Publisher's Synopsis
Avoiding the OS Phase(R) presents the story of a project team that has to come to terms with the reality that their project is in serious trouble. The novel is told from the author's perspective as he uses real life examples to give the team a road map for fixing the project's key processes. The focus of the novel is always centered on the "processes," consistent with the author's belief that projects themselves do not fail, but instead the processes that support the projects fail. Each chapter begins with an overview of the process to be presented followed by the novel portion of the book that continues from chapter to chapter unfolding the unfortunate details of the complex web-based project. The author describes the failure of the project by announcing to the team that they have hit something called the OS Phase. He explains that the OS Phase is the point in time where everything appears to be going well but then it hits the wall. The OS Phase is that point in the project where the true project status is revealed and the project team is forced to admit that they are in trouble. The OS Phase is not a conventional term, but non-the-less it is experienced often. We routinely read about mega projects in the newspaper AFTER they hit the OS Phase.The book introduces three important processes that must be properly executed if we are to avoid the OS Phase in the future. The first, managing the project's scope, is the foundation process. Only by knowing what is required is it even possible to understand the magnitude of the time necessary to accomplish the project and the expected cost or effort to complete the scope. Strategies are introduced to ensure that project scope is relentlessly pursued and documented. The second process is management of roles and responsibilities. There are countless examples of how failure to know who is doing each element of the scope will eventually lead to hitting the dreaded OS Phase. Simple tools for managing roles are presented.The third process is risk management. Unfortunately, as the author points out, processes associated with risk management have become complex and difficult to understand and are being misused in many organizations. The book provides profound concepts related to risk management that will simplify its effective introduction into any work process.The integrating theme throughout the book is that in order to avoid the OS Phase we must choose processes and tools with attributes that are simple, credible and predictive. These avoidance attributes should be a foundation for everything we do. The author integrates these avoidance attributes within each of the strategies for getting the novel's project back on track and keeping future activities out of harm's way.The book is fresh and new and has inspired impressive cultural changes in several global corporations where the impact of hitting the OS Phase is recognized and avoided.
