1. 1
PMINEO chapter meeting program
June 17, 2015
Project of the Year for 2014
Vita-Mix Germany eShop
Presented by Bob Zoller
PMP, PMI-ACP, CSM, ITIL
RLZoller@gmail.com

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PMINEO Annual Awards
PMINEO Project Management Excellence
 Recognizes an individual demonstrating significant contributions
and continual commitment to the Project Management profession
 2014 winner: Christy Laird of Progressive and PMINEO programs
PMINEO Project of the Year
Award criteria:
 Met or exceeded owner or client needs
 Applied project management techniques in an original way
 Advanced the technical aspects and image of project management
Project of the Year for 2014: Vita-Mix Germany eShop
 Outstanding timeline performance to satisfy a business need
 Used a combination of Waterfall and Agile to meet the schedule

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Agenda
1) Background of Vita-Mix
2) Background of Germany eShop
3) Project Scope
4) Project Team and Partners
5) Project Methodology (*)
6) Project Timeline
7) Project Tools
8) Timeline Reduction (*)
9) Project Success Factors & Lessons Learned
10) Closing
Vita-Mix presentation agenda
(*) Take-aways for Project Managers:
(5) Project Methodology - hybrid
(8) Timeline Reduction
(--) Overseas project items

4. 4
Agenda
1) Background of Vita-Mix
2) Background of Germany eShop
3) Project Scope
4) Project Team and Partners
5) Project Methodology (*)
6) Project Timeline
7) Project Tools
8) Timeline Reduction (*)
9) Project Success Factors & Lessons Learned
10) Closing
who, what, why
(*) Take-aways for Project Managers:
(5) Project Methodology - hybrid
(8) Timeline Reduction
(--) Overseas project items

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(1) Background of Vita-Mix
Vita-Mix
 Cleveland-based kitchen products company since 1921
 Today: premium blending equipment for home and business
 High growth from healthy eating trend, and “foodies”
 Organization including IT has high growth (new staff)
 Growing overseas, focus on “Tier 1” countries (high income)
Marketing Strategy
 Retail Partners
 Online with www.vitamix.com, and some country-specific sites
Country-specific sites
 Vita-Mix IT capacity sets pace for country site development

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(2) Background of Germany eShop
Plan “A” for marketing to Germany, as of Fall of 2013
 Continue recruiting retailers through 2013 and 2014
 IT: deploy German eShop in later 2014 (after UK, Ireland)
 Management: German eShop in late 2014 is unacceptable

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(2) Background of Germany eShop
Plan “B” for marketing to Germany, on December 2, 2013
…
 Vita-Mix IT teams remains on UK, Ireland web sites
 Find IT subcontractor and deploy German eShop in 2014 Q1
 Note “Ambiente” trade show in February 2014, so…..
 Target: deploy temporary eShop by January 31, 2014
 Timeline of 2 months is half of typical German eShop project.

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(3) Project Scope
Germany eShop, firm scope
 eShop dedicated to German market
 Offer (18) items: blenders, accessories, cookbooks
 German language products exist, for retail
 Purchase using shopping cart and credit card
 Comply with strict German laws for consumer data privacy
 Web site content and documents in German
 Communicate with customers and Vita-Mix systems

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(3) Project Scope
Sample
category page,
from
Vitamix.com
Click on a unit
to see unit
detail page.

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(3) Project Scope
Sample unit
detail page.
Click on
“Add to Cart”:
 Enter/validate
address
 Enter/approve
credit card
 Generate
confirmation
email
German marketing:
avoid implied
warranty.

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(3) Project Scope
.

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(4) Project Team and Partners
Return to (5) Methodology, Factors

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Agenda
1) Background of Vita-Mix
2) Background of Germany eShop
3) Project Scope
4) Project Team and Partners
5) Project Methodology (*)
6) Project Timeline
7) Project Tools
8) Timeline Reduction (*)
9) Project Success Factors & Lessons Learned
10) Closing
who, what, why
how and when
(*) Take-aways for Project Managers:
(5) Project Methodology - hybrid
(8) Timeline Reduction
(--) Overseas project items

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(5) Project Methodology
Choose: Agile, Waterfall, or Hybrid ?
Factors:
 Limited shared team experience with Agile
Link: (4) Project Team
 Short timeline (4 week core development time; 9 weeks total)
Agile
 Not a good fit for a new process on short timeline
 Fixed project scope makes re-prioritization unnecessary

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(5) Project Methodology
Choose: Agile, Waterfall, or Hybrid ?
Waterfall
 Highly serialized (non-overlapping) phases poor for timeline
 Web site requirements not complete until week 5 of 9 weeks
 Waterfall style for this project must be heavily overlapped

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(5) Project Methodology
Choose: Agile, Waterfall, or Hybrid ? Use Hybrid:
This slide shows standardized
iteration structure & timing.
Vita-Mix eShop followed this
pattern loosely, with variation
in timing of subsections.
Return 8 (A) Progressive Elaboration

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(6) Project Timeline
Note dual critical paths for: (A) Systems, (B) Partner Setup
Week start: Dec 2 - Dec 9 - Dec 16 - Dec 23 - Dec 30 - Jan 6 - Jan 13 - Jan 20 - Jan 27 -
Week end: - Dec 6 - Dec 13 - Dec 20 - Dec 27 - Jan 3 - Jan 10 - Jan 17 - Jan 24 - Jan 31
Timeline for Systems
Reqmts & Page Layouts Create, Approve
Design Site Processing Data privacy; Inventory; shopping cart with pricing, tax
Backoffice Order processing; warehouse; shipping
Product Products Products, categories, pricing
Content Translate Translate Load Update
Legal Site legal notices Wrrty; Privacy; Terms Translate Load
Email templates Order conf; Ship Translate Load
US Site Integrate US/DE Link to/from US site (repair shops); "imprint"Load
Backoffice Order process Analysis (banking, order coding) Setup Test Load Prod
Shipping Analysis (warehouse; shipping) Setup Test Load Prod
Testing Approve, Test Parallel with development Integrate Approve
eShop Platform Setup: Magento, PayOne, Concardis Load Prod Approve Go
Page content Categories, Products, Legal Load Prod Approve Go
Processing Inventory; order; tax; ship; emails Load Prod Approve Go
Timeline for Partner Setup
Acquire Vita-Mix tasks Identify Partners Negotiate contracts; make administrative setups
Partners Legal work Negotiate contracts with four new vendors
New D&B (IT) Ltr of Und Contract (phased payment, penalties)
Partners PayOne (credit) Contract (fee issues; admin setup)
Concardis (pay) Contract (banking lag issue; admin setup)
DomFact (host) Interim via D&B Contract (Privacy)
Holidays
(A)
(B)
Jan29

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(6) Project Timeline
Critical Path: (A) Systems work – weeks 1 to 7
Week start: Dec 2 - Dec 9 - Dec 16 - Dec 23 - Dec 30 - Jan 6 - Jan 13 -
Week end: - Dec 6 - Dec 13 - Dec 20 - Dec 27 - Jan 3 - Jan 10 - Jan 17
Timeline for Systems
Reqmts & Page Layouts Create, Approve
Design Site Processing Data privacy; Inventory; shopping cart with pricing, tax
Backoffice Order processing; warehouse; shipping
Product Products Products, categories, pricing
Content Translate Translate Load Update
Legal Site legal notices Wrrty; Privacy; Terms Translate Load
Email templates Order conf; Ship Translate Load
US Site Integrate US/DE Link to/from US site (repair shops); "imprint"Load
Backoffice Order process Analysis (banking, order coding) Setup Test
Shipping Analysis (warehouse; shipping) Setup Test
Testing Approve, Test Parallel with development Integrate
eShop Platform Setup: Magento, PayOne, Concardis Load Prod
Page content Categories, Products, Legal Load Prod
Processing Inventory; order; tax; ship; emails Load Prod
Holidays
Overseas project notes: translation issues; “imprint”; navigation notifications

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(6) Project Timeline
Critical Path: (B) Partner Setup – weeks 1 to 7
Week start: Dec 2 - Dec 9 - Dec 16 - Dec 23 - Dec 30 - Jan 6 - Jan 13 -
Week end: - Dec 6 - Dec 13 - Dec 20 - Dec 27 - Jan 3 - Jan 10 - Jan 17
Timeline for Partner Setup
Acquire Vita-Mix tasks Identify Partners Negotiate contracts; make administrative setups
Partners Legal work Negotiate contracts with four new vendors
New D&B (IT) Ltr of Und Contract (phased payment, penalties)
Partners PayOne (credit) Contract (fee issues; admin setup)
Concardis (pay) Contract (banking lag issue; admin setup)
DomFact (host) Interim via D&B Cont (Priv)
Holidays
Overseas project note: most vendor paperwork was in German (standard
contracts, pricing lists, Service Level agreements).

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(7) Project Tools
 Project documents: Vita-Mix sharepoint site
 Typical core project documents, in MS-Word, MS-Excel
 Schedule.xls; Risk/Issue/Action.xls; Requirements.doc
 Technical Development: “Magento” eShop platform
 WiTopia software for German IP address simulation
 Bug-tracking: Mantis internet-based tool (D&B standard)

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(8) Timeline Reduction
Timeline Reduction Methods Used in eShop project
 Team used a collection of timeline reduction methods
 Nothing revolutionary, just a constant focus on timeline
 Types:
(A) Compress Waterfall Plus Agile
(B) Minimize Deliverables
(C) Minimize Time Delays

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(8) Timeline Reduction
(A) Compress Waterfall Plus Agile
…
Fast-tracking = compress by overlapped phases (in parallel)
 Shortens timeline, increases risk of errors and rework
Agile techniques to reduce risk:
 Empowered self-organizing teams
 Address issues without time for management involvement
 Minimal formal expectations, only a weekly status
 Daily team meetings
 Status 8:30-9:00am EST: core Vita-Mix and D&B (IT)
 Minimal time lost (1 day) if go off-course.

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(8) Timeline Reduction
(A) Compress Waterfall Plus Agile (continued)
…
 Progressive Elaboration (hybrid: red, green, blue, yellow)
 Define requirements overall at high level as framework
 Define requirements and develop sections progressively
 Link: (5) Methodology: Hybrid
 Frequent direct collaboration, light documentation
 Ex: for requirements session for function “X”
 Include all voices and decision-makers in one session
 Goal: define and approve requirements in one session
 Early and frequent testing and validation
 Informal validation of IT WIP during daily meeting
 Perform at least pre-test for each function as available.

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(8) Timeline Reduction
(B) Minimize Deliverables
…
 Focus on “external” or “required” deliverables
 Minimize “internal” team deliverables
Example:
 Select team members with needed skills (avoid training)
 The Lead BA on the project was web specialist
 BA work needed on Ordering and Shipping in VMix systems
 BA for Order processing, for analysis & accounting setup
 BA for Shipping, for analysis and system setup.

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(8) Timeline Reduction
(B) Minimize Deliverables (continued)
…
Examples (continued)
 Use known/proven tools (avoid learning curve, integration time)
 Magento/PayOne/Concardis were proven integrated tools
 PayOne chosen over Chase, to avoid technical integration
 German law firm as proxy for Vita-Mix (eliminate translations)
 German attorney summarized German documents for US
 Redlining was done directly in German documents
 Use partners with existing relationships (mutual knowledge)
 Use partners who know each other and ready to start work.

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(8) Timeline Reduction
(C) Minimize time delays
…
 Use backups for critical path resources
 Martin Bielke (account manager at PayOne) out for holidays
 Bielke found backup resource to continue PayOne, Concardis
 Use partners with existing relationships (mutual trust)
 D&B with Letter of Understanding (with unknown Vita-mix)
 Existing relationship of D&B and K&H was incentive for D&B
 Relax standards to reduce wait time
 Vita-Mix marketing allowed use of “pasted” logo file
 Vita-Mix finance allowed Payone, Concardis (not Chase).

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Agenda
1) Background of Vita-Mix
2) Background of Germany eShop
3) Project Scope
4) Project Team and Partners
5) Project Methodology (*)
6) Project Timeline
7) Project Tools
8) Timeline Reduction (*)
9) Project Success Factors & Lessons Learned
10) Closing
who, what, why
how and when
conclusion
(*) Take-aways for Project Managers:
(5) Project Methodology - hybrid
(8) Timeline Reduction
(--) Overseas project items

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(9) Project Success Factors & Lessons Learned
Project Success Factors
 Clear scope and priority provided focus
 Decision criteria usually simple: what is fastest option?
 Strong sponsors (IT and marketing)
 Provided resources: international staff, multiple BA
 Resources available as needed, full-time or otherwise
 All team members were experts in their role
 Tight timeline forced cooperation and trust and focus
 Existing Vitamix.com provided scope example

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(9) Project Success Factors & Lessons Learned
Project Lessons Learned
 High cost of specialty legal services; minimal budget planning
 Get estimates earlier at least as FYI (large legal expense)
 Translation (and all project deliverables) should be validated
 Allow time for validation
 Get internet-based project document site for access by all
 The Vita-Mix based site required document coordination
 Contract negotiation with D&B – ran long; posed a risk
 Mitigated by D&B incentives with partnership with K&H

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(10) Closing
 Q&A
 Standing Ovation

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