The IDEAL Transition Framework: Speeding Managed Change Book `Em Case Study
Book `Em Case Study
. Overview
. Background Information
. Part I: Questions & Potential Answers
. Part II: Questions & Potential Answers
. Part III: Newsflash
. Part III: Questions and Potential Answers
Overview
Note: SG Corporation and Book `Em are fictitious names, created to protect the identity of the corporation and product of the actual case study.
The Book `Em case study was used as part of a tutorial on IDEAL at the 1997 SEI Software Engineering Symposium. The purpose of the case is to apply the IDEAL model as a lens to focus attention on issues related to technology adoption.
Background
About 14 months ago, Don, the manager of Information Technology (IT) at SG Corporation, noted in a management meeting that he'd seen a demo of a scheduling tool called Book `Em. Don had been hearing rumblings from the secretarial staff about how difficult it had become to schedule meetings since the staff had grown to more than 400 people. Book `Em, or a tool like it, seemed like an easy solution.
Book `Em is a groupware tool that provides a wide range of services related to scheduling individual and group activities. It can be used to book group meetings; but it can also be used as a personal calendar. It can be used to keep a current "to-do" list and to maintain an address book. It also has a handy reminder function. Not only could this tool make scheduling meetings at SG Corporation a snap, it would also allow the employees to keep track of their daily activities, which would make effort reporting easier and more accurate.
Because Book `Em was relatively inexpensive and could run on the existing computing equipment at SG Corporation, the managers said, "Sounds like a no-brainer--go ahead and do it, Don! But check out some other tools that have a similar capability."
Don delegated the evaluation and implementation to Sarah, a member of his IT staff. Sarah had been a member of the staff for about seven years and had worked on several new technology introductions with Don and other members of the staff. Although Sarah had never led an effort like this before, her participation on previous teams made her feel confident that she was capable of handling the job. Sarah scanned the market and talked with a friend of hers at another firm. Then she ordered evaluation copies for 5 products, including Book `Em. Book `Em was more expensive than expected because it had an annual update fee; but it remained the best buy all around. A few weeks later, Sarah placed the Book `Em order and began building a training plan for the corporation.
Sarah created a two-hour training session to introduce all employees to Book `Em. The training would be live for the first two months, then a taped version would be prepared for future use. The IT hotline staff was trained first. They began using Book `Em two months before the tool was rolled out to the rest of the corporation so that they were well prepared to answer hotline calls when they came in.
The announcement was made to the organization at large that the tool would be available shortly. Managers told their staffs to sign up for the training because they would be scheduling all meetings using Book `Em. There was a lot of excitement in many parts of the organization anticipating this improvement.
Unfortunately, there was a delay from the supplier and the software wasn't available until two months after the original ship date. Some of the anticipation and enthusiasm in the organization waned.
The software finally arrived, and training was initiated. There were so many people who wanted to be trained that IT had trouble meeting the demand. Due to availability and schedule conflicts, many employees who wanted to begin using the tool were unable to be trained in a timely manner; some were not trained until 8 months after the tool arrived in the building. Until everyone was using the tool, it was, of course, not 100% effective. No one was given access to the tool until they had completed the training program.
One problem that arose was that in order to use Book `Em, you had to use a mail handler called MailX; so many people had to be trained to use MailX before they could sign up for the Book `Em training. MailX has a graphical user interface, so in some ways it is easier to use than the other mail handlers. However, it offers less functionality. So the more technical types didn't like MailX and resented having to use it.
A second major problem was encountered by the SG Corporation Message Center. The message center staff was responsible for booking conference rooms. One of their responsibilities was to move meetings around if one of the executives required prime meeting space on short notice. Unfortunately, Book `Em only allows the person who originally booked the meeting to make changes to the entry, so the message center was unable to perform this function effectively.
Part I: Questions and Potential Answers
Q. In terms of IDEAL, characterize what happened here.
A: Stimulus
- Don brought the scheduling tool & related problem to a senior management meeting.
- Awareness of the problem with scheduling meetings was increased.
Initiating
- Other managers endorsed the idea (e.g., "Sounds like a no brainer .. do it!")
- Sarah was assigned to the evaluation and implementation (i.e., infrastructure).
Diagnosing
- The diagnosis was tool-based.
- No one investigated the needs of the range of users.
- No one conducted scenario analysis.
- Sarah evaluated 5 products and talked with a friend.
- No clear selection criteria were defined.
Establishing
- Priorities were identified (also overlaps with Diagnosing phase).
- The approach consisted of: (1) training IT hot line experts first (2) in-house training (1st live then video) (3) hot line support.
Acting
- Training was built in.
- The hotline staff was trained as a pilot.
- The software was 2 months late. It couldn't meet user demand.
- Employees were not trained in a timely manner.
- Sarah discovered the MailX problem.
- Sarah discovered the message center problem.
Learning
- It's not clear that any learning occurred.
Part II: Questions and Potential Answers
Q. What barriers or risks do you see? Consider possible sequences and overlaps in the phases of IDEAL.
A: Stimulus
- The stimulus was demo driven.
- Scheduling of meetings is perceived to be a problem.
Initiating
- Management assumes that the technology is an appropriate fit for their scheduling problems.
Diagnosing
- There are no clear criteria for selecting the "best" tool.
- There is no reference model, map, or benchmark selected to support transition.
- There is no clear understanding of current vs. desired states.
- There is no investigation of users' needs.
Establishing
- No risk analysis is conducted to identify what they didn't know, including potential inhibitors.
- The approach had only one implementation/transition path.
Acting
- The consequences of risks and barriers listed above surface in the acting phase.
- The software is 2 months late; it couldn't meet user demand.
- Employees were not trained in a timely manner.
- Sarah discovered the MailX problem.
- Sarah discovered the message center problems.
Learning
- Lessons learned were not tracked.
Q. What would you have done differently? Consider the risks you have identified.
A: Stimulus
- Don't leap to a solution based on a demo; identify the root problem.
Initiating
- Understand the problem before determining the solution.
Diagnosing
- Find and use a reference model, map, or benchmark to support transition.
- Identify customer needs and associated constraints.
- Gain a clear understanding of current versus desired states, based on user needs, constraints, and a reference model .
- Develop optional/fall back strategies based on analyzing scenarios.
Establishing
- Conduct risk analysis and mitigation strategy planning.
Acting
- Track and manage risks.
- Include a group of typical users, in addition to the IT group.
Learning
- Build a change history notebook and at least create a "lessons learned" report.
Q. With respect to the transition effort, what are the interests of the sponsor? the IT staff? the practitioner-users? the message center?
A: Sponsor
- Sees a solution to a perceived problem.
- Wants to be successful within reasonable effort.
- May want to look like the "answer man"--hero--to managers and group.
IT Staff/hot line
- Wants to be able to intelligently handle questions from users.
- Wants a smooth introduction of Book `Em.
Practitioners
- Some may not want to change mail handler.
- Want minimum training that doesn't impact their schedule.
- Want hot line available to answer questions.
- Want adequate documentation.
- Want to be able to use the tool immediately after training.
Message Center
- Wants to be able to easily schedule meetings, and move those meetings when necessary.
- Wants to be able to make "prime" space available to "preferred" customers when demanded.
Part III: Newsflash
Newsflash: Sarah has just received the following NEWSFLASH from Don who received the same information at the senior managers meeting last Monday.
SG Corp. has just acquired a mid sized company called DCR. It turns out that about 40% of DCR employees travel a great deal. Book `Em is not accessible remotely. DCR has offices in the United States, United Kingdom, and Egypt. The users can only update their schedules by calling in changes to their support staff.
Also, DCRs CEO, Patricia, now V.P. of Marketing for SG Corp. hears about some of the difficulties that IT is having with Book `Em and rolling it out in a timely fashion. She has a friend who has a tool, RoomMaster, that is trying to break into this market. Patricia says DCR can get RoomMaster at a one-time cost of Book `Em's annual update fee.
[NOTE: Sarah requested a demonstration copy of RoomMaster earlier, when she was evaluating candidate products. RoomMaster was her third choice.]
Part III: Questions and Potential Answers
Role: Assume you have Sarah's responsibilities.
Q. What are the implications of the merger for the ongoing introduction of Book `Em, such as
- language differences
- geographically dispersed work force
- interest in RoomMaster
- other critical issues (e.g. political, technical, economic implications)
A: 1. Language: Probably a non-issue. Most users likely use English for business operations. Have to get more details.
Geographic: Raises serious implications for the technical solution. Need to figure out how to schedule between multiple sites, or do it for SG Corporation only.
Technical: Technical solution is no longer viable if applied across the "new" organization.
Political: Don may be sensitive to these changes, as they will affect the success of the effort and the perceptions of the other managers. How to say "no" to Patricia has political implications, too.
Economic: Cost of RoomMaster vs. Book `Em, if combined with new organization, will be much more expensive.
Q: Should you adjust your strategy and approach? How? What, in terms of applying IDEAL, needs to be adjusted?
A: Original Approach: Treat the two efforts separately; proceed with IDEAL for SG Corporation.
New Adjustments:
- Initiating: Acknowledge potential change in the scope of the transition effort.
Diagnosing:
- Monitor the needs for multi-site scheduling. Consult the message center's, administrative staff and travel data. Look at patterns of information exchange between the sites to better understand the new requirements.
- Scan for a tool that may accommodate the needs identified.
- Check for best practice across organization.
- Seek info from IT for interconnectivity.
Establishing
- Evaluate the alignment of the two efforts: original and projected.
- Decide a direction for the acting phase.
For More Information
For more information about the IDEAL model, contact customer-relations@sei.cmu.edu
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