Set Your Software Implementation Project Up For Success

If you are implementing new software into your organisation there are steps that should be taken to ensure it rolls out successfully. Software implementation projects can be large and complex so for the purposes of this article I’m going to assume you’ve completed your business case and vendor selection process. You are happy with the product you have chosen, your resources are allocated and it is time to start the rollout. You will have technical configuration and training planned, but there are also tactics that you can employ to increase your chances of setting up your implementation for long-term success.

1. Communicate Top Management Commitment

In larger organisations, this is often referred to as having an executive sponsor or project sponsor. Usually, this would be the highest ranking manager that has a vested interest in the software implementation succeeding. This executive is not the project manager and not accountable for ensuring individual tasks necessary for the implementation get completed. The sponsor will liaise with the project manager, though not necessarily as a direct report and ensure that the high-level scope and progress are on track.

The sponsor’s larger role is to ensure communication with the wider business to ensure widespread adoption of and enthusiasm for the new platform. This is the role of ensuring that people in the business understand why the implementation is happening and the benefits for the business in having it succeed.

High-level commitment is a critical element in new technology adoption.

At RESULTS.com we know that CEO commitment is essential so we ensure that the business leader of our prospect company is directly involved in the sales and implementation processes. A signature on a contract at the end isn’t sufficient, we know that the businesses most likely to succeed are the ones that have a genuine commitment from the top at the outset of the project.

2. Conduct a Premortem

A premortem is an exercise conducted in advance of a project kick-off and is designed to increase the chance of delivering project outcomes successfully. During the premortem, your team imagines they are at the end of the defined project completion date and everything that could go wrong has gone wrong.

The diagram above pictures the Planning Fallacy well. This term describes our tendency to be greatly optimistic about what we can achieve in a given time and leads to projects being too widely or vaguely scoped, with the result that many projects go over time and budget by a significant margin.

Working on a project that has no chance of delivering the original value expected or of hitting its delivery date is demoralising for all involved so the better chance we can give ourselves of succeeding up front the more motivated we’ll be during the course of the project.

An excellent way of conducting this exercise is to gather your project team with a facilitator, from outside the project team, whose sole role is to encourage active participation and keep the discussion on track, they don’t take part in the debate.

The premortem answers three questions:

• What factors could negatively impact this project?
• What actions could we take to mitigate these factors?
• What changes do we need to make to the design, scope and due dates of this projects?

Getting your team to individually answer these questions and robustly debate their ideas leads to defined actions to prevent failure, this results in a tighter project scope that your team are happy to commit to completing on time.

At RESULTS.com when we set up a regular meeting for significant projects, the first meeting that the team gets together for is always scheduled to be a premortem. We’d suggest any software implementation project will be more successful if you conduct this exercise. In my experience, it also creates a more ownership of and enthusiasm for the implementation.

3. Take Internal Accountability For Training

Software training comes in two parts, external training by the vendor and ongoing internal training of users within the organisation. Whether or not your vendor operates a train the trainer or product champion training model you will need to own an element of the roll out internally as your vendor can’t be on site or available all the time.

By continuing training internally you maintain ownership of ‘why’ the new platform is being used. This ensures that you continue instilling the awareness of why the change is necessary and what will happen if the implementation isn’t successful. It is about working with individuals to help understand what’s in it for them as well as the business.

Training for technical skills so that people have the ability to use the tools required to do their job is an essential part of any software implementation but continuing to support the desire to follow through by continuing to communicate why the tool is needed is also critical to the success of your implementation.

Software implementation often includes the appointment of a ‘Product Champion’. It is important to be clear that the project Sponsor can not delegate accountability for the success of the software implementation. A product champion is responsible for coordinating training, becoming an expert in the tool and ensuring that process is followed, the Sponsor retains responsibility for Scope, resources and deadlines, having clarity around the different roles with close communication between the two will set your internal training up for success. Selecting someone with ‘the ownership gene’ as your product champion ensures this ongoing internal commitment to success.

4. Reinforcement

The last element of the ADKAR (Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability and Reinforcement) change management model is Reinforcement and in my experience, this is the most neglected element of software implementation projects.

Leaders generally do a good job of explaining to people why a new tool is being introduced, creating interest in using it and giving people the tools to succeed. At the point we have given training to the key users it is easy to assume the implementation is complete, unfortunately, old habits are hard to break, the desire to change wanes over time and things go wrong, adoption of the new tool becomes hard and people give up.

Creating systems to ensure that long-term adoption is attained is a critical step in the process but for these reinforcement tactics to work, they need to be more than posters on the wall or daily e-mail reminders they need to be visible and encourage interaction

You can foster reinforcement using the following techniques;

Make it meaningful to the person impacted by the change

Make recognition for adoption meaningful by tying recognition to the person involved, make any rewards relevant to the individual.

Associate it with actual demonstrated progress

Celebrate the small wins along the way so that the team can associate the effort involved with the outcomes that are being accomplished. When people can see that their effort is valued and leading to demonstrable results motivation to keep pushing can increase significantly.

Include negative consequences for non-compliance

People slipping back into old ways of doing things need to be held accountable, people need to see that this isn’t acceptable, peer pressure from those working hard to adopt the new system often has a big impact on bringing the rest of the team along.

Have accountability systems

Use your regular meetings to acknowledge adoption of the new system and make use of the new system visible. Share statistics and ‘good news’ stories so that people can hear and witness that use of the product is not just expected it is required. Ensure feedback loops are ongoing and public.

The critical element of reinforcement is to ensure that adoption continues over time after it is first assumed.

Outside the technical aspect of configuring. Implementing and training your team these tactics will ensure that your team have the support, desire and stamina to succeed in the long term.

At RESULTS.com we use mutual action plans as part of our quarterly reviews with clients. Mutual action plans are about agreeing what we will deliver for clients, but most importantly the action steps that they agree to complete to ensure that all their team are getting the best possible value out of using RESULTS.com.

By using these tactics as part of your implementation process you will set your software implementation up for success.

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