projects. Traditionally, the IT professionals have come up through the ranks ... Leave the task of running one of these huge projects to specialists, just like everything else we do these days. " ...

Via Computerworld: Action

Innovate: Monday Morning Plan

Here's some ideas to jump-start your innovation tommorrow (Monday). Make some time for brainstorming. Don't penalize mistakes. Get folks interacting. Read on. ...

... "Creative or alternative thinking does not mean playing with brightly coloured balls all day long. It means selecting appropriate techniques and methods from as wide a variety as possible and matching them to the task in hand to get the best results possible. " ...

Via Derek Cheshire's Creativity and Innovation: Monday's Plan of Action

Project-Lessons-Learned From Walter Reed

There are more lessons to be learned from the experience at Walter Reed, but here's a good one ... sustaining quality (of service and infrastructure) in the face of closure. If you haven't already, you may be faced with a project to dismantle, decommission, or divest part of your organization. Be ready for this situation. ...

... "When we plan to shut down an operation, the longer the lead time between decision and action, the more discipline we have to apply to making sure that that operation is not victimized, directly or indirectly, by our natural instincts. " ...

Via Snohomish County Business Journal: Lessons

Project Visibility and Transparency

Don't let doomed projects proceed in secrecy. Make the truth transparent and visible. Identify an action list to deal with the issues or prepare recommendation for cancellation. ...

... "The sad part is that often the people working on these projects know that they will fail, and yet, they are afraid to voice their opinion to the people in charge. " ...

Via Tom Peters: Doomed Projects

Stay Visible and Relevant

Raise expectations, market your capabilities, and educate the organization to stay visible and relevant to your enterprise. ...

... "The limited expectations CEOs have of IT leadership threaten to stunt IT's contributions, resulting in an IT organization that may be averse to taking risks or even rising to the level of visibility. " ...

Via Computerworld: Expectations of IT

Create Innovation Culture: Understand Where to Begin

Here's a diagnostic tool to understand where your innovation culture gaps are and how to approach them. ...

... "Based on the Innovation DNA, it gives you a way to begin conversations and create action plans based on solid information. " ...

Via Innovation Network: Where to Begin

MS/Project is Dead: Long Live MS/Project

As reported in Computerworld and discussed here, Microsoft has announced MS/Project 2007, a new version that offers some usability and performance enhancements.

Perhaps the bigger news is that Project Portfolio Server 2007 has been announced, leveraging UMT's technology (which Microsoft acquired last year). It has the requisite bubble charts, strategy alignment tools, and what-if simulations. It even includes governance workflow, something long missing from the Microsoft suite. This should give the other big EPM tools a run for their money.

One thing worth noting about the Computerworld article (below) is the 20 million user base for MS/Project. Considering that the most frequently used project management tool is still MS/Excel, and that there are plenty of other project managers using non-Microsoft products, it gives a sense of how many project managers there are in the world. The last estimate I had heard several years ago was 16 million. That number is most likely quite a bit higher now, perhaps double.

Microsoft Looks to Boost Project Software’s Appeal

Technology Investment: Time Is Ripe

Implementation of IT strategy requires fresh approach: New standards of performance and greater accountability for achievement. C Davis Fogg discusses actions needed to emphasize a bias for action and points out the potential of IT to innovate. ...

... "IT is such an underutilised power in the marketplace, I would expect right now is a very good time to be thinking about powerful investments to improve market position and efficiency. Particularly if you have cash and your competitors don't. " ...

Via CIO Australia: Implementation of IT Strategy

Tom Peters on Action

There's an interesting new site called Slideshare, where people can upload and share powerpoint presentations (we just KNOW everyone loves Powerpoint presentations!).

I always enjoy Tom Peters' presentations, and lo and behold his presentation on Action is there.

My favorite slide is a quote from Peter Drucker:

"Ninety percent of what we call "management" consists of making it difficult for people to get things done."

Oh, and check out slide #64. It contains a nice Napoleon quote on simplicity from a book by yours truly.

http://www.slideshare.net/ddebowczyk/tom-peters-on-action

Managing Small Projects: A Playbook

Wherever I go, I hear the same thing: Project Management methodologies are overkill for small projects or work requests (the threshold for which I've heard defined anywhere from 80 hours to 500 hours---I tend to lean toward the larger number).

Even with that, I still believe that the same "thinking steps" and phases should apply no matter how large or small the initiative. With that in mind, I typically like to have the same high level framework for any size initiative, and let the details scale up or down based on the size (with more or less formality accordingly).

Let's face it, you still need to understand what the goals and objectives are, you still need to provide an estimate, and you still need communicate well and deliver in an organized fashion.

When challenged that the same steps aren't applicable across projects and work requests, I typically respond with, "Which of the steps do you believe aren't necessary and why?" Often, it turns out that most of the steps are still needed, they just need to be scaled back or made less formal for smaller efforts.

Tom Barnett has a nice writeup in Computerworld about a "playbook" approach he uses for the smaller projects (which he defines as 120 hours or less). It's basically a spreadsheet with tasks, owners, issues, and deliverables----in essence combining a task list, issues list, and RAM (responsibility assignment matrix) in one document.

It's not a bad approach for keeping the smaller projects under control, and is an effective way of keeping track of things. I'd still use it within the context of a high level framework, but overall it's a good idea. Check it out...

A Small-Project Playbook

Yogi Berra on Project Management

There's a cute article in Computerworld called Yogi Berra, PMP. The article uses the baseball great's famous quips to make some compelling points about managing projects.

Of course, it didn't include one of my favorites as it applies to project management. When someone said to Yogi, "Hey Yogi, I think we're lost," he replied, "Yeah, but we're making great time!"

Unfortunately, this happens all the time in project management. Many methodologies focus on schedule, budget, and execution----and fall short when it comes to defining the problem and goals (and aligning them with the organization's needs). As a result, we end up getting to the wrong place fast.

Here are some other fun Yogi quotations, and here's the Computerworld article...

Yogi Berra, PMP

Strategic Portfolio: High Value Differentiated ...

Chevron has created a governance framework for actively managing its high-value enterprise-level projects, differentiating from its volume of small projects. The high-value portfolio is also where most of the investment is aligned. ...

... "it's a strategic framework for the company's biggest and most important IT projects. It's intended to ensure that the projects with the biggest benefit to the company as a whole get the right funding at the right time, and that they get special management attention. " ...

Via Computerworld: Chevron: Where Size Is Opportunity

Process and Standards Complement Sourcing Models

GM uses multi-sourcing model to procure solutions / services and created standards and processes to drive consistency. The company has lowered costs by transitioning to the new supplier agreements and should see improved quality. ...

... "So GM has worked with its suppliers to develop 44 process standards, 29 of which affect suppliers. " ...

Via Computerworld: GM Drives Economies of Scale in IT

IT Project Managers: On Board?

We need IT project managers to be on-board with project management tools. What works? Compliance or coaching? ...

... "We get more buy-in on using the new tools from IT's customers than from the IT project managers. How do I help get them on board? " ...

Via ComputerWorld: Read

The Ten Commandments of Project Management

And James Kerr issued a list of the Ten Commandments of Project Management in Computerworld. And it was good.

I Thou Shalt Narrow Project Scope
II Thou Shalt Not Suffer a Fat Team
III Thou Shalt Require Full-Time Business Participation
IV Thou Shalt Establish Project Review Panels
V Thou Shalt Not Provoke Burnout
VI Thou Shalt Seek Outside Assistance as Needed
VII Thou Shalt Empower Project Teams
VIII Thou Shalt Use Project Management Tools
IX Thou Shalt Reward Success
X Thou Shalt Not Tolerate Quick-and-Dirty Work Efforts

So it is written. So it shall be done. Thou canst revieweth the full list below...

The Ten Commandments of Project Management

Project Gates: Are Kill Points Really Considered?

Since capital is usually constrained in most organizations, are we really making the best use of our project stage-gates as potential kill-points? Are we fully considering the cost-to-completion, the probability of realizing the original benefits documented in the business case, or a declining ROI if costs escalate? We will be doing a service to our organization if we take some time to develop exit criteria and consider alternatives at the project stage-gates. There's always another project in the portfolio. ...

... "The Project Plan should have included a schedule for steering committee meetings and other key points to ensure regular tracking of project progress and release of status reports. Additionally, the plan should have identified milestones and project kill points, that is, go/no go decision points for the action of senior management, the steering committee or other authority. " ...

Queensland University: Controlling phase

Technology Evolution: Call to Green Action ...

As computing density increases, power consumption is spiraling out of control. It is time for the Information Technology industry to do its part in energy conservation and management. ...

... "Chief information officers need to wake up to the issues of spiralling energy consumption and environmental legislation, and develop greener approaches to IT, according to Gartner. " ...

Via ITNews Australia: Gartner urges IT to go green ...

A green strategy can include server virtualization which increases asset utilization and lowers the energy footprint of the datacenter ...

IBM VIRTUALIZATION SERVES UP COOLER SYSTEMS FOR US OPEN TENNIS EVENT: "Virtualization technology, which IBM has been providing to clients since before Arthur Ashe won his first US Open title in 1968, allows many computing resources to act as one and, more commonly, one computer, storage device or server to divide its own workload and act as many different resources. By reducing the number of computers and servers in use, virtualization helps minimize the often strenuous and expensive power and cooling demands of datacenters and eliminate unnecessary maintenance expenses. "

Change Management Project: HP Values Transplant ...

HP values in need of transplantation. Anyone up for that change management project? ...

... "HP needs a values transplant. Hard as it is to believe, the company that once was the epitome of wise management in the IT business has become a corrupt, dysfunctional travesty of itself. " ...

Via Computerworld: HP: No Surprise

Major Project Failure: Lessons Learned

There's a good article in Computerworld from Michael Hugos about lessons learned from a major failure.

Three key takeaways from the article (which happen to ring true with what I've been preaching for years) are:

1) Have clearly defined goals and measurable objectives
2) Be sure to have one single leader driving the project
3) Implement in fixed iterations to assure quick wins, earlier benefits, and reduced risks

Here's the full article...

Lessons learned from a major failure

IT Purchasing Standard: A New Tool for Project Managers

As reported in Computerworld, the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) issued a preliminary report on IT best practices on acquiring hardware, software and services, covering the entire procurement process.

This will extend SEI's Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) as a new global standard for IT acquisition. The effort is being backed by GM and the U.S. Department of Defense, who will be piloting the standard.

The Computerworld article (link below) includes a link to the SEI preliminary report. It'll be interesting to see how this integrates with project management methodologies and PMI processes. It should be a welcome addition to the project management toolset.

GM backs IT purchasing standards

Project Management Lessons From the Other Napoleon (Hill)

I've written plenty about project management lessons from Napoleon Bonaparte. But there's another Napoleon with equally valuable lessons---Napoleon Hill, author of Think and Grow Rich.

For those not familiar with Napoleon Hill (who, ironically, also found inspiration from Napoleon Bonaparte), he wrote Think and Grow Rich in 1937 after spending years of research on the habits of rich and successful men at the request of Andrew Carnegie. For his book, Hill interviewed some of the most famous achievers in history, such as Thomas Edison, John Wanamaker, Charles Schwab, Henry Ford, Woodrow Wilson, FDR, and others.

From the book, here's how Napoleon Hill describes the way to go from desire to riches (by substituting the word "money" with "objectives," we can apply the same lessons to successful project management). My comments are in brackets.

1. Fix in your mind the exact amount of money [exact objectives] you desire. It is not sufficient merely to say, "I want plenty of money." Be definite as to the amount [Same with objectives. Be specific].
2. Determine exactly what you intend to give [committments] in return for the money [objectives] you desire.
3. Establish a definite date when you intend to possess the money [objectives] you desire.
4. Create a definite plan for carrying out your desire, and begin at once, whether you are ready or not, to put the plan into action.
5. Write out a clear, concise statement of the amount of money [scope and objectives] you intend to acquire. Name the time limit for its acquisition. State what you intend to give in return for the money, and describe clearly the plan through which you intend to accumulate it.
6. Read your written statement aloud, twice daily, once just before retiring at night, and once after rising in the morning. As you read, see and feel and believe yourself already in possession of the money [objectives].

Hill once said, "A goal is a dream with a deadline." He knew the importance of setting target dates and looking at a concise statement of your goals and committments daily. This can be likened to a scope statement and milestones list, which should be read regularly and not stuffed in a folder.

He also discovered the power of positive thinking, what one might refer to as "thinking the future into existence" (hence the title THINK and Grow Rich). He found that, just by thinking of your goal regularly, you attract that which you need to achieve it.

In all, the book offers 13 steps to achieving your desire, be it money or anything else. It should be noted that the book is not just about acheiving money and gets into metaphysics, etc. as well. There's a reason why it has sold 15 million copies to date (the best selling self-help book of all time).

I highly recommend the book to anyone who is trying to achieve a goal, which should be everyone, and CERTAINLY should be every project manager.

The Distributed PMO: Lessons From Strange Places

I've read two pieces of information lately that couldn't be more different, and yet they both got me thinking about the benefits of what I call a "distributed PMO."

First, as I mentioned last week, I had read about Ken Kizer's magnificent transformation of the formerly abysmal Veteran's Health Administration (a poorly run group of hospitals mired in government hierarchy and bureaucracy). He established an network of regional "hubs" (what he called Virtual Integrated Services Networks, or VISNs - pronounced "visions"). Each VISN was itself a network of partnerships, associations, alliances, hospitals, etc. that worked together for the good of the customer.

The VISNs had the benefits of standardized quality with local presence. Decision-making was moved from Washington HQ to the VISNs, who were closer to the action than Washington HQ could ever be.

The role of headquarters became one of support, guiding principles, consulting advise, information services, and change leadership. Headquarters drives behaviors that benefit the overall structure.

Forms and approvals were reduced to a bare minimum. A relentless focus on the customer/patient (one of my battle cries, as most of you know) now guides all decisions and research.

If this isn't a good model for a PMO, I don't know what is. If project managers and functional experts (each who rely on one another for success) operated in various "regions" and/or functions (close to the action), and the PMO's role were to provide (and I repeat from above) support, guiding principles, consulting advise, information services, and change leadership, more PMOs would become a valued and integrated part of their organization.

And if the focus were on reducing forms and bureaucracy, helping project teams be successful, and improving the customer experience (as opposed to an internal focus on merely schedule and budget metrics), PMOs might find themselves more popular as well.

Incidentally, this also happens to mirror the Toyota organizational model.

The idea of a distributed, integrated network isn't unique to business. It even happens in nature (here's where the strange part comes in). I was reading about a giant sea creature, larger than a blue whale, called a Giant Siphonophore (Praya sp.). The creature (yes, this is true, folks) runs 130 feet long and is actually made up of many other life forms, each having its own specialized role that works to service the whole entity, yet is unable to exist on its own. In other words, the Giant Siphonophore is a "colonial life form." As I read this, I was again reminded of the concept of a virtual, yet integrated network.

Yes, I actually make these odd connections, but ideas can come from anywhere. By the way, the creature can be seen in the IMAX film, The Living Sea (available on DVD). Here's more info on the colonial nature of the Giant Siphonophore and it mutually dependent parts. Food for thought.

Strange Project Risks: Mystery Woodpecker Halts $320 Million Project

Here's one that probably won't turn up on anyone's project risk template. The $320 Million Grand Prairie Irrigation Project, being led by the Army Corps of Engineers in Arkansas, has just been put to a halt by a federal judge because a rare, thought-to-be-extinct (and maybe still extinct) woodpecker was allegedly sighted two years ago.

The ivory-billed woodpecker was apparently spotted by a kayaker in 2004, which triggered a series of petitions and lawsuits by environmentalists to stop the project. The bird hasn't been seen since. Of course, I'm sure there are environmental issues beyond just the woodpecker, but the woodpecker seems to be the driver behind the decision.

According to the Houston Chronicle, about $80 Million has been spent so far, with a goal of delivering water to farmers by 2010 or 2011.

Here's the story...

Woodpecker Halts Ark. Irrigation Project - NEWS - US NATIONAL - Comcast.net

ITIL Implementation: Cultural Change ...

IT manager laments the cultural challenges associated with implementing ITIL in an IT organization. This is a classical situation. Can a burning platform for action be created? Is there a baseline of performance data that compares unfavorably to industry benchmarks? Do competitive forces exist in the marketplace that indicate ITIL will help differentiate the organization? If the ITIL implementation cannot be aligned to the business strategy, why do it? ...

... "About a year ago I launched a serious attempt to institute ITIL throughout the IT organization I lead ... The short version: We've had a very hard time making it stick. Employees give it lip service, but that's about it, and our front-line managers haven't been much better. " ...

ITIL Implementation: Cultural Change: Via Advice Line by Bob Lewis: InfoWorld: Making ITIL happen ...

Requirements Gathering Critical To Success

Well, I'm back from a wonderful vacation in the Bahamas only to return to torrential downpours in Philadelphia. But I digress.

A project that ends well must begin well. So says an insightful article in Computerworld on the importance of effective requirements analysis.

Some key points raised in the article:

• Ask. Then ask again (think Peter Senge's "five why's" where you ask why five times until you get to the root of the problem).
• Interview all levels of staff and management to get different perspectives
• Interview them via multiple vehicles to get different types of answers (i.e. surveys, one-on-one interviews, and facilitated workshops).
• Do user walkthroughs to uncover the real and/or unspoken needs (or as Toyota's slogan goes, "Go and see for yourself")

Of course, I'm also reminded of Henry Ford's statement, "If I asked my customers what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse."

Here's the article...

What Do Users Want?

One-Page Project Status Report; Keeping it Brief

There's a great writeup in Projects@Work about project status reports, including tips on meeting format and frequency as well as a format for a one-page status report.

According to the article, there are 5 Project Status Best Practices:

1. Consistency — The status process should be basically the same for large and small projects, and consistent with their measures of success
2. Escalation — The status process provides a mechanism for escalation of key issues.
3. Simple — One page with the ability to drill down for details when necessary
4. Public — Status is available to all (as appropriate) in order to communicate issues, risks and corrective action measures
5. Inclusive — All projects are required to provide status on a consistent set of metrics

For busy managers who see loads of project status reports, it's much easier to have a consistent, brief summary of what's really happening on each project. They don't need a dissertation on all the details, nor will they get a clear picture just looking at performance metrics. Much like on a business case, most just want the executive summary. Simpler is better. Less is more.

For those looking to improve their status reports (and their credibility with management), read on...

http://www.projectsatwork.com/content/Articles/231704.cfm

IT Governance: Immediate Action Necessary ...

Effective IT governance is necessary to restore credibility to the VA information technology organization. ...

... "The department could pay a high price for its failure to establish effective IT governance in a timely fashion. It faces two class-action lawsuits over the data theft and a request for the Department of Health and Human Services to review its compliance with health data privacy guidelines. " ...

IT Governance: Immediate Action Necessary: Via Government Health IT: McFarland confident about VA changes

Silence of the Project Managers

Have your stakeholders stopped screaming, Clarese?


As reported in Computerworld, a study by a Utah-based training firm found that the biggest cause of project failure is the inability of project managers to effectively confront management and key stakeholders on five major sensitive areas.

Here's an excerpt:

According to David Maxfield, director of research at Vital Smarts, the five
situations include the following:

• Setting arbitrary deadlines and inadequate resources that "set up a project to fail."
• Failing to provide the necessary leadership, political clout or energy for a project.
• Skirting or manipulating the project priority-setting process.
• An unwillingness by team members to support projects as required.
• Failing to acknowledge project problems until it's too late for remedial action.

These findings were based on interviews with more than 800 project managers and over 150 hours of observation. The article stresses the importance of standing up to management, which may seem intimidating, but no worse than what'll happen if you don't stand up and the project fails.

This one's well worth reading, folks. Speaking up early is a key lesson that can avoid many problems later. Here's the article...

Want to kill a project? Keep quiet about problems, study finds

Software Glitch Fells Medieval Monster

Miss us? Even PMThinkers need to take a few days off for the holidays now and then!

We return with news of a software glitch that has caused the delay of Grendel, a $2.8 million opera about a medieval monster (as reported in Computerworld). I think I've worked with some computer systems that were like medieval monsters, but that's another story.

The LA world premiere was supposed to occur May 27, but has now been delayed until June 8, with the opening performances reclassified as "preview performances."

Apparently, the computer system was supposed to operate a huge, elaborate moving stage.

This sounds like the "perfect storm" of project risk---an extremely complicated software endeavor with high uncertainty, a firm "go-live" date most likely booked well in advance, and no contingency plan (since "the built-in stages and moving props are too heavy to be operated manually").

Here's the full article...

Computer glitch delays opera opening

FBI Launches New Case File System Project; For the Second Time

As reported in Computerworld, the FBI has hired Lockheed Martin to lead an effort to create a $425 million case management system called "Sentinel." Their current case management processes are antiquated and mostly manual.

The catch is that they tried this before and failed. The prior attempt was abandoned last year after four years of effort and $170 million spent. The problem? High turnover of key managers and inadequate staffing of the project.

Here's a quote from the article...

"According to a 91-page report released last week by the U.S. Department of Justice's inspector general, the Virtual Case File effort failed partly because the FBI's IT project management office seemed to have a revolving door. Virtual Case File had "15 different key IT managers over the course of its life," the report said. "

Apparently, some of the hardware and networking from the prior attempt will be used, so it wasn't a total loss. And with this new attempt, they'll be using a more open architecture. However, they still haven't fully staffed their PMO (a concern raised in the inspector general's report). Hopefully history won't repeat itself.

Here's the full article...

FBI Shifts Into High Gear on $425M Case File System

SOPM; A New Project Management Methodology

Service Oriented Project Management (SOPM) is taking shape as a methodology that fills the gaps in traditional project management, namely a RELENTLESS customer focus and the all-important analysis and benefits evaluation after the project has "completed."

As I fine tune the model, I'll post the iterations here, as a methodology in progress.

The four high-level steps in SOPM are as follows:

1) UNDERSTAND ... Develop an understanding of the problem being addressed, the goals, constraints, the internal environment, the external market, benchmarks, the people and subject matter involved, potential solutions, risks, benefits/justification, and any other knowledge necessary for success. Most of all, understand the customer.

2) ENABLE ... After helping the customer obtain approvals, prepare the project organization (resources, roles & responsibilities), operating principles, the infrastructure and tools needed to run the project, organizational alignment, preliminary training needed, communication, and anything else needed for a smooth road ahead.

3) ITERATE... Plan, design, build, test and pilot the solution before attempting a full scale implementation. Implement in phases to achieve quick wins, earlier benefits, and greater customer satisfaction. Consider iterative prototypes during the design phase. Don't forget additional training needed.

4) EVALUATE... After each project phase and at the end of the project, evaluate and document lessons learned, customer satisfaction, and benefits achieved (vs expected). This includes evaluating how the customer can achieve maximum results with the product of the project, and laying the groundwork for their continued success.

By using an UNDERSTAND, ENABLE, ITERATE, and EVALUATE process, with COMMUNICATE as an overarching activity that extends across all four steps, we adopt a much more holistic and customer-centered approach to project management.

A few key points... Customer satisfaction should be measured at milestones throughout the project, not just at the end. It's as important as monitoring cost and schedule (i.e. Earned Value performance).

Imagine seeing an S-Curve showing Planned Value, Earned Value, Actual Cost, and Customer Satisfaction. Maybe your project is on schedule and on budget, but the customer isn't satisfied with the results (or with the project communication, or a whole host of other issues).

A narrow focus on cost and schedule takes too much of an inward view. Besides, measuring customer satisfaction throughout a project allows for corrective action instead of managing in the rear view mirror.

More to come.

NOTE: I have since revised this model. See my updated entry.

Innovation and Project Management - Part 3 of 3

This is a continuation of Part 2, and shows how Tom Kelley's The Ten Faces of Innovation is living proof that innovation and project management are not mutually-exclusive, and in fact, must coexist for true success.

In Part 1, we talked about the Learning Personas described in Kelley's book (the Anthropologist, the Experimenter, and the Cross-Pollinator). In Part 2, we discussed the Organizing Personas (the Hurdler, the Collaborator, and the Director). Now we'll examine the final batch of personas, The Building Personas. Again, these are all adapted from Tom Kelley's book, which offers much more details and many real-life stories to illustrate these personas in action (and no, I don't get commission).

The Building Personas

7) The Experience Architect – Designs the customer experience, beyond just the functionality of a product. Comes up with new and creative ways to awe the customer, yet with the same basic product functionality. An example is Cold Stone Creamery, which creates an entertaining experience where the server mixes ice cream with any number of desired toppings on a slab of cold stone. The servers even put on shows. [my added comment is that The Experience Architect can learn from observing others, even in other genres, and as such can gain from the “Cross-Pollinator” and “Anthropologist” perso