Database Reference
In-Depth Information
and treat a project as the first step of a more strategic initiative, rather than as a
standalone initiative. It is critical to view projects as part of a longer-term journey,
especially if executing projects in an organization that is new to Data Science and
may not have embarked on the optimum datasets to support robust analyses up to
this point.
Ensure the project team has the right mix of domain experts, customers, analytic
talent, and project management to be effective. In addition, evaluate how much
time is needed and if the team has the right breadth and depth of skills.
After taking inventory of the tools, technology, data, and people, consider if the
team has sufficient resources to succeed on this project, or if additional resources
are needed. Negotiating for resources at the outset of the project, while scoping
the goals, objectives, and feasibility, is generally more useful than later in the
process and ensures sufficient time to execute it properly. Project managers and
key stakeholders have better success negotiating for the right resources at this
stage rather than later once the project is underway.
2.2.3 Framing the Problem
Framing the problem well is critical to the success of the project.
Framing
is
the process of stating the analytics problem to be solved. At this point, it is a
best practice to write down the problem statement and share it with the key
stakeholders. Each team member may hear slightly different things related to the
needs and the problem and have somewhat different ideas of possible solutions.
For these reasons, it is crucial to state the analytics problem, as well as why and to
whom it is important. Essentially, the team needs to clearly articulate the current
situation and its main challenges.
As part of this activity, it is important to identify the main objectives of the project,
identify what needs to be achieved in business terms, and identify what needs to
be done to meet the needs. Additionally, consider the objectives and the success
criteria for the project. What is the team attempting to achieve by doing the project,
and what will be considered “good enough” as an outcome of the project? This is
critical to document and share with the project team and key stakeholders. It is
best practice to share the statement of goals and success criteria with the team and
confirm alignment with the project sponsor's expectations.
Perhaps equally important is to establish failure criteria. Most people doing
projects prefer only to think of the success criteria and what the conditions will
look like when the participants are successful. However, this is almost taking a
