© Copyright 2008 Sapient Corporation Examining the Courageous Project Manager November 6, 2008

© Copyright 2008 Sapient Corporation 2 Agenda  Background and context (5 minutes)  3 Characteristics of the Courageous Project Manager (10 minutes)  How organizations drive away Courageous Project Managers (10 minutes)  Questions (5 minutes)

© Copyright 2008 Sapient Corporation 3 Sapient Company Information Sapient Today  people  23 offices worldwide (13 North America, 7 Europe, 3 Asia)  2007 revenue of $546M  2007 highest client win rates in history  35% year over year service revenue growth rate  Two groups: Interactive and Consulting  Engagement success rate nearly 3x industry average In 1990, we founded Sapient on a single promise – To do whatever it takes to deliver the right business results, on time and on budget. To deliver on that promise “We leverage a unique approach, breakthrough thinking, and disciplined execution.”

© Copyright 2008 Sapient Corporation 4 Sapient is a global services firm that finds opportunities for clients at the intersection of business, marketing and technology. Sapient Consulting  Business & IT Strategy  Business Applications  Business Intelligence  Package Implementation  Outsourcing Sapient Interactive  Interactive Marketing & Creative Services  Web Design & Interactive Development  Media Planning, Buying and Optimization  Marketing Technologies  Strategic Planning and Marketing Analytics

© Copyright 2008 Sapient Corporation 3 Characteristics of the Courageous Project Manager

© Copyright 2008 Sapient Corporation 6 Transparency  Courageous Project Managers (CPM) practice near* complete transparency with stakeholders, team members, and the organization at large  CPMs understand transparency can be painful but that it reduces barriers to communication, builds trust, and accelerates consensus building & decision making

© Copyright 2008 Sapient Corporation 7 Good versus Evil – Knowing what is good and doing it  Most IT managers we see understand what they should be doing and choose*, or are compelled, to do the wrong thing  CPMs focus on:  Setting expectations that requirements will change, problems will occur, and that to be successful stakeholders have to commit  Investing time upfront to setup the project or program for success  Quality is something that is practiced every day and not done at the end (or not at all)  Delivering software quickly and iteratively, at high quality, and with frequent changes is possible if you zealously focus on the basics, but impossible if you don’t In a recent survey CIOs were asked, “What is the Perceived Importance of Software Quality Assurance (SQA) in Your Organization?” – Only 29% said it was part of their fundamental processes – Even worse 40% said it was a nice to have or that it didn’t have a defined importance

© Copyright 2008 Sapient Corporation 8 Failing Fast  Not all projects or programs get approved based on a valid set of assumptions or workable business case  The courageous project manager knows that:  Their project may be a loser  They must vocally advocate the project be cancelled as soon as the last reasonable chance for success has pasted  If their project is destined to fail the organization must find out as quickly as possible in order to minimize the investment lost  A healthy trend to see in a maturing organization is an increase in the number of projects cancelled but the investment lost per cancelled project shrinking significantly

© Copyright 2008 Sapient Corporation How organizations drive away Courageous Project Managers

© Copyright 2008 Sapient Corporation 10 How organizations drive away CPMs  Lack of emotional maturity  How does an organization take bad news or setbacks?  How many projects get cancelled? Is there always a negative stigma attached to the people associated with cancelled projects?  Is complete transparency something that stakeholders can stomach?  Organizing people and projects into functional silos  Analysts pass it to Architects who pass it to Developers who pass it to Testers  Taking on too many projects  People split their time between 3, 4, or more projects. Work in progress swells, productivity drops  Perpetuates “loser” projects – project cancelation comes too slowly or not at all  Acceptance of mediocrity – what is an organization willing to tolerate?

© Copyright 2008 Sapient Corporation Questions?