Here are some of the lessons I’ve learned over the last couple of years working in V6:1. Be sure you have the right people. We’re in the construction industry. Do you have the technical people to do the implementation? You need people who like to customize software. People who are already writing Autocad code or excel macros. People who understand what is possible.
2. Allow enough time. I allowed 1 year to fully understand how we wanted to implement the software. It took 2 years. You can probably shorten this time period by hiring someone who knows your business to help with the implementation. At the time, no one was using the program for what we were doing. There was a huge learning curve.
3. Start small. Work on one department at a time. You will have issues and it is harder to get a lot of people to buy in when things go wrong. Your technical people will understand you are in beta and stay the course, but less technical people will have no patience for software with bugs. And they will be vocal. And you’ll have your boss or peers asking you lots of questions. Not everyone wants you to succeed. Sorry, it’s true.
October 2, 2010
