Imagine you are a IT Manager .. trying to get budget approval for another phase of PLM roll out .. Sponsor asks, explain me what is the benefit from past rollouts?
I was reading Oleg's blog on ACE 2012: Aras PLM and don’t be evil. Peter Schroer’s presentation on PLM failure "10/10/100" plan lead me to thinking about why PLM solutions fail so consistently ?
How do we justify the business value of PLM? Every organization wants to use technology to develop products faster, collaborate efficiently, and foster innovation ..
Yet question remains, does the intent of using PLM really meet the objective. If yes, how to measure the benefits.
I often see IT managers shy away from this question .. perhaps the benefits are perceived as intangible... or benefits do not span single department and it is too difficult to think enterprise wide.
These are some of the questions that I people face in real world :
- Does electronic workflow really save time as against paper based flow ?
- How does web based UI with painful navigation fare up with users who were managing large BOM data with flexible tools as excel and Lotus notes ?
New technology with old processes:
Migrate from old system to new, yet retain the same process.This situation often results in situation which is more painful and creates reverse impact to productivity.
Conclusion:
Ultimately, unless organizations decide to embrace process changes, and thoughtfully make decisions to eliminate waste .. PLM solutions providers and IT managers will continue to struggle with question of justifying the value of PLM.
Mahesh,
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you. I would like to add one more point. PLM Implementation projects should be managed in a different manner. It should follow a mix of conventional project management and agile project management. Typically a working software in shorter phases with client as on of the responsible stakeholder will add value to implementation and will have a better PLM implementation.
Thanks for sharing your experience. Most cases I see it is difficult to specify exactly what users want.
DeleteWithout seeing the preview of solution it is impossible to tell. Some form of iterative development will certainly increase chances of success with PLM.
Someday I would cover PLM and different Software engineering methods.
-Mahesh
Nice article Mahesh. What I feel is this situation arise due to the communication gap between manager and the PLM functional expert. There are some managers I know who does not understand the functional as well as technical aspects of the project, what they know is just to manage the project and the team.
ReplyDeleteYes, lot of times project organization is a problem.
DeleteWe need process architect who is responsible for changing business process and technical architect who can focus on system design.
Even if we have project organizations, most important is to get people with right skills, experience and attitude to be part of the team.
Thanks for sharing your experience ..
Mahesh