JCA, Inc. teamed with seven partner organizations and the Tessitura Network with the vision of building a social media ticketing app. The resulting app, TN Social Ticketing, allows for a seamless Tessitura-based purchase path and social ticketing experience from within Facebook. Allison Fippinger served as the JCA Project Manager for the development phase of the app.

There is a running joke in my circles: if it’s on Facebook, it must be true. Like the best of jokes, it includes a kernel of truth, a nod at our own weaknesses, and a bit of cheek. The truism of the joke, however, has grown with the ever-increasing ubiquity of Facebook. Legitimacy used to come with a website; now you need a fan page.

For a forward-thinking arts organization, Facebook presents a wealth of opportunity. What better way to speak to the friends, peers and colleagues of your audience? What better platform to allow your supporters to, well, support you?

Practically, though, the sticky wicket for many organizations was the vehicle. In what format should they engage their audiences, and who would take on the task of building it? The most efficient Facebook route to audience interaction was by no means clear.

Andrew Carnegie famously said that “[T]eamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results.” I’m lucky enough to have seen this principle in action. It’s called TN Social Ticketing.

Dave Alton, CIO of Center Theatre Group, had a vision. The vision involved harnessing the already social aspect of theater-going and hitching it to the existing wealth of social media outlets. When he got the green light from CTG to move forward, he approached a trusted technical partner – JCA. The ball was rolling.

Ultimately, seven partners joined together to support the Facebook Ticketing app project, pooling their organizations’ knowledge, resources and experience. They joined with JCA and Tessitura to create the solution that would best serve them in the world of Facebook apps.

The Tessitura Network is the model of member-owned product development and has both feet planted firmly in arts and cultural software. JCA, with its wealth of experience in not-for-profit technical solutions and extensive web programming, was already sitting on the cutting edge of the technology. The seven partner organizations were hungry for a social media solution and full of ideas about how it should function to best suit existing needs. Taken together, these players embodied a beautiful confluence of knowledge, creativity and desire.

The resulting app, TN Social Ticketing, allows performing arts organizations to bring the already social aspect of theater-going to the world of social media. With the new app, audience members can attend a performance and share that performance with ‘Friends.’ They can create events, invite friends, direct guests to the organization’s secure purchase link, and post about their experiences. They can choose performance dates based on which ‘Friends’ have already purchased tickets. And they can do all this without ever leaving Facebook.

It took a vision, coupled with the experience and expertise of many committed organizations coming together, to fill a need. It took industry partners, and JCA’s wealth of technical knowledge and ability, to fuel the project. TN Social Ticketing is, as Andrew Carnegie said, the ‘uncommon result.’

I’ll see you at the show tonight? Yeah, I saw it on Facebook.

The seven organizations who partnered to create TN Social Ticketing are:
Arsht Center for the Performing Arts
Center Theatre Group
John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
San Francisco Ballet
Seattle Repertory Theatre
Segerstrom Center for the Arts
Stratford Shakespeare Festival

Unblocking the Enterprise project backlog: As a result of the 2008/2009 recession and the subsequent funding uncertainties, many nonprofits put off investing in core technology projects. However, in 2011, we began to see more and more organizations giving the green light for major enterprise-wide projects that had been stalled since the recession.  We predict that this trend will continue to gain steam in 2012.  As a sense of stability has gradually returned, the backlog of critical projects has begun to loosen.  For example, as legacy CRM systems begin showing their age and the gap between the functionality of older and newer systems widens, we’re seeing more organizations undertake system selections, implementations and/or upgrades as well as integrations between systems.  Additionally, many organizations have delayed major website overhauls for years and are now looking at major re-construction of websites.

Transitioning from Social Dabbling to Social Immersion: Nonprofits have embraced social media for PR, advocacy and awareness, and some even offer a link to a basic transaction opportunity.  However, in 2012, forward-thinking nonprofits are talking about the need to engage people “where they live.”  It’s about leveraging the “social” in a social network.  Look for leading nonprofits to provide tools for their constituents that truly leverage the reach and relationships within that constituent’s network.  It will soon be possible not only to buy your tickets for that jazz concert directly on Facebook but to seamlessly invite your friends to join you without ever having to leave Facebook.  In 2012, applications such as this will finally monetize social media by creating a true social media experience. Organizations across the non-profit spectrum will offer transactional experiences which creatively capitalize on the social aspects of their Facebook supporters and patrons.

Mobile and tablet technology: As nonprofits continue to look for ways to enhance their interaction with patrons and donors, more of them are turning to mobile and tablet-enabled technology.  Using mobile technology, organizations in 2012 will achieve instant, widespread touches and provide their increasingly mobile constituents with the ability to interact while on the go.  Beyond optimizing websites for mobile or tablets, look for advanced uses of near field communication with smart devices to enhance constituents’ experiences and connection to the organization.

Drowning in data: Most nonprofits now have sophisticated CRM systems but have been stalled in their ability to interpret the glut of data. A reluctance to add to staff, while demand for clear analytics grows, has made Business Intelligence software increasingly critical as the economic recovery slowly unfolds. Nonprofit CIOs in 2012 intend to better understand and act on their data.

“Hactivism” aimed at nonprofits:  The hacker group that calls itself “Anonymous” expresses their discontent with businesses, government entities and public figures by hijacking websites and introducing viruses.  Many large, visible nonprofits have detractors as well as supporters, and CIOs anticipate that sting videos will be old-school compared to the damage dedicated hackers modeled after “Anonymous” can do to a website of an organization they may wish to discredit.  Prevention through security as well as plans for post-attack procedures are key discussion points among CIOs in 2012.

Continuing the move to the Cloud: Hardware budgets reduced in the downturn are being re-examined, rather than simply replenished.  As servers and hardware purchased prior to the 2008 economic shake-up are approaching the end of their useful lives, nonprofits face a decision of reinvesting in infrastructure or moving to a hosted or Cloud environment.  Faced with these potentially large expenditures, we see an ever increasing number of nonprofits moving to the Cloud. The Cloud offers little to no up-front costs, reduces the need for IT staff and expensive new servers, and offers greater convenience and accessibility.

No more silos:  Non-profit organizations have become much more discerning about what to expect from their technology. In 2012, they are seeking out enterprise software that does more, provides better access to data for integrations (APIs, Web Services), and offers more sophisticated reporting and BI tools.

The web site had been stable for four years and had not been significantly changed or moved since its launch. Any changes had been handled by the vendor. Though the web site was reliable, this meant that no one at OSF had intimate knowledge of the web site’s configuration or programming. There was some uncertainty about what was ‘under the hood,’ which presented a unique challenge.

OSF selected JCA as their web site development partner for the future. OSF selected JCA because of our intimate knowledge of the software OSF uses to run ticketing and development, Tessitura, as well as our expert web site development experience. JCA’s software engineers began by working closely with OSF to design deployment and maintenance procedures, and then configure the new environment to facilitate the policies and procedures. As we worked together to disentangle the existing web site’s configuration, we ensured that the OSF development team would be left with control and ownership of the web site development and deployment.

Together we designed a new server environment that takes advantage of the latest IIS request routing (load balancing) to ensure web site availability and redundancy. In fact, several times already the addition of a web server and redundant load balancers has resulted in increased uptime.

Prior to go-live, we performed load testing on the web site and purchase path. Using sophisticated load testing software that enabled us to simulate page hits, logins, registrations and ticket purchases in the new environment, we were able to demonstrate that the web site was 20 to 25% faster in the new environment.

Tests successfully completed in test period (30 minutes)
JCA: 300
Old: 238
Roughly 20% more tests completed in the allotted time period

Average test time (sec)
JCA: 83.2
Old: 105
Roughly 20% faster through the purchase path

Average Pages Served/Sec
JCA: 3.25
Old: 2.46
Roughly 25% improvement

Average Page Time (sec)
JCA: 4.07
Old: 5.42
Roughly 25% improvement

One of the most rewarding aspects of this project was the seamless go-live. In the end all of the planning and testing paid off, and we transitioned from the old environment to the new with no issues.

OSF and JCA worked together as true development partners. With JCA’s help, OSF now has full control of their web site development, deployment and testing. In addition, JCA’s new, cloud-based web hosting environment is at least 20% faster — meaning happier customers and more sales — and is more redundant — meaning lower risk for the organization.

This post describes 15 hours of my life between Dec. 13 at 7:30 p.m. and Dec. 14 at 10:30 a.m.

Let me start by saying I am a Florida State Seminole.  My mother was a Seminole.  And last night my firstborn son was accepted into the Florida State University Honors College.  Go Noles.

I am extremely disappointed with my Alma Mater — with the treatment my son and I, and all the other hopeful applicants and their families, received at the hands of FSU’s website over the last 12+ hours.  I hope as I tell the story we can all take away some lessons.  And FSU, if you’re listening, I hope the University of Florida’s notification process isn’t so much better than yours that I end up with a Gator in my house.

My son has always loved FSU.  He applied for early action and we put Dec. 14 12:01 a.m. on the calendar, as this was the date and time FSU promised to begin notifications of acceptance.  He and I planned to stay up together last night and log in at midnight to see if he was accepted.  He had a wish:  acceptance to the Honors College so he could request the Landis Hall, the honors dorm.

At dinner time kids started posting on Facebook that they were accepted to FSU.  It didn’t seem logical, since notices weren’t scheduled to be available until midnight, but my son checked his email at about 7:30 p.m.  He had a message from Admissions sent an hour earlier telling him a decision had been made on his application. The email contained a link.

He followed the link and the site performed very slowly.  After about ten minutes of waiting he was directed to the login page.  Another ten to fifteen minutes later he saw his acceptance.  Honors.  Merit Scholarship.  Yay!

Housing is the next step, and there was not time to waste if he wanted his top choice.  We were advised by an Admission staff person to skip the Admission site and go directly to Housing.  “If you can get into the Housing site, you know you were accepted,” he said.   And thus began our 12-hour long attempt to get into the Housing website, fill out the contract and pay our deposit.

The page flow for Housing was horrible.  We went to Housing and selected the contract.  That link sent us to a pdf document describing the process, which we already knew.  The pdf had another link to a Housing portal address.  The portal loaded another Housing page and then immediately began redirecting us to a login.  It took a half hour to go through that path, and we were left waiting for the login page to appear and allow us to log in.  After an hour of trying, I was lucky enough to get a response.  I chose the term, Fall/Spring 2012/2013, from the dropdown menu and hit “Enter.”  The site returned a message that the Housing form would be available on December 14th.  Right.  Midnight.  I can’t explain why the site didn’t simply state on an earlier page that applications for newly accepted students would be available at midnight instead of wasting an hour of my time.  Bad, bad, workflow design.

We sat down to wait until midnight.  I started trying to log in to the Housing site a bit ahead of time because I knew there were many problems due to volume, and I already knew what a mess the page path was.  

My son’s friends were all posting frantic messages on Facebook.  They hadn’t even gotten into the Admission status page yet.  My son fell asleep on the floor waiting.  It took a half hour for the Housing site to redirect to the login page, and then the login page kept timing out.  I finally got the login page to load and got into the Housing contract shortly after 1:00 a.m.  I filled out the short form, printed a copy for myself to pdf, and pressed the “Submit” button.  I clicked through the reminder pop-up that since my son is under 18 I have to print, sign and submit the paper form by mail or fax.  After the pop-up came the error.  The form could not be submitted.

I tried to go back to resubmit and received a message that the form does not allow users to move back or refresh – performing either of those actions automatically logs out the user.  Perfect!

I tried again.  And again.  Then I decided to go to sleep.

The problem was that I was so irritated I couldn’t sleep!  “What if the minute I lie down all the traffic clears up?” I thought.   “Housing is one of the most important things to my son – he wants that Honors dorm!”  I got back up to try again.  I decided to load the Admissions page and saw a notice that they took the site down.  I could guess that was the reason my Housing contract did not submit successfully.  The Admissions page promised an update at 1:45 a.m.  That time came and went.  They posted an update shortly before 2:00 a.m., apologizing for the continuing trouble.  I continued to try the Housing site, got into the contract again, filled it out, pressed submit, and received the same error.  I went through this process three or four times and then gave up.  Grimly determined and still unable to sleep, I tried again at 3:00 a.m. and at 4:00 a.m.

After fitful snatches of sleep, at 6:00 a.m. I got the form to load, completed it, pressed submit and it submitted successfully.  Hallelujah!  But I still wasn’t finished – I had to pay a deposit.  Certainly FSU was prepared to take my money, I thought.  The contract submission confirmation page led to the payment path.  I was asked to log in again, but this time the site wanted my customer number.  I don’t have customer number, I don’t have an invoice, my son is not a current student.  The page said that I should use his social security number if I don’t have a customer number so I entered it.  And nothing happened.  That’s right.  I went nowhere but, after many, many minutes, to an error screen.  And this error you have to see.

Are you seeing what I’m seeing?  The website actually asked me to send an email and tell the server administrator what I did to cause the error.  I wrote them and told them that I thought they should fire the person who wrote this error message, explaining that the bad thing I did was try to pay the university!

Well, it’s 9:13 a.m. now.  The status of my son’s application is this.  He is accepted.  He has an invitation to the Honors college and a merit scholarship.  He has a completed housing contract that I have to print and mail or fax since he is a minor.  He still owes FSU $225 for his housing deposit.  (I could call them on the phone and ask what to do but the “Contact Me” page displays the phone number with no area code as if everyone lives in Tallahassee, Florida.)

And there’s one more thing.  The main Housing page mentions this little tidbit.  They add a modest convenience charge to every online payment.  I don’t know about you, but none of this feels convenient to me!

What lessons can any organization take away from this experience?

• Prepare for volume.  Be ready to scale.
  • FSU knew the number of applicants that would be logging on last night.  The application period ended on October 17^th.
• Look at your workflow, especially for new paths you need to put into effect at a specific time.
  • There was no reason for the poorly designed path to the Housing contract that was implemented on the 14^th.
• Give clear instruction
  • Applicants used a single FSU ID for the entire application process, but when I tried to pay it was unclear how to sign on.  The payment login screen should contain clear instructions specifically for the newly accepted students who are scrambling to pay their deposits.
• Perform usability testing
  • A small focus group would have quickly pointed out the user experience deficiencies to the FSU IT and design team
• Be respectful of your customers
  • Isn’t a single login enough?  FSU’s process required a user to login three separate times:  at the Admission page, the Housing page and again to make a payment.
  • Don’t ever ask an external customer to tell you what they did wrong on your site.  You built it — you are responsible for its conduct and performance.

So, to make the most of that call, I find it helpful to have a quick checklist list of questions pre-printed and in a handy spot.  Here are the questions I always ask:

• Can you share the name of the donor? Look them up on the system while you’re on the phone.
•  We know him / her.  Or, we don’t have the name.  Can you tell me a little more about him / her?
•  Are there family members we can plan on thanking?
• What can you tell me about the gift to our organization?
  o Is the donation directed by dollar or percentage?
  o Is it restricted for our use?
  o Estimate of size?
• Can you send me a complete copy of the document?  If not possible – can you please share the drafting date of the document (original draft and addenda).  It helps to establish the date when our organization was included.

After a couple of times hearing from other staff that they took a probate attorney call when I was out, and we learned next to nothing, I realized it was important to have this list in the hands of any others as well.

Some attorneys call prepared to share a lot of information, and others are more reticent, so it is important to guide the conversation respectfully and clearly.  I am sure it is of no surprise to you that estate attorneys discuss that some charities can handle the processes with estate gifts better than others.  Approaching this initial call effectively and professionally can go a long way to establishing a relationship that can benefit our institution and our mission.

These users now have the full Raiser’s Edge data set in a user-friendly and familiar interface, allowing them to create their own queries and reports without the added layer of RE:Query and without having to know SQL or another programming language. I have to admit, I’d never thought of this as a way to present the JCA Answers data warehouse, but for the right audience, it is a great idea, using a ubiquitous tool (Access) to get directly to your Raiser’s Edge data.

This example shows how JCA Answers can surpass the native querying ability of The Raiser’s Edge and provide ultimately flexibility for much more technical end-users. Best of all, the Perkins School and the National CASA case studies show JCA Answers providing real, tangible value to these organizations. The creative solutions are saving valuable time, improving employee productivity and better harnessing the rich amount of data in their Raiser’s Edge systems. I hope that case studies like this one may serve as suggestions to your own use of JCA Answers. It was certainly enlightening to us!

Today’s case is from National CASA, an organization with headquarters in Seattle and chapters throughout the United States. National CASA uses The Raiser’s Edge as their fundraising system as well as tracking [class participation] using RE [attributes]. They have more than a dozen staff members who have no reason to use RE other than to look up constituents to see their registration histories. While RE is a great place to store this information, being able to quickly look up a participant and see their registration history in a very simple layout was a challenge, especially for this group of users with no familiarity with The Raiser’s Edge. National CASA’s clever use of JCA Answers addressed this problem. Starting with a standard web-based JCA Answers Profile Report, they created a new report that allows users to look up a constituent and quickly see a list of their registration information. As it is web-based, the National CASA staff can access it through their intranet. While the source data is housed in Raiser’s Edge, the staff can get the very specific information they need with just a few clicks and without ever logging into Raiser’s Edge.

This example shows how JCA Answers can help users at one extreme of the technical spectrum: Accessing Raiser’s Edge can be made nearly as simple as a Google search for a completely non-technical staff. Next time, we’ll explore an innovative use of JCA Answers that helps users at the opposite extreme.

First, how well does the software currently serve your organization’s needs? Is this a system that you’ve been unhappy with for years or have outgrown significantly? Or is it a pretty serviceable system, meeting your business needs at the current time? Either way, it’s time to take a critical look at the system and defining what your needs are (or soon will be) to see if there’s a gap.

How strong was the health of your software and the software vendor before acquisition? Has the vendor done a recent comprehensive upgrade, or has the software been sliding into obsolescence? Over the last few years, has the vendor been adding customers or losing them? Is there a robust user community? Answering these kinds of questions can help you anticipate whether the acquiring vendor is likely to continue investing in the system and keep supporting it or is more interested in transitioning customers onto “their” software.

Another thing to look at is the vendor’s history in acquiring other systems. Does the new vendor have a good track record of investing in systems they buy, or do they more typically require that clients convert to “their” product?

If your software provider has been acquired, you’ll likely receive a letter and/or e-mail from your new provider welcoming you to their community. But beyond these nice greetings, what is the vendor saying about their strategy? Will the management that you’ve known and (hopefully) trusted be retained? And what about the technical support people who really know your product? If they’ve either not been offered positions in the acquiring company or have chosen to leave on their own, this may be a sign that the product you use will be discontinued shortly.

And, finally, just keep in mind that an acquisition doesn’t mean that the sky is falling. You will have time to ask questions and get the answers you need to make an informed decision on a software succession plan.

We have helped many, many nonprofit organizations sort through the uncertainties when their donor, ticketing or web systems have been acquired. Don’t hesitate to contact us if you’d like assistance.

Project failure is expected
It’s pretty well accepted that most projects fail.  You can find studies that estimate 30% to 80% of projects fail. Isn’t that incredible? Is that okay? Would you be okay if your organization failed at fulfilling its mission 80% of the time?  Let’s face it, this project is part of your mission. Geneca, a software consulting firm, surveyed 600 business and IT executives as part of a study of why project teams struggle. You can guess the outcome based on the name of the report: “Doomed from the start.”  Geneca’s finding was that “75% of respondents admit that their projects are either always or usually doomed right from the start.”

It’s no wonder projects fail so often; people expect them too! Imagine the success of a football team whose coach assumed it would lose 75% of its games. Project failure cannot be an option. That doesn’t ensure it won’t fail – some things are beyond our control – but the attitude of the project sponsor, the project manager and the project team should be that failure is not an option.

The organization looks at it like an IT project

We like to say at JCA, “there is no such thing as an IT project.” If it is not serving a business need, then why are you doing it? I have seen this scenario many times: “We need a new CRM system. That’s technology, so we will make Joe, head of IT, the lead on the project. He will work with the vendor to implement it. Let us know when it’s live.” Let me be clear, IT is a key resource on the project, you cannot succeed without them, but this is a business project that must be driven by the business.

You have the wrong Project Manager

The PM is not an administrator, she or he is a leader. S/he needs to know the discipline and tools of project management and she needs to know the business. I am a certified PM and I’ve been doing this work for nonprofits for close to two decades. I am really good at it. You should hire me to implement you CRM software. But you should not hire me to PM building your house.  The PM is not there just to ensure that the budget is maintained and the schedule is up to date (although, those are vital). S/he must internalize the business objectives of the project, s/he must understand best practices in the nonprofit industry, and s/he must know how the new system works. The Project Manager is accountable for the success of the project. To own that accountability, the PM has to understand all aspects of the project. If you are getting a PM from the corporate PMO and that person is not familiar with the difference between a soft-credit and a split gift, they need to learn it fast or you need to get a new PM.  You have to have the right person. If you don’t – and you will know if you don’t – then you need to address it.

The tools stink

Project management, especially for larger projects, requires tracking a lot of data. There are deliverables, tasks, durations, work, predecessors, start dates, end dates, constraints, resources, costs, critical path, the list goes on. One of the first places people go is Microsoft Project. I’ve not met one person who likes MS Project. I know some people who simply refuse to use it. I’ve met several people who understand it and understand its value, but no one will argue that is it easy to learn. In MS Project’s defense, it’s actually pretty decent. The problem is, to make it work well, you need expertise that most people do not have. It’s like learning to play the guitar. You learn the D, C and G chords and you are able to play a lot of music. You think, “playing the guitar isn’t so tough.” Then it’s time to play a bar with an F chord and you become convinced that hands do not work that way (at least I was). MS Project is like that. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. You have to invest the time to understand how and why the tool works the way it does, or you need to hire someone who does.

The upside is that the market is growing for project management tools that are more than Excel and less than MS Project. We don’t vouch for any particular product, but a search on the web will turn up some promising candidates. For the record, I would like to state: Excel is not a project management tool.  Please repeat that. Excel is not a project management tool.

Last time, we ended with the question: “Why don’t people plan enough?” For one, planning requires a healthy dose of pessimism, and who likes a pessimist? I’ve experienced this situation many times.  The project team is sitting around the table planning what you are going to accomplish and how.  Everyone is excited and has high expectations for the project.  The team discusses the project objectives: “Fundraisers have instant access to reports and solicitation plans,” “we have a single source of information – the website, ticketing system, finance system, call center, registrar’s system (you name it), are all integrated,” “a policy and procedure manual is actively maintained and used by staff.”  These are all great objectives.  The next step is to talk about how the team will accomplish them.  You create deliverables – the stuff the project will create – to fulfill objectives. 

Let’s use the policy manual as an example. A good manual takes time. We estimate how long it will take and then assign resources (i.e., the people that will do it). Often, these resources are client staff. Sally, the head of Development Operations (she is great and really excited about implementing the new system and totally gets the importance of the manual) is the obvious resource for this and she wants to do it. She will need to invest 100 hours over the life of the year-long project. She understands and is on board. But Sally has a fulltime job already as the DevOps Director.  The project manager points out that this may be more than she can handle.  Sally says, “Listen, it’s got to be done, the project won’t succeed without it, so I will just get it done.”  Then the project sponsor, her boss, says, “If we need to make time for Sally to do this, then we will.”  We have just started down the road to failure.  The truth is that Sally is already over worked and understaffed – unfortunately, this is a common theme in the nonprofit world.   You cannot add on another three weeks of work and expect it to get done well.  Like the old saying goes, “good, fast, cheap: pick two.”  It’s at this point that someone needs to say, that won’t work.  It won’t be optimistic, but it will be true.

This also goes for all the integration work that the team wants to accomplish.  Integrations are hard, and they are never as slick as you envision them.  But in the optimistic glow of the planning meeting, nothing is too hard.  What the team needs is a wet blanket.  Assume the worst.  With that mindset, add more money to the budget and more time to the schedule.

Another social norm is “don’t be too honest” and “don’t make people feel bad.”  When it comes to dinner parties, that’s great advice.  When it comes to projects, that can be dangerous.  I would never suggest that you set out to make someone feel bad.  But you cannot let egos affect the project.  I have seen more than one team suffer because one or two members are not meeting expectations.  Besides the obviously deleterious effects to the project, it creates a dysfunctional undertow that makes project meetings painful.  If a project resource is not cutting it (and you will know this pretty quickly), you must deal with it, forthrightly and honestly.  If not, the odds of project failure go up exponentially.

One last note about too much optimism, don’t accept on face value everything software salesmen tell you.  Make them prove their claims. I am reminded of a joke I heard.  “What is the difference between a software salesman and a used car salesman?  The used car salesman knows he’s lying.”  That joke is actually my way of defending vendors.  I don’t think the vendor knowingly tells you things he thinks are untrue.  He just has a tendency to be too optimistic.  I’ve been in many software demos where a nonprofit asks: “Can it do this?” and I’ve yet to hear the vendor say no.  Demos create an unhealthy dynamic.  The nonprofit has this antiquated system, and they really want the new system to solve their problems.  The salesman really wants you to buy their product.  Everybody in the room wants the same thing!  I submit that the nonprofit should assume that the new product doesn’t work until the vendor can prove it otherwise.  And if the vendor is the firm you hire to implement its product, it’s safe to say that that optimism may lead to challenges.  There are some ways to prevent these challenges, but that is another blog.

Because people just want to get started!

People don’t spend enough time planning.  I read once that every hour in planning saves eight hours in rework.  I am not sure how they arrived at the number, but experience has borne it out time and again.  As the saying goes, never enough time to plan, always enough time to do it over.  Perhaps people don’t associate planning with “getting things done.”  The urge to begin building the house often overrides the discipline of taking the time to finish the blueprints.  It’s a shame when they are halfway done building the house and realize they need a basement!

Come back next week for the final installment: Why Projects Fail, Part Three.