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I want to be very clear about what I consider a JDI. Even though a project is a JDI it needs to go through a process of Define, Measure, Improve and Control. When I say that I am speaking of a thought process not some inane tool checklist that some MBB sat in a corner and noodled because they it was all a good idea.
Even in a JDI it needs definition. What are you doing? You may know but when you get to the end and nobody can figure out what you just did it always helps to say here was my problem statement. That doesn’t mean a problem statement that some MBB or Deployment Leader reviews 50 time because they don’t have anything to do.
You need to Measure the problem. Baseline it so when you get done you can say I took it from here to here. If you just did a News Years resolution to lose weight which I did, the first thing you do is weigh yourself. Why? It makes sense.
If it is a JDI you shouldn’t need to analyze it. Why? You determined it was a JDI because you knew the solution or at least you thought you did.
You need to Improve something. This is just common sense. If you don’t improve it then it stays the same. It is a project so it needs to change. This where Measure comes in handy just in case your idea is wrong. You have some data to tell you it is wrong.
Control is always necessary. We repeat fixing problems because we don’t take the time to control what we just “fixed.”
I had a customer that required people to log their JDI projects into my project tracking software. All I did was log them. People were free to do whatever they wanted because it wasn’t one of my projects. Here is the piece of information we came out with JDI projects become JNGD projects. That is Just Never Get Done. They have no structure and they have no real review, budget, mentoring, etc. so eventually nobody care and nothing happens. Why do people like JDI projects? They traditionally don’t do anything and nobody cares because that is the way it has always been done.
Just my opinion