What is "project efficiency" for IT person
This small study focuses on how people understand the word “effectiveness” in IT projects. In the conclusion of this note, you will find 4 simple conclusions from this study.
Many managers, programmers and testers talk about "efficiency", but not everyone understands this word in the same way. Efficiency is not oranges or apples. Efficiency cannot be put in a package, weighed on scales in a store and given to a person: you don’t have a kilogram of efficiency. Eat on health.
Efficiency is immaterial. For this reason, misunderstandings often arise even within one project and one team.
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The purpose of this review is to highlight the following question: how to understand the phrase "project efficiency" various IT professionals . We sincerely hope that this small research will help to find a common language in the understanding of the term “efficiency”, which will be the first step towards achieving high efficiency in your project.
The data for this review are taken from the online school of efficiency in IT , which took place in the summer of 2013 (this is not an advertisement of the school, since the school has long ended). This project involved IT specialists of various specialties, incl. developers, testers, business analysts, project managers, etc.
The project consisted of several modules. After the module, each school participant performed homework and filled out a report on the implementation of the task. The school was aimed at improving the efficiency of its participants (including project design), so it was important for each of them to understand what efficiency is within his project. One of the questions in the form of feedback was: “How are you going to measure project / managerial effectiveness in your project?” It is the answers to this question were taken for this study.
We analyzed the participants' answers to the question of effectiveness and identified the main common components of the effectiveness measurement. One answer could contain several components at once. The following graph shows the most common answers:
The list of main topics (percentages in brackets is a fraction of the total number of answers):
Here is a list of definitions that were met less frequently: Openness of the situation on the project, Speed of solving the arisen problems, Money on the project (budget, zp), Engineering flexibility, Absence, overtime, Execution into the budget, Increase in the number of customers, Competent resource management, Good risk management, Multiplication of knowledge on a project, There was no experience in working with a team (eg a student) .
1. Different people can understand very different things as project efficiency (for someone, a project will be effective if releases occur on time, and for another, project efficiency is measured by the salary level of a project).
2. When you discuss the issue of effectiveness with others, make sure that you speak the same language (be sure to clarify what the source means).
3. Even if you and your interlocutor understand what efficiency is the same, then find out in what units of measurement and how you will measure effectiveness (for example, if effectiveness for you is customer satisfaction, then what it will be measured and how technically you will measure (for example, a weekly feedback form from a customer contains a top or top 2 assessment of the quality of work on a project). In addition, if you have defined the units of measurement, then you can easily build a graph of efficiency.
4. If you measure efficiency, make the measurement of efficiency on your project open and visual (for example, build a graph of efficiency changes every week and hang it in the most prominent place). From the experience of consulting various IT companies, we can say that if people see their success, it will be an excellent reason to rejoice. It can also inspire and motivate them to do a great job. If the project team sees a decline in the efficiency curve, the team members themselves can develop an action plan to improve the current situation, most often even without a kick from the manager (of course, provided there is a high culture of taking responsibility in the team). A self-organizing and self-improving team is the dream of any manager and customer.
PS If your understanding of project performance is fundamentally different from the above, please write it in the comments below. It will be very interesting to learn other opinions.
PPS If you are interested in the topic of efficiency and you would like to read about this in our future publications, then mark this article somehow (comment, like). We will understand that the article was useful to you and we will write articles on this topic in the future. The following topics that we would like to raise in the following articles: personal effectiveness, efficiency in the workplace, team effectiveness, effective communication, etc.
Many managers, programmers and testers talk about "efficiency", but not everyone understands this word in the same way. Efficiency is not oranges or apples. Efficiency cannot be put in a package, weighed on scales in a store and given to a person: you don’t have a kilogram of efficiency. Eat on health.
Efficiency is immaterial. For this reason, misunderstandings often arise even within one project and one team.
')
The purpose of this review is to highlight the following question: how to understand the phrase "project efficiency" various IT professionals . We sincerely hope that this small research will help to find a common language in the understanding of the term “efficiency”, which will be the first step towards achieving high efficiency in your project.
Data
The data for this review are taken from the online school of efficiency in IT , which took place in the summer of 2013 (this is not an advertisement of the school, since the school has long ended). This project involved IT specialists of various specialties, incl. developers, testers, business analysts, project managers, etc.
The project consisted of several modules. After the module, each school participant performed homework and filled out a report on the implementation of the task. The school was aimed at improving the efficiency of its participants (including project design), so it was important for each of them to understand what efficiency is within his project. One of the questions in the form of feedback was: “How are you going to measure project / managerial effectiveness in your project?” It is the answers to this question were taken for this study.
Data analysis
We analyzed the participants' answers to the question of effectiveness and identified the main common components of the effectiveness measurement. One answer could contain several components at once. The following graph shows the most common answers:
The list of main topics (percentages in brackets is a fraction of the total number of answers):
- Execution on time (35%)
- Team satisfaction (17%)
- Good communication (11%)
- Product quality (9%)
- High team responsibility (7%)
- High efficiency (effort expended / result) (7%)
- Attracting new people to the project (4%)
- Customer Satisfaction (4%)
- Clear plan (4%)
Here is a list of definitions that were met less frequently: Openness of the situation on the project, Speed of solving the arisen problems, Money on the project (budget, zp), Engineering flexibility, Absence, overtime, Execution into the budget, Increase in the number of customers, Competent resource management, Good risk management, Multiplication of knowledge on a project, There was no experience in working with a team (eg a student) .
findings
1. Different people can understand very different things as project efficiency (for someone, a project will be effective if releases occur on time, and for another, project efficiency is measured by the salary level of a project).
2. When you discuss the issue of effectiveness with others, make sure that you speak the same language (be sure to clarify what the source means).
3. Even if you and your interlocutor understand what efficiency is the same, then find out in what units of measurement and how you will measure effectiveness (for example, if effectiveness for you is customer satisfaction, then what it will be measured and how technically you will measure (for example, a weekly feedback form from a customer contains a top or top 2 assessment of the quality of work on a project). In addition, if you have defined the units of measurement, then you can easily build a graph of efficiency.
4. If you measure efficiency, make the measurement of efficiency on your project open and visual (for example, build a graph of efficiency changes every week and hang it in the most prominent place). From the experience of consulting various IT companies, we can say that if people see their success, it will be an excellent reason to rejoice. It can also inspire and motivate them to do a great job. If the project team sees a decline in the efficiency curve, the team members themselves can develop an action plan to improve the current situation, most often even without a kick from the manager (of course, provided there is a high culture of taking responsibility in the team). A self-organizing and self-improving team is the dream of any manager and customer.
PS If your understanding of project performance is fundamentally different from the above, please write it in the comments below. It will be very interesting to learn other opinions.
PPS If you are interested in the topic of efficiency and you would like to read about this in our future publications, then mark this article somehow (comment, like). We will understand that the article was useful to you and we will write articles on this topic in the future. The following topics that we would like to raise in the following articles: personal effectiveness, efficiency in the workplace, team effectiveness, effective communication, etc.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/200740/
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