Crossing the Finish Line – The Final 10% of a Project

Ever heard of the 90 percent rule in computer programming? It’s attributed to Tom Cargill of Bell Labs. He states, “The first 90 percent of the code accounts for the first 90 percent of the development time. The remaining 10 percent of the code accounts for the other 90 percent of the development time.”

Although Cargill’s rule is about programming and how software development projects can be difficult to get over the finish line, it’s a useful analogy for non-programming or technical related projects as well.

The challenge is that often we easily get up to 90 percent of a project done — and then it’s all about pushing the project over the finish line to completion. Deadlines are important, to your clients and to your team. No one wants to be the cog in the wheel on dates. And when the finish line is in sight, that’s the time where you need focus.

The final 10% of a project is reminder of the importance of soft-skills with IT deployment. Without the ability to lead, manage a project and gather buy-in, technology programs will fall flat. This is why I was intrigued to see HP’s new approach to infrastructure management.

HP has developed HP OneView, the first software platform with a modern and integrated workspace for infrastructure management. This service is consumer-inspired and simplifies infrastructure management. HP OneView allows administrators to consider how people work – and changes the way organizations can deploy and manage their environments – which will increase productivity, decrease costs and scale as needed.

HP has identified three areas that government can work on to make the experience better for everybody involved, and the ways OneView can help, which HP highlights in their report, Bridging the IT Gap.

1. A consumer-inspired user experience: “To understand why and how infrastructure management interfaces need to change, look no further than your smartphone and its simple, intuitive user interface that works in tandem with user-friendly apps to take the complexity out of tasks. Whether you’re tracking current news stories, connecting with groups of people, or searching through millions of web pages, it’s all easy.”

2. A software-defined architecture: “A software-defined approach to IT infrastructure management shifts your organization from manual processes to template-driven automated processes that reduce the cost and time required to deliver IT services. Template-driven processes also drive consistency and accuracy in the way tasks are carried out—time after time. With the right tools in place, junior staff can execute like senior experts.”

3. An open, extensible platform: “In today’s data centers, IT professionals spend too much time wrestling with the complexities of integrating and customizing management tools to the way the enterprise works. To move beyond this drain on resources, you need modern ways to integrate and customize your tools—using open platforms and RESTful APIs.”

For any IT initiative, these three areas are essential for government to explore. By doing so, they can assure they’re providing the high quality level of service that citizens deserve.

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	HP’s mission is to invent technologies and services that drive business value, create social benefit and improve the lives of customers — with a focus on affecting the greatest number of people possible. Check out their HP for Gov group on GovLoop.