Project Management

According to the well-known “Chaos” research by The Standish Group, nearly half of all software development projects are seriously challenged, less than a quarter fails and only the small remainder succeeds. Projects concentrating on the deployment of IT infrastructures don’t seem to succeed more often, too. Needless to say, management of existing IT operations tends to be very expensive and only rarely users are fully satisfied with their company’s IT. Why? There are many reasons such as: disconnect between business and technology, separation of project goal from employees’ function, lack of common language, individuals not working as teams or perhaps the use of inflexible or uncommon processes. The answer comes in the form of a framework of best practices that concentrates on people and processes, not just the technology.

Our consultants have a lot of experience in solving those problems by applying well-tested and successful frameworks and methodologies. We specialise in MSF (Microsoft Solutions Framework) for both Software Development and its lesser-known version for Infrastructure Deployment. This modern and extremely flexible approach has been the secret of the success of many companies, including, of course, its creators.

On the operational side, we advise on MOF (Microsoft Operations Framework) which is closely related to ITIL (IT Infrastructure Library). Mr Rafal Lukawiecki is currently writing a book on MSF together with Mr David Preedy of Gainsford Associates (formerly an MSF champion at Microsoft).

The biggest projects on which our consultants worked while at Project Botticelli or at their previous employers included a deployment of Microsoft Exchange and SMS servers to over 80000 users at a large healthcare provider in US as well as creating agile software for one of the world’s biggest corporate finance banks.

Our services in this area of expertise include: training on the frameworks, consulting on adapting and adopting them within your organisation, analysis and board-level briefings on re-organising your company based on the frameworks, providing risk evaluation and planning for your IT projects, and health-checking them to make sure they are following a correct path. As we concentrate on high-value intensive short-term consulting, if you need day-to-day project managers for longer-term work we will be happy to recommend one of our associated partner companies.