Difficult decision making in program management finds parallels in Cinema
Being generally interested in far fetching (which doesn't seem too far fetching if we think more deeply!) science fiction, i am always on look out for something new and quirky. Unfortunately this genre sees less and less movies each year and people like me have to recycle the "already watched but can be done again" movies. Thus came the turn of Sunshine (2007) a Danny Boyle directed, "reignite the dying sun" movie.
I had watched this movie in year 2007, when i was graduating from my engineering class, but at that time it made impression about very cool spaceship Icarus and stunning visuals (Made at modest cost of £20 million, compared to Armageddon : $140 million and Pirates of The Caribbean 2 : $225 million). But when i watched it recently, after spending 8 years in between working on various IT projects & programs, i felt goose bumps as i watched the various decisions being made by crew on-board. There are striking parallels in the movie with any modern day large business transformation project can face during its course.
I would recommend that you should definitely watch this movie before or after reading this post to realize this for yourself.
Time Horizon
Icarus I & Icarus II both are long duration (5-7 years) projects, while Icarus I failed for unknown reasons, Icarus II is the successor and tries to achieve same goals. Most business transformations have this kind of horizon for long term goals. I bet right now, hottest strategy presentations have written vision 2020 written on them for most of the companies, and have been for past 3-4 years.
When there is high probability of failure
Icarus II is carrying a nuclear fission bomb, which is all theoretical when it comes to success. Icarus II crew faced a dilemma whether they should go and join with Icarus I or should continue on their mission. Cost of this decision being additional fuel and deviating from their trajectory. Programs with vision for 5-7 years are riding on lots of unknowns and assumptions. In such cases i think it is prudent to not put everything on one shot and hope for success. If there is low probability then it is better to have multiple options. Even at later stages when resources are committed, any alternative should not be discarded and should be kept to increase margin of success.
Know your resources
Icarus crew was always in dilemma with respect to decisions because they have direct impact on costs like Oxygen & Fuel. It is important to know the resources and burn rate for the program at any time when decisions are being taken. Without resources you are running on phantom airs!!
Who are expendable
Now this is a tricky part. In movies it becomes glorious to take the hit for mission objective and become hero. In real life you don't find people like that. In a program of large scale you should have a succession plan and know in time of resource crunch what activity program can manage without. Generally in IT projects it is the QA which takes the hit. But the age old wisdom should not be forgotten, cost of quality is hidden and can be higher later (probability phew).
Conclusion
In the movie it turned out that decision to join forces with Icarus I didn't pan out and it costed a lot!! Little bit anticlimactic isn't it? But there is a learning hidden in this. In IT programs we have these decisions running like this... We will have a new Contract Management System in place which will be operational in say Dec-2017 and replace legacy system. And our new Transport Management System will start getting price rates from this system to award shipments to carriers. New TMS should make use of this new CMS. In such scenarios program managers should never-ever ignore the legacy system which is being replaced by these new systems. Because you never now if your Icarus II will be able to make use of Icarus I! After all is said and done, do watch this movie if you are a sci-fi starry eyed fan like me. Program management or not, this movie has got visuals and conclusion which is satisfying to the core (of sun as well)!!
