Project Pre-Check

About the Book

Projects which implement major business and technology change have been, and will continue to be, risky ventures. The chance of success is generally well below 50%. However, there are well established, proven practices that can reduce the risks of failure dramatically. The challenge is to identify and apply the best practices that deliver maximum value for each change initiative.

Project Pre-Check gathers these best practices for consideration by a project's key stakeholders, the guiding coalition for a change. It is based on this premise: if the key stakeholders for a given change are actively involved in and agree with each decision, and all the vital decisions are addressed, the project will be successful.

Project Pre-Check includes three building blocks to ensure project success; Stakeholders, Processes and the Decision Framework. These building blocks provide the key decision makers with a roadmap to success and the best practice framework to ensure successful change.

Project Pre-Check includes planning, governance and project assessment processes to facilitate active stakeholder involvement very early in a project's life cycle. It enables rapid assessment of stakeholder agreement on 125 key decision areas to identify gaps that may require remedial action. It can be applied effectively in the pre-launch stages, as part of or immediately after project initiation, up until solution delivery and on a release by release basis. Whenever it's used, it will help identify and remove those fatal flaws that can lead to project ruin.

About the Author

R. Andrew Davison is principal consultant in Davison Consulting, which focuses on the management of major business and technology change, program and portfolio management, strategy formulation, process and practice development and the implementation of high performance teams. He is also a senior consultant for the Manta Group and Mapador Inc. Previously he was an information technology practitioner, manager and executive in the financial services industry.

He studied history at Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario, holds a fellowship from the Life Office Management Association and has nurtured a passion for continuous improvement throughout his career.

When he's not helping organizations deliver major change initiatives successfully and improve their practices and performance, he can be found walking or riding the roads and trails around Long Point, Balsam Lake, reading, cooking (in a pinch) and enjoying the sunsets and a glass of wine with his wife Louise and a Bearded Collie named Tillie (who doesn't drink wine but likes the sunshine).