This is the sort of adversarial match that goes on too often every day.  Buyers are overwhelmed by the sheer number of features when they watch a software demo.  What is often forgotten, though, is that elephant in the room – the function of the software and how the product solves your business problems. 

Business Solutions: Feature vs. Function

But first, what’s the difference between features and functions?

Features are all the cool things a software can do

Functions are all the cool things a software can do … FOR YOU

First Problem 

Here is usually how it goes.  An organization feels business pains – growing pains, direction or market pains, etc.  They decide that a new software will solve their problems and set about contacting vendors to see what their software will do.  What is sometimes not communicated, though, is exactly what the problems are.  Sometimes they keep their needs/wants to themselves preferring instead to see what the sales rep has to say, or sometimes they simply don’t know exactly what the problem is or how to solve it.  

Second Problem

The eager sales rep arrives and starts working with the company trying to understand their business issues, but there is often that aforementioned communication disconnect regarding the business issue that needs to be solved.  So the sales rep, having confidence in the quality of their product to solve a myriad of issues, launches a demo campaign perfectly designed and choreographed to show every remarkable thing their software does.  It works - the client is awestruck by all the impressive features.  

Third Problem 

After looking at several vendors’ presentations and RFP responses, the organization gathers together, compares notes, and ultimately chooses the most appealing and financially comfortable solution. 

I’m sure, as a savvy member of our business community, you spotted the increasing snowball of issues that all come down to one basic, yet seemingly elusive, concept – the lack of clear definition, well-defined communication, and effective partnering with the vendor on the business issue(s) itself.  We will explore this further … 

Solving the business issue … the function

Let’s replay that same scenario with a significant tweak to the beginning.  The organization is realizing some sort of business pain:  current market/direction pains or future growth and development pains, disparate and inefficient process and lack of relational data for business metrics.  Key organization members still convene to clearly identify what the issues are.  However – and here’s where it gets exciting – they reach out to a preferred vendor who, together with the key organization members

• Clarify the business issues

• Develop a plan to solve them

And only then do they …

• Acquire the right software solution

Notice how we didn’t even mention the features.  Sure, it’s important to have cool things that your software business solution does which make every day work life easier or more interesting.  Yes, it’s great to have hot keys, special gui (graphical user interface) on pages, neat buttons and clicks.  But, in too many instances, those features are there mostly to sell but not to solve.   They are frosting, gravy, or special sauce – yummy to see and eat, but without the solid nutrients are not satisfying the functional need. 

And what’s more, those “bling” features almost always end up costing far more than going with what may seem like an initially expensive business solution.  The cliché, “you get what you pay for” is very true in the software industry.  Going with a less expensive solution can sometimes cost more in the long run, because if you haven’t solved your business problem, you end up with voluminous customization costs or just more disparate systems.  At some point in the future after choosing based solely on price,   bells and whistles, you will likely need to cut your losses and just go with a vendor who will work with you to solve your business problems.

It’s the partnering of organization and vendor which garners the real result.

In the Forbes.com article, “To Increase Revenue Stop Selling” by contributor, Mike Myatt, he states that organizations want to be treated like partners and not a software sales target.  Working with their vendor is the only way a successful solution will be realized resulting in a longstanding, productive business relationship.  He says,

Engage me, communicate with me, add value to my business, solve my problems, create opportunity for me, educate me, inform me, but don’t try and sell me – it won’t work … Think about it – do you establish trust by profiling and targeting prospects, or by attempting to understand the needs of a potential client? This is much more than a semantical argument – it’s a philosophical shift in thinking, and a practical shift in acting. Stop selling and start serving. 

To put this in terms of your organization, stop buying and start receiving this service. 

So where are these wonderful consultants who help ME?

They’re out there all right.  Yes, they’re tougher to identify among all those throwing the title around on their business cards or in their lingo.  Here are 4 tips to help you find the right business solution partner.

You’re looking for consultants who:

• Talk more about you and less about themselves and their product features
• Question and then listen
• Work with you and don’t sell to you
• Take the time to build trust and mutual respect
• Provide solutions that function for your firm instead of features that “could” work. 

The win

Interested in learning more? Check out the below webinar about how best-in-class firms are operating better!  And while you’re at it, get rid of those boxing gloves.  You won’t need them now that you can win the match – because you know how to make the right choice between features vs. functionality in selecting your next business software solution.

One of the most essential tools in project management is a Work Breakdown Structure, or WBS. The primary function of a WBS is to subdivide a project into more manageable components in terms of size, duration, and responsibility. By breaking a project down into smaller pieces it’s also easier to:

• Set measurable milestones for the project, and identify deliverables at the end of each phase that match up to the scope
• Allocate resources, complete scheduling and budgeting, manage procurement, maintain quality control, and manage risk
• Increase accountability by assigning individual responsibilities for each phase and task
• Know where you stand in terms of the total project (for example, are you 10% through the whole project, but 50% through the first phase?)

In short, the Work Breakdown Structure defines how you estimate, manage, and bill the project — and as a result, creating one should be priority one for every project.

Key design principles for an effective WBS

1. Account for 100% (no more, no less). One of the most important principles is that the WBS must include 100% of the work as defined by the project scope. It must also capture all internal, external, and interim deliverables, including project management, among the work to be completed. The rule applies at all levels within the hierarchy: the sum of the work at the most detailed level must equal 100% of the work represented by the combined total of the categories at the highest level. Another aspect of the rule is that the WBS should not include any work that is outside the actual scope of the project. 

2. Be mutually exclusive. There should be no overlap between two elements of a WBS in scope definition. Such an overlap could not only result in duplicated work or misunderstanding about responsibility and/or authority, but could also cause confusion in project cost accounting. One technique for avoiding this problem is to develop a WBS dictionary to clarify the differences between WBS elements and describe each in terms of milestones, deliverables, activities, scope, and other factors. 

3. Focus on outcomes, not actions. The best way to stick to the 100% rule is to define Work Breakdown Structure elements in terms of outcomes, as opposed to actions. This strategy ensures that the WBS is not overly prescriptive in terms of method, and therefore allows for more flexibility and creative thinking on the part of team members. In addition, a WBS that subdivides work by project phases (e.g. preliminary design phase, critical design phase, etc.) must clearly separate the phases by deliverables that define the entry and exit criteria (e.g. an approved preliminary or critical design review). 

4. Be detailed, but not too detailed. As useful as it is to divide work into smaller and more manageable elements, you also need to know when to stop. There are several ‘rules of thumb’ for determining appropriate activities or group of activities needed to produce a specific deliverable as defined by the WBS. The first is the “80 hour rule,” which cautions that no one activity or group of activities to produce a single deliverable should require more than 80 hours of effort. A second guideline is that no single activity or series of activities should take longer to complete than a reporting period. So, if your project team reports on its progress monthly, then no single activity or series of activities should be longer than one month long. 

5. Keep it simple. Creating three levels in your WBS hierarchy (e.g., Project, Phase and Task) should be enough. Avoid identifying labor or activity codes as WBS elements, even if you use them to describe labor detail on billing invoices or backup reports. In addition, it’s not necessary to make every phase balanced; just because one phase has a task doesn’t mean that all should.

Work Breakdown Structure: a blueprint for project management

When finished, a well-organized WBS resembles a flowchart in which every element is logically connected to another. The primary requirement or objective appears at the top, with increasingly specific elements appearing beneath it. The elements at the bottom of the diagram represent tasks and activities small enough to be easily understood and carried out. An effective WBS avoids redundancy, but at the same time, leaves out no critical elements. 

The bottom line is that a Work Breakdown Structure divides your project into distinct, manageable work elements. A WBS is useful to various groups within a company, including marketing, business development, accounting, and project management. A well-planned WBS is integral to successful project proposals, planning, scheduling, budgeting, and reporting.

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If your business designs and produces projects for external clients, you’re in what is referred to as a project-based firm. This category can include architecture, engineering and construction companies, consulting firms, advertising agencies and many others.

As different as these industries may be from one another, they share a core challenge of completing projects in ways that meet the client’s goals within existing constraints, while at the same time, delivering the desired profitability to their organizations.

There are many tools and methodologies that can help project managers at project-based firms track how successfully they deliver projects. But before managers can benefit from such tools and methodologies, it’s essential for them to understand four basic project management concepts, and how they interrelate.

1. Resources – The most critical resources that your organization manages are its human capital, which, depending on your needs and preferences, you might track as individuals, teams or both. Resources can also include equipment, services, supplies, and funds. A central goal in managing resources is ensuring the suitability of the specific resources, as well as availability, internal costs, etc.

2. Time – Managing time involves organizing and tracking tasks, activities, and schedules. It’s critical in helping to establish a workable plan and schedule, monitoring and reporting on progress, and ultimately, ensuring the profitability of the project. Key aspects include defining and sequencing activities, estimating needed resources and time requirements, and developing and managing to a defined schedule.

3. Cost – Effective cost management begins before the project even gets underway, by planning a budget with as much accuracy and specificity as possible. Cost management also requires developing contingencies for costs that are anticipated, but cannot yet be quantified with certainty. As the project moves forward, the manager tracks estimated vs. actual costs and the overall profitability of the project.

4. Scope – Managing a project’s scope begins with assessing its size, complexity, goals, and requirements. By having a clear understanding of the scope, the project manager is better able to create a viable estimate and schedule, assemble the appropriate resources, and ensure that the team meets its deadlines. Without a good handle on scope, the project can experience scope creep, which can lead to missed deadlines, cost overruns, and decreased profitability.

Taking a holistic view

It’s important to appreciate how each of these project management concepts affects, and is affected by, the others. The skillful project manager addresses them holistically, and makes adjustments in each as the project moves forward. To manage risk and ensure a quality project, managers need to not only understand these concepts, but also have in place the right tools and processes to control them — along with great organization and communication skills. 

Of course, it’s the rare project that goes exactly according to plan… which is why understanding these four project management concepts is so essential. When variances or setbacks arise in any one area, the effective project manager has mechanisms in place to recognize problems in time to make adjustments, and yet still meet the project goals for both the client and the firm.

Checkout more Project Management related articles.