The Strategy of Divide & Conquer and its pitfalls

Have you used the strategy of “Divide and Conquer” in your PLM (product lifecycle management) project? I’m sure you have – it’s the commonly used “best practice” to solve a problem by “slicing the elephant”.  Or as the Romans would phrase it: to break another power into smaller, more manageable pieces, and then take control of those pieces one by one.

• It’s used in software implementation projects to slice processes into activities which are realized through features and functions which are again sliced into technical tasks
• It’s used in problem solving to get a grip of the challenge in front of you
• It’s used in change management and rollout strategies both in terms of scope and organization

Losing the Big Picture

Dividing the world into manageable chunks is powerful and has become a de-facto approach to take on challenging tasks. It’s a reasonable thought and it is a good strategy in many cases but it has its pitfalls. And looking at the other side of the coin: The “Divide and conquer” strategy is about keeping smaller powers and governments from uniting. This might have been a winning concept for Romans and the British Empire to conquer their enemies. But PLM and software implementation projects using this strategy require some mitigation actions to avoid falling into a trap of sub-optimization, lack of transparency and losing the sight of the actual goal. Because, even though you want to cut your elephant into digestible chunks, you still need to be able to see what you are eating. You become the victim of the strategy itself as its whole purpose is to separate, while both PLM initiatives and most software projects require a holistic approach throughout its implementation.

Conveying the Big Picture

If you don’t keep the bigger picture in mind while working on the details, you will deviate from the guiding vision and strategies, the architectural principles, the business goals and actual business needs, the overall processes, and the UX (user experiance) guidelines. Let’s look at the symptoms for each of the listed areas above:

• Vision and Strategies – Sub-optimized efforts which doesn’t contribute to the overall vision or strategy
• Architectural Principles – Platform, application, design decisions breaking the IT strategy will create silos, interconnectability issues, customized solutions, and a diverse spectrum of used technologies. This results in high TCO (total cost of ownership) and a situation where it becomes hard to support and maintain solutions (read: higher risk)
• Business Goals and Needs – Functions and features might be developed according to guidelines and conform with good architectural principles but that doesn’t make anyone happy if it doesn’t help in achieving business goals or addressing business needs
• Processes – If you don’t know how things are stitched together, the risk is pretty big that you will miss something along the way, resulting in a set of “disconnected” features
• UX – The perceived usability of an application will suffer if the look and behavior diverge across functions. This will result in more need for support, more user errors, more training and lower efficiency

The Right Decision at the Right Time

So one challenge we have identified with the strategy is that we need to find ways to convey the “big” picture, so that we can make the right decisions while working on the details, as we want the pieces to still work together to achieve the objective of the whole.

But, we need to find the right level of details describing this big picture. And the timing of setting these details (= make certain decisions) is also crucial. Finding this balance is important as we will lose important freedom too early in the process and thereby our agility.

I hope that it’s clear that it’s not a waterfall approach that I’m promoting. It’s just that I don’t believe that you can work effectively with enterprise software implementations, such as PLM systems,  if you don’t have some ground work done both in terms of processes/methods and involved technology. The output is as much an artifact to be used further down the lane as it should be used to anchor the stipulated way forward and keeping stakeholders involved.

Conclusion

The challenge lies in the way we slice the elephant, while maintaining the big picture and manage the balance between too much or too little of the ground work: taking the right decision at the right time. The next trick is to actually use that knowledge to communicate and anchor our way forward and give input to activities further down the lane. That is what will cater for success.

Do you agree? Have you found this balance and do you have an effective way of conveying guidelines, principles and decisions?

Robert Wallerblad

www.infuseit.com

The Mountain Code for PLM

In this Easter time there are a lot of Norwegians going to the mountains to go skiing in the remaining snow. There are guidelines on how to behave to be safe in the mountains. They are called “Fjellvettreglene” or the Norwegian Mountain Code. As it turns out, they are also strangely relevant for PLM.

1. Be prepared (Don’t go on a long trip without practice)

A good plan is half the job. If you also have people with PLM experience and preferably some PLM implementation experience you are in a good position. It is hard doing a PLM selection and implementation if you don’t have any experience at all. Start small and learn along the way, don't try to take the whole elephant in one bite.

2. Leave word of your route

A twist on this is that you have a better chance of getting the rest of the organization along on your PLM journey if you inform and educate. Let the others know what you plan to do and why you do it. Communicate the visions, plans and achievements. Keep management informed along the way of both good and bad.

3. Be weather-wise (listen to the forecast)

Listen to the weather forecast and show respect for the weather. In a PLM context this can mean that there might be circumstances and events out of your control that can influence the PLM project in a negative manner. A typical one is: “we will do PLM after ERP. And, by the way, the ERP project is delayed”. Others kinds of “bad weather” can be: downsizing, financial troubles, the company is about to or recently has been sold. You should try to listen around for the most obvious ones and be prepared to handle them, and if the forecast is really bad: postpone the trip.

There is also a positive twist to this. Take the opportunity if the weather forecast looks good. If the financial situations is good, management is supportive and there are some clear areas where PLM can contribute: Start now and get a positive momentum.

4. Be equipped for bad weather and frost.

Even if the forecast is good, you might be surprised with bad weather. Be prepared for challenges and troubles. Do risk management properly and have plans for problems before they appear. If the company has financial troubles; how can you cope with a smaller budget and less people? What can you take out of scope if circumstances demand it?

5. Listen to experienced mountaineers

If this is your the first PLM project in your company and you don´t have people with PLM experience, you should listen to others who have done this before. Learn from others and avoid the mistakes done by others. Contact similar companies in your industry, companies in your neighborhood or personal network that have implemented PLM. There are amounts of good advice to get from others. And finally: don´t always trust the vendors ;-)

6. Use map and compass

Create a vision, a roadmap and a plan. And follow it. Of course you might have to adjust the course along the way, but you should always know where you are and where you want to go. You might have to change the destination as well, if you are surprised by bad weather. But that is better than getting lost.

7. Don't go solo

PLM is not a one-man or a one-team job. You must ensure that your project group consists of people from several departments and disciplines. You need involvement of and commitment of all key stakeholders. Make sure that they share your vision and trust your plans.

8. Turn back in time; sensible retreat is no disgrace

PLM projects can be hard and you will meet some trouble. If the trouble is big enough you should consider turning back. In a small scale it can be a new module or functional area just ready for roll-out, which turns out to not be of good enough quality. In a larger scale it can be the whole PLM solution. Turning back to stop the whole implementation is a tough decision, but in some cases it must be done. And it should be done sooner rather than later. Whether it is possible to turn back gracefully is another matter ;-)

9. Conserve energy and build a snow shelter if necessary

Instead of turning back you can stay where you are and conserve energy. Instead of continuing at high speed you take a break and evaluate your position. Did the map or direction change? Are there any unforeseen obstacles? Maybe it is time to re-visit the vision and plan. If worst comes to worst; you can of course book a one-way ticket to Hawaii and relax in the sun. Or, as the Norwegians do during Easter; Go up in the mountains and enjoy the last remnants of snow.

Conclusion

Mountain trekking or skiing has a lot in common with PLM. Following common-sense guidelines is helpful in both cases. From time to time you meet problems, but the better prepared you are; the more likely it is that you can handle it and progress without any danger. Respect the challenge and don’t plan for a harder route than you are trained and equipped to take.

Enjoy the PLM journey and have a nice Easter

Tore Brathaug
www.infuseit.com