M02_03_DIG3521

6 Questions to Assess a Project Problem/Opportunity

[00:00:00.48] [BRIGHT TONES]

[00:00:04.34] [MUSIC PLAYING]

[00:00:13.02] Hey, what's up, everybody? Welcome back to class. And in this video, we're going
to go over six questions to assess a project problem or opportunity.

[00:00:23.46] Now, in previous videos inside of this module, inside of this sprint, as we're
calling it, we talked about the scope and scope triangle. We went over recently what project
management is, how do we define it, and attributes of a project manager. Now, in this class,
we're going to be talking about the first stages of when we come to a project, when a person
approaches us with a project. And what do we do? And what are the six questions that we need
to use to assess the project problem and opportunity that are there?

[00:00:56.59] All right, everybody. Let's jump right in. When someone comes to you with a
project, and again I'm using these words-- stakeholder, that might be a group of people that are
invested in the project. A group comes to you, a company comes to you, your leadership above
you comes to you and says, we would love to do this project. Where do you start?

[00:01:15.31] Well, if we look back on the previous classes we talked about, we first defined
what a project is. So you're already thinking about attributes you need to find from your client
that will make the project. So what do we do? We figure out the scope. Someone comes to you,
let's say Johnny.

[00:01:32.61] Johnny comes to me, Johnny Productions, and says, Tim, I'd like to make a video
game. And I'd love to make this video game about, let's see, a little bandicoot. Let's call him
Crash, Crash Bandicoot.

[00:01:45.87] And let's say he kind of runs on this 2D platformer. And I'd like Crash to get to the
end of the level. And there'd maybe be like 20 levels. And he's trying to save someone at the end
of the level. And he's got to fight the bosses. It'd be really cool.

[00:01:59.56] And so Johnny Productions is telling me about this Crash Bandicoot game that he
would like to build. So as a project manager, I need to stop, and I need to start running through
some of the things we've talked about in the previous classes, and start with, OK, what's the
scope? Johnny's told me a couple attributes.

[00:02:17.40] But now I need to know, when does Johnny need the project? How much money
might Johnny have? And how many resources are available to me? Then I can start to figure out,
OK, all the things that Johnny wants-- can I do it, based on the budget, the time, and the
resources?
[00:02:36.52] So that's the first step. You're sitting down with someone, and they start to tell you
these things. But how do you even know where to start? We have a conversation. We sit down.
Where do I even start the conversation? Well, the first thing that's on your mind that you need to
figure out is this. What is the problem that we are trying to solve?

[00:02:54.68] Johnny Productions comes to you, sits down. Hi. My name is Johnny. Hi, Johnny.
My name is Tim. I'm super excited to work on this project. Johnny, tell me what are you trying
to do? What are you looking to do?

[00:03:04.55] Now, when Johnny starts to describe what they're looking to do, I'm trying to
figure out, what is Johnny trying to solve? Is there an opportunity Johnny's trying to take
advantage of. So he wants to build this Crash Bandicoot game. Great. But what is he really trying
to solve?

[00:03:20.06] Maybe Johnny is trying to be the first to market with a 2D platformer. It's never
happened before. Maybe Johnny's trying to take advantage of a really cool new graphics card so
he has the most beautiful game ever. And he's going to sell a lot of games because of the 8K
nature of Crash Bandicoot.

[00:03:38.51] So what we're trying to do, the first question we need to figure out is, what is
Johnny trying to solve? Remember, business value, business value. Johnny's not trying to just
make a video game about a bandicoot. Johnny's got something deeper that we need to figure out.
So what business situation is being addressed here?

[00:03:55.45] So we need to figure out clearly defining this step. What is he trying to take
advantage of, opportunity? What's the problem? And when we come up with the problem, then
we can figure out solutions to the problem. But if we don't know the problem or opportunity,
we're kind of stuck.

[00:04:09.01] So before you go any further, you want to figure out, what is the problem
statement? So can be a problem that needs a solution or a potential opportunity, drives the next
step, and is very straightforward. We are looking for the problem statement here.

[00:04:23.71] So as a project manager, you might actually be taking notes. And you'd be writing
down, problem statement, we are looking to be the first game to market that does 8K 2D
platformer. The game would be called Crash Bandicoot. That's the problem, or that's the
opportunity. That's something we can look at.

[00:04:42.94] Now, with that in mind, now we can look at the second question. The second
question is this. How do we solve it?

[00:04:49.60] They want to be the first to market with an 8K 2D platformer called Crash
Bandicoot. So what does the business need to do to solve this? What do we need to do to solve
this? Is the solution easy?
[00:05:04.07] Well, what if it's not? What if it's hard? What if we don't even know the solution?
What if 8K 2D-platforming gaming hasn't even been discovered yet. It's a research-and-
development project then.

[00:05:15.20] Well, what if everybody in the world has already discovered 8K platforming, but
no one's done an 8K platforming 2D game called Crash Bandicoot? Those are different projects.
So we need to figure out the second question. How do we solve this? What's the business value?

[00:05:31.76] And then we ask the question, is it even worth it for the organization to take on
this endeavor? And we might have to choose through several options or paths on how to solve.
So let's reflect. What's the problem? We figure that out.

[00:05:45.77] And then we internally, as a team, figure out, how can we solve this? We might
have to come up with multiple options on how to solve this. So probably what you're going to do
with a team is, your team is going to go away and brainstorm and come up with cool ideas. OK,
he wants a 8K 2D platformer. What if the 2D platformer is in VR?

[00:06:05.03] What if the 2D platformer's on a phone? What if the 2D platformer is in a box,

with a fox, in a house, all that Dr. Seuss rhymey stuff. What if? You come up with all these
different options that your project could solve the problem or take advantage of the opportunity.
You follow me, OK.

[00:06:25.37] Now, we don't know if these solutions are good, bad, in the middle. We don't
know if they're the final solution. Our job is to figure out options and solutions. And then while
we're figuring out these potential solutions, we actually have to have a real moment and say,
look, we could do this option, but it would be so expensive. Is it even worth it for the company to
go forward in that way?

[00:06:46.93] Because the results-- we don't know the results. They're unknown. Or maybe we
do know the results. Maybe we've done it a million times, and it's super easy.

[00:06:54.53] So question number one-- what's question number one? What's the problem or
opportunity? We need to define it. It's called the problem statement.

[00:07:01.00] The second thing-- we need to figure out solutions. So we start coming up with
brainstorming ideas of solutions. And we might have a hundred solutions. Or we might have five
solutions for them.

[00:07:11.56] All right, and that leads us to the next one, which is this. What do you, as a project
manager, propose we, the client, do? So what do we do?

[00:07:23.50] You've got five great options. But what's the one path we choose to go forward?
All right. So we need a path. We need to select it. Do we go left or right, up or down?

[00:07:34.28] Now, each option may have multiple goals. So we might have to present this or
pitch this to our clients. Well, we could do a 2D platformer that does this, this, this and only has
five levels. But what we're really doing is we're showing the beauty of the 8K game resolution.
We have a cool bit depth and bit rate. It's going to be perfect. It's going to be awesome.

[00:07:52.92] But on this option, option two, not as high fidelity, not as high quality. We're still
getting the 8K resolution, but it's not as pretty. We have a few more levels, though. It's a little
longer.

[00:08:03.83] So what we're doing is we are creating and identifying the scope of work and the
deliverables in this stage. So we've got a couple different options. We pitch to them what we
propose they do. We're saying, hey, we've got five options. But we think the best one is this.
Let's go left.

[00:08:20.55] And then we tell them, left would include this scope of work. It would be these
deliverables. We would give you a game. And that game might be in the form of a executable
file. Or that game's deliverable might be on Steam. Or that game's deliverable might be a
Dropbox link at the end of the project.

[00:08:37.27] So let's recap. We figure out the problem or the opportunity. Step two, question
two-- what solutions are there? We internally come up with solutions. We figure out all-- we
brainstorm, come up with all the solutions.

[00:08:48.78] And then step three-- what do we pitch? What's the one way we choose to go? We
pitch it to them. We say, OK, we think this is the best way to do it. We think you're going to get
the best value, the business value. We think we have a pretty good idea of what possibilities
there could be.

[00:09:03.09] We see the scope of work. We figured out, OK, the scope triangle, the budget, the
cost. We have a good idea. This is what we're presenting.

[00:09:10.38] They say, great, we love that idea. That's awesome. It's going to cost $100,000. It's
going to take 10 months. You need this many resources. You've got the scope of work. We love
that.

[00:09:22.31] That leads us to the fourth question, which is, so, great, how are you going to do
it? The client says, we love that option. How are you going to do it? What's your plan? And this
stage is where we come up with a fully detailed plan. All right.

[00:09:38.76] Now, we may not know everything about the plan. Because there may be some
unknowns. We may have to do some research and development. We may have to do a process
that's more like A to B, B to C. Oh, we screwed up in C. Go back to B. We're trying to figure out
what C is, because we've never done it.

[00:09:53.26] So you may not know everything. But our goal here is to figure out, what are the
steps? What will it take? How much time, people, resources, budget, scheduling, communication
style, communication plan? What about contingency?
[00:10:07.17] Contingency might be things like, well, what if things go wrong? I'm planning to
go get ice cream this weekend because I'm going to the beach, and it's going to be really hot. And
I want ice cream. But what happens if it rains? Do I still get ice cream? Or should I go get soup
because it's really cold now, and it rained?

[00:10:23.85] I don't know. What's your contingency plan? Plan A, plan B, plan C-- what are
your options if something goes wrong?

[00:10:30.16] So in this stage, in this question, we start planning everything out. We figure out
all the steps it's going to take to move this thing forward. So we have this nice, beautiful, detailed
plan. By the way, we're going to go through all of this later in the class. You will be coming up
with some really cool plans for some really cool projects.

[00:10:47.53] OK. I love to recap. You know I do. What's the first step? What's the problem?
What's the opportunity?

[00:10:53.58] That leads us to the second step or question. I like-- let's say question. How are we
going to solve it? What are our options? So you come up with 1, 2, 3 4, 500th option.

[00:11:04.69] Great. That leads us to the third question. Which option do you propose? Tell us
your best-thought-out option. So you give us one. Client says, awesome, I love that. How are you
going to do it? What's the plan?

[00:11:18.11] And this leads us to the fifth question. How will you know when we're done? So
you've got the plan. You show us everything.

[00:11:26.40] Great. How do we actually know when we've reached the finish line? Projects
don't usually have a big tape that you run across with your hand stretched out and say, I made it.
And everybody gives you a medal. And you did it.

[00:11:38.76] Projects can be elusive with their deadlines. That can be elusive with what is a
good project and what is a bad project. We really need to define criteria for success. Now, you as
a project manager might think success means, I'm going to deliver a video game, Crash
Bandicoot, that's three levels, and it's a lot of fun.

[00:11:59.41] But the client may say, OK, great. I thought you were going to give me three
levels, but it was going to be online play, and that's why it's fun. And you say, no, no, no. I was
going to give you three levels because I thought fun meant a single-player game. I like single
player.

[00:12:11.52] And the client's like no, no, no. I like online play. That's what fun is. That's not a
clear success criteria. So we need to come up with clear goals, objectives, criteria to measure,
what does success look like? And all of those goals, criteria, objectives need to point to business
value.
[00:12:31.77] Now, these goals and objectives, and we're going to go into these later in the class,
need to be quantifiable. They need to be measurable. They're not qualitative in nature like, I liked
the quality of some-- like, that's got a very good quality to it. No. We're talking quantifiable, like
zeros and ones, five star rating versus four star rating.

[00:12:51.74] I can see how many five-star ratings this app got and how many three-star ratings.
That's quantifiable data, not just majority of people kind of liked it. It was a feeling. I can't
quantify that. We're looking for measurable, quantifiable results to understand if a project was
complete.

[00:13:08.39] Here's an example. This acronym, IRACIS, you're like, whoa, what is that? Read
the book. Check it out.

[00:13:14.84] But IR stands for a measurable way of looking at success. For example, in
business, it could be Increased Revenue, IR. So IR could be increased revenue. So what does that
mean? It means we know our project is successful.

[00:13:29.64] So, look, we turned in the project. Here's the game. We know it's successful if it
increases revenue streams for the company. Maybe that's one way we measure it. Now, that may
take some time to do. So it may not be the best thing.

[00:13:39.77] But, just as an example, if the company sells a lot of these games, it might be an
indicator that we did well. Or maybe it's our company. Maybe we're making a new product. We
work for Johnson & Johnson, and we're making new baby bath soap or something like that. How
do we know if the project was a hit?

[00:13:55.59] IR, increased revenue-- if it sells a lot of baby soap or something at Walmart,
great. That's a clear, quantifiable measurable.

[00:14:04.17] OK. The other one-- IR. Let's look at the second part of it, AC. AC-- Avoid Cost.
So maybe it's a project that helps us become more efficient so we reduce the cost of doing
something.

[00:14:17.04] For example, maybe in a video game, we need to do a project that builds a new
game engine. By the way, a game engine is a standardized platform that video games can be built
off of. Unity is a game engine. CRIWARE or Unreal Engine is a game engine. Rather than
building a game from the ground up, you can actually build it on top of an already-existing
engine to save you time.

[00:14:39.42] OK. So let's pause. What if we don't have a game engine? Or what if we have one,
but it could be refined because every time we do something, it takes us really long to do it? What
if our project was to increase or improve the game engine?

[00:14:51.99] Well, we're not going to sell more games. We're not going to increase revenue just
because we made our game engine better in house. But what we are going to do is avoid future
cost. Because when we build future games, it's going to take less time to do it. So we avoid costs.
That could be a success indicator.

[00:15:10.21] So we invest a million dollars into improving our game engine. At the end of the
day, it's not going to increase revenue. What it's going to do is reduce cost of building future
games. That could be an indicator.

[00:15:20.04] And the third one in that example, IRACIS-- rather than it being about selling
things or avoiding costs, it could be an improvement of service. So maybe an indicator is we've
increased our service to our clients or our customers. And ways we can check that-- let's go back
to the app store example.

[00:15:38.76] Five-star ratings for improved service, Yelp reviews, all of those things-- or Rotten
Tomatoes. All of those things are quantifiable results from surveys, from study groups, from
focus groups. All of that is stuff that's great feedback. Beta-testing, alpha-testing, all of that may
lead to improved service indicators. So that's just an example of ways we can answer this
question.

[00:16:00.69] OK. One more time, let's recap. There's only six questions. So we're at the last one.
The first one is what?

[00:16:06.36] That's right. What's the problem or opportunity? We've got to figure that out.
That's called the problem statement. We've got to figure it out right at the beginning.

[00:16:13.26] And then when we understand the problem statement, what do we do? We figure
out solutions. What is a solution or multiple solutions to that? We do brainstorming to come up
with ideas.

[00:16:23.07] Once we come up with those, what do we do? What's the one way to go forward?
What's the one idea that we're going to go for? And see if the client likes it.

[00:16:31.62] OK, great, the client likes it. They say, how are you going to do it? That's question
number four. How are you actually going to do it? What's your plan? How is it going to look?
What's your scheduling?

[00:16:40.17] Great. Number five, they're going to say, how do we know when we're done?
What are the success criteria? What are the measurables that indicate we've done a good job, and
the project is done.

[00:16:49.57] And finally, the sixth question-- how will we-- how well-- excuse me. How well
did you do it? So you did the project. We got our success criteria. We met them. The project was
successful. Awesome.

[00:17:04.21] How well did you do it? Are there things-- we met our goals. We met our criteria.
It increased revenue.
[00:17:13.05] But did we do the project as best we could? Could we have done it better next
time? Or, next time, will we do it better? Excuse me. So how'd it go?

[00:17:22.33] This is considered a review process. This is where we look back on the entire
project, and we assess, were we good? Were we efficient? Did we meet our goals? Were there
team goals?

[00:17:35.46] And you also celebrate. You say, wow, we did a great job. We look at our
victories. We look at our wins. We celebrate with our team the success that we took on. And we
also look at ways we can improve.

[00:17:47.38] So how well did you do deliverables meet our set criteria? How well did the
project team perform? How well did the project management approach work? Did we choose a
linear approach or an adaptive, agile approach?

[00:17:59.73] Which project management method did we use? Should we have used another
one? So in the future, when we do another Crash Bandicoot-style game, should we use the
bucket A type of project management classification or D project management classification, or
C, or B. Is there are ways we can improve?

[00:18:20.85] What are the lessons learned? And always ask why. We did a great job. We are the
best. Why did we do well?

[00:18:28.28] How did we do well? What are the things that made us successful? What are the
things that we can improve upon?

[00:18:35.84] This is called-- lean in, because we're going to use this word a lot. This is called a
retrospective, a retrospective. Retro-- we look back. Spective-- perspective. So retro-- past.
Spective-- it's the way you look.

[00:18:51.86] So to be introspective means to look inside. So retrospective means to look

backwards. So we're going to look back on our project to see, how well did we do? What are the
wins? And what are the wars? What are the things that didn't do too well?

[00:19:05.27] And we write all this stuff down. We close out the project with a strong review so
that every time we go forward, we get better and better. The team grows. The projects get more
successful.

[00:19:17.64] I know we've probably all done class projects. And majority of us have had group
projects that haven't gone so well. The best thing you can do is do a retrospective to close out a
project and say, where do we do well, and where did we not do well?

[00:19:30.92] Now, let me pause real quick, because I know a lot of you might be like, yes, I
would love to review why the project didn't do well. I'd like to stick it to the person who screwed
me over in a team project a couple semesters back. [GRUMBLES] They need to know. They
were bad. That was terrible.
[00:19:46.68] That's not really the point of a retrospective, by the way. You always need to
approach a retrospective through the lens of building us to be better. Now, that does mean we do
have to have real talks. But it also means you also have to come and force yourself to think about
things that did well, that went well.

[00:20:06.38] Build people up. I like to call it, and I know this sounds cheesy, the little
encouragement sandwich. Hit them with a compliment. Talk about things we can improve on.
Hit them with a compliment.

[00:20:13.85] Boom. Right there. Take a bite out of that. It's going to be great. It's going to be
scrumptious. It's going to be tasty, savory. Let it soak in. Mm.

[00:20:20.81] All right, y'all. We got our six questions. If you need a review, go back. We are
going to use these six questions as we vault forward into this class, and we start talking about
different stages of project management.

[00:20:33.84] So those six questions-- what problem are we solving, or opportunity? What's the
solution to this problem or multiple options? Then, question number three, which way do we use
to go forward?

[00:20:45.68] Question number four-- how do we do that? What's the plan? How are we going to
go forward?

[00:20:50.09] Number five-- how do we know when we're done? What are the success criteria?
And number six-- how do we review how well we did? Internal review.

[00:20:59.54] All right, everybody. Thanks for joining me in this video. I will see you all in the
next video. I hope you have a great day. Keep smiling. Things are going well. And I appreciate
you all sticking around in this module as we talked about scope, scope triangle, project and
project management, and project managers, and now finally the six questions to assess a problem
or opportunity.

[00:21:19.19] All right, y'all. I'll talk to you soon. Take it easy.

[00:21:21.17] [MUSIC PLAYING]