From Framework To Value

One of CCR's Senior Engineers often says, 'If it's everybody's job, then nobody does it.' This highlights why a framework is critical and why we have the CCR Value Maximization Process for cloud cost recovery.

What Is a Process Framework?

Let us get on the same page. For this article and CCR, a process framework outlines the necessary steps and guidelines for an organization to efficiently and effectively achieve its goals. At CCR, our aim is managing change while eliminating cost in order to add business value. This ensures the process benefits all teams involved.

When Do You Need a Framework?

A need arises when productive discussions become challenging due to the number of people involved. And that number is 7. Here are a few reasons I pick 7:

• The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two principle
• SCRUM's ideal team size started at 7 +/- 2 members now is 6 +/- 3
• Jeff Bezos's Two Pizza Rule,
• CCR experience is when a team is larger than 7, prepare to split

Each of these puts the maximum number at nine people. If you are planning to grow your team, it is essential to start implementing a framework before you need it. Otherwise, you will encounter difficulties managing your success. Beginning at 7 people on a growing team gives you time.

You need a framework to ensure leaders and individual contributors are all moving toward the same goal.

What is the worst that can happen?

The worst that can happen is pretty severe. The project is defunded, and everybody goes home. Project launches and fails horribly.

Two of the worst failures:

Hertz Website Redesign by Accenture, resulting in a $32 million lawsuit

Bridgestone's ERP project with IBM resulted in a $600 million lawsuit

What Can Happen Without a Framework?

Let's look at some specifics of what can go wrong in a project without a good framework.

Coordination of Effort:

In the absence of a process framework, teams often work in isolation, unaware of the broader implications of their actions on the organization's objectives. This siloed approach breeds inefficiencies, as there's little synergy between departments. The lack of coordinated effort can lead to redundant work, missed opportunities for collaboration, and, ultimately, a slower pace of innovation and growth. Establishing a clear process framework facilitates communication and collaboration across teams, ensuring everyone works towards a common goal with a unified strategy.

The CCR Framework lets us coordinate efforts regards of methodologies such as Scrum, Kanban, XP, and even Waterfall.

Prioritization:

Without a defined process, setting priorities becomes a subjective decision, varying widely among different team leaders or managers. This subjectivity can result in crucial projects being sidelined for less important ones simply due to individual perceptions of urgency or importance. A process framework introduces objective criteria for prioritization, aligning tasks with the organization's strategic goals and ensuring that resources are allocated efficiently to drive the most value.

The CCR Framework allows us to collaborate with our clients to prioritize the projects that will yield the greatest cost recovery and the largest increase in business value.

Fixing Problems:

Problem-solving in an environment without a structured process is often reactive and inconsistent. Issues may be temporarily patched rather than fundamentally resolved, leading to recurrent problems that drain time and resources. Moreover, without a process to systematically address issues, some problems might go unnoticed until they escalate significantly, compromising project success and overall productivity. A robust process framework provides mechanisms for early detection, proper escalation, and thorough resolution of issues, enhancing the organization's resilience and adaptability.

The CCR Framework allows us to adapt our sustainable services to changing needs.

Creating a Vision:

Crafting and communicating a compelling vision is paramount for steering an organization toward long-term success. Without a process framework, this vision might be inconsistently interpreted or applied across different teams, causing strategic misalignment and fragmented efforts. A process framework ensures that the organization's vision is clearly defined, understood, and integrated into every aspect of operations, guiding decision-making and keeping all teams aligned with the overarching objectives.

The CCR Framework creates business cases that communicate the vision captured from engagement to acceptance.

How Do We Get to the Vision:

The journey toward realizing an organization's vision can be fraught with obstacles and diversions, especially without a guiding process. Teams might employ varying strategies and methodologies, diluting the collective effort and making it challenging to achieve cohesive progress toward shared goals. A process framework maps out a coherent path to the vision, detailing steps, responsibilities, and checkpoints, ensuring that all efforts are harmoniously directed toward the desired future state.

The CCR framework utilizes client inputs to develop a clear vision for each business case.

Who Is Doing What:

Without transparent processes, the delineation of responsibilities can become blurred, leading to overlapping efforts among teams and confusion regarding accountability. This is particularly problematic in settings with feature teams, where the boundaries of tasks and roles are more fluid. The inefficiency resulting from duplicated efforts not only wastes valuable resources but also creates the potential for conflict and dissatisfaction among team members. Implementing a process framework establishes clear roles and responsibilities, promoting efficiency, harmony, and clarity throughout the organization.

The CCR Framework breaks down business cases so each team involved from CCR, our client, or a third party knows their contribution.

Communication Breakdown:

Without a process framework, communication among team members and between departments can become fragmented and inconsistent. This lack of structured communication can lead to misunderstandings, missed deadlines, and key information falling through the cracks. Effective communication is the backbone of any successful project, and a process framework ensures clear channels and protocols for sharing information, thereby reducing errors and aligning efforts.

The CCR Framework is a comprehensive process management system that provides clear guidelines for communication, collaboration, and resource allocation.

Resource Misallocation:

In the absence of a structured process, allocating resources—whether they be time, personnel, or budget—becomes a game of guesswork rather than a strategic decision. This can result in critical projects being under-resourced while less important tasks consume disproportionate amounts of valuable assets. A process framework provides a systematic approach to resource allocation, ensuring that every project receives the attention and resources it needs to succeed based on its importance and potential impact on the business.

The CCR Framework is an effective tool in capturing value in each business case, by accounting for resources and effort.

Inability to Scale:

Organizations may find it challenging to scale their operations efficiently as they grow without a framework. Processes that work for a small team or a handful of projects might become unmanageable at a larger scale, leading to bottlenecks and inefficiencies. A well-defined process framework is scalable; it grows with the organization, ensuring increased complexity does not hinder performance or productivity.

The CCR Framework is lightweight enough to handle a single recover project and flexible enough to manage 100's of contributors.

Lack of Accountability:

When there is no clear process in place, it becomes challenging to hold individuals or teams accountable for their contributions, or lack thereof, towards the goals of the organization. This can lead to a culture of complacency and discourage proactive problem-solving and innovation. A process framework establishes clear expectations and accountability mechanisms, motivating everyone to contribute their best efforts towards the organization's success.

Any recovery or optimization comes with change, and the CCR Framework manages expectations and accountability to ensure that CCR delivers that change.

The CCR Solution:

At CCR, we have our Value Maximization Process, VMP, and our Strategic Evaluation Framework, SEF, built around business cases. They are designed to streamline coordination, clarify prioritization, enhance problem resolution, unify vision, ensure aligned action toward goals, and clearly define roles and responsibilities.

To learn more about how our framework can transform your approach to managing change and significantly enhance your business value, continue to our Value Maximization Process page and join us in redefining efficiency and effectiveness in project execution for strategic initiatives. Cloud Cost Recovery is our business, and applying a process framework is the model.