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What are some signs that suggest that your ERP implementation is becoming a “runaway” project?
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3 Answers
If you find yourself asking this question, that may be a sign. ;-)
Seriously, though, if you find that your requirements are changing faster than you can deliver the product, you may be in trouble.
If you find yourself trading the addition of 2 or 3 previously unspecified tasks for another 3 weeks of time, you are probably in trouble.
If you find that you seem to have missed a meeting (or several meetings) where new features were defined and added to the project but you haven't missed any _scheduled_ meetings, you are probably in trouble.
I wouldn't say that any single things is a "sign" that the implementation is runaway, but the reasons are often the same. First and foremost the requirements change not because there is a true business need that may not have been uncovered in the sales cycle, but because upper managment doesn't mandate change. This leads to each person or department wanting things the same and each department is allowed to control their part of the project with no single leader. Consultants can also be leary of confrontation when it is in the best interest of the customer, leading to additional work that never ends.
If your ERP project had a start date or project initiation, that is the best sign that it is already begining to run away....unlike Ralph...I'm not kidding.
Requirements will always change faster than the system can adapt. These systems were not made to change or be easy to use or agile. They were made for consolidated financials and one set of source code. Operations, where all the change happens, are left out in the cold.
SAP was lauded in the late '80s and '90s (see Blue Ocean Strategy - Kim and Mauborgne) for changing how software was sold. They ignored the operational requirements and instead sold to the CFO and the CIO. The former wanted to be able to better track P&L and the latter wanted one throat to choke. By ignoring the operational needs, they didn't have to get pulled into the muck and mire of company differences. Flash forward to an actual implementation and it the throat of the company (Operations) that is getting choked as their agility, responsiveness and innovation was strangled to death.
So, if you've started an ERP implementation it is already a runaway project. And this freight train is bearing down on the very competitive nature of your company...that isn't light at the end of the tunnel...it is the head lamp on the engine.
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