The Project Delivery Fantasy Draft

Fall in the South is a very special time.  The leaves begin to shift from their green finery into majestic earth tones.  The air starts to cool, as if Summer is getting ready to pack up until next year.  And most importantly, the annual Rite of Fall begins again – American Football.  (Sorry Soccer, but you just can’t hold a candle to ‘real’ football.)

Best of all, it’s available in both varieties:  professional and collegiate (here’s where I feel compelled to yell ‘Go Canes’ as loud as I can).  Nothing can seamlessly dominate a weekend like football coverage, starting with ESPN’s College Gameday on Saturday morning, and ending with Sunday Night Football on NBC late Sunday / early Monday.  Football invented the tailgate, popularized slow motion instant replay, and made John Madden a video game legend.  However, it also brought an innovation to fans and nerds alike that didn’t exist before: Fantasy Football leagues.

For the uninitiated, Fantasy Football is a phenomenon, part game, part analysis, based on the idea of creating the best team possible from a predefined pool of resources.  The intention is to bring together a combination of desired capabilities, outperforming the competition, and ultimately declaring victory over the forces working against you.  To construct your team, you need to understand the rules that your Fantasy Football League uses to assign points, selecting players whose talents will provide the highest output on a week-to-week basis.  You can adjust your lineup over time, and you can trade for new members if you see the opportunity to improve your team.  Sounds like running a project, doesn’t it?

So, fast forward to work and the challenges we face in IT.  This begs the question:  why is it so much easier to build a winning team in Fantasy Football than it is in Project Delivery?  Well, I’m glad I asked…

1. The Draft Process is different – When a Fantasy Leagues prepares for the season, all the owners get into a room and select team members on a rotating basis until the draft is over.  In the real world, though, PMs don’t have the luxury of having the entire pool available when they start a project.  They have to work with who is available when the project starts, based on roll-off dates, budgets and assignment constraints.
2. League rules fluctuate – Different Fantasy Leagues use different rules to assign points for individual performances that contribute to the weekly scoring system.  However, in the real world, statistical variation doesn’t really matter.  Everything is summed up in one direct binary question:  did you get the job done or not?
3. Fantasy Football has awesome performance metrics – In football, a wide variety of metrics are available depending on the player’s position.  Running backs have yards per carry, wide receivers have yards after contact, and quarterbacks have an assigned ‘rating system’.  There are no such personal performance metrics for developers, QA analysts or BAs.  I only wish there was an official statistician who tracked lines coded per hour, number of defects per test cycle executed, and scope creep rating.
4. Only elite talent is available – By its very definition, NFL players have to be in the top 1% of performers to make it as professionals.  They have competed at their positions throughout Pop Warner leagues, high school and college, honing their skills for years in a structured training system organized by a coaching staff.  IT professionals do not have a similar system for personal development.  At best, they have mentors who can provide suggestions for development, or possibly even roles that will grow their skill-sets.  There is no parallel to the coaching staffs of College or NFL teams.  And don’t even get me started on the concept of ‘elite performers only’…
5. Team dynamics don’t come into play in Fantasy Leagues – In the process of points assignment, all that matters is ‘hard statistics’ – touchdowns scored, yards gained, passes completed, or points allowed.  However, in the IT project world, team members have to work together and meld into a functioning unit that delivers solutions on an accelerated basis.  Delivery team members have to coordinate efforts, work together, and ‘make it happen’ as a unit, regardless of personality.  That’s often tougher than coaching up a Defense…

So, I guess that’s why they call it a Fantasy League.  Having a documented personal dossier filled with objective performance metrics on every available developer, tester, project manager, DBA, and business analyst just isn’t a realistic expectation.  And, if PMs could draft talent exclusively from a pool of elite talent, chances of project delivery success would be greatly improved.   Unfortunately, though, building a Fantasy delivery team will likely remain just that – a Fantasy.  Oh well – there’s always Madden 2011.  Good luck to everyone’s teams this year (except for those I hate).

Willard Woodrow is an Engagement Manager at MATRIX Resources. He has 15+ years of information technology experience in the utilities, recruiting, telecom, and insurance verticals. His professional expertise includes business consulting, system implementation, project management, application operations, and client relationship management.