Odoo's Chief Project Officer, Johan Wouters, presents the Odoo Implementation methodology and what every Partner should know about it

1. Project Methodology
Johan WOUTERS • Chief Project Officer
The Editor Stance
EXPERIENCE
2018

2. Context1
Findings
Practices
Question & Answers
2
3
4

3. Project Methodology
Drivers1

4. Drivers
● Components of our success
● Lead by example/share our
experience
● Accelerate growth
● Resource constraints
● Market expectations

5. — Steve JOBS
Simple can be harder than complex:
You have to work hard to get your thinking
clean to make it simple. But it’s worth in the
end, because once you get there, you can
move mountains.

6. Success!
• Product :
+ Outstanding usability
+ Competitive pricing
• Business model :
+ Community
+ Enterprise
• Delivery model:
+ Backdoor & frontdoor principle
+ Partners & editor

7. Simplicity drives Purpose
People
Practices
Product
Behavior
PMgt – MVP
Odoo Apps

8. Project Methodology
Findings2

9. Surprises?
+ Executive level: Odoo Value proposition holds
- Risk coverage takes precedence
- Data is paramount
- Middle management: dilution of change mgt practices
+ Definite advantage in implementation velocity
- Third parties dependencies increase uncertainty

10. Conventional Odoo
Focus Risk coverage Fast adoption
Advocacy Imposed Participative
Behavior Emulate Innovate
TCO Medium to high Low to medium
Customise Ensure coverage High Value

11. Project Methodology
Practices3

12. Criteria
● Sound MRR/NRR ratio
● Open for participative change (mindset)
● Build momentum
● Product defines need coverage (“how”)
● Growth potential

13. Our Mindset
PRIORITIES:
● The Client defines the business need (“what”; “why”)
● The way to satisfy is defined by the product / Odoo Consultant
● Our priority: the success of the project. We challenge users demand if value is uncertain
KEEPING THING SIMPLE:
● Deliver a software that covers all business flows and 80% of the expected features in a few
weeks, not months. This is the first deliverable, before any specific development.
● Project managers should be able to configure and customize the software. Avoid intermediaries
that are not experts in the product to make product or solutions decisions.
● Avoid custom developments if possible, launching them only when value is fully pertinent.
RESPONSIBILITIES:
● The responsibility of a project’s failure/success belongs to Odoo, not to the customer
● We assume this responsibility, and we do the implementation and product design decisions to
guarantee the success of the project and to save time to the client’s benefit.
● We question a customer demand that we think goes against these objectives.

14. Extended role of PMs
● Good decisions can save you days of work. On top of managing projects, they must be problem
solvers and experts in the product, and change management
● We invest in recruiting the best talent for the challenge and train them extensively, retaining
only the top performers.
● Even when you have the best project managers, they can still miss critical details. So, top Odoo
experts, external to the project, should review and challenge their work at critical steps of the
project.
The key success factor of any project

15. Phases
Presales
Needs + POC
Business Process Assessment (15%)
Full featured POC (15%)
Project implementation
Data import & developments (45%)
Test & training (10%)
Deployment Prep (10%)
LIVE + support +
Phase2
Client sessions (2.5%)
First assessment (2.5%)
JanYY AugYYMarYY MayYY JunYYFebYY
PM / BA
DEV
x x x
xx x
x
AprYY JulYY
Freez
e

16. Set Game Plan
● Construct Project Manifesto with client
● Have stakeholder participate
● Define R/R’s (e.g. client holds data quality
responsibility)
● Explicit opportunities/risks

17. Business needs.
● Compile relevant business needs
● Needs challenged by an Odoo expert
● Establish baseline according priorities
● Estimate phases & budget

18. Full Featured POC.
The majority of the project features are ready within a limited
timeframe:
● All business flows covered, 100% of screens, 80% of features
● No development
● No data imported (focus on representative test data)
● No integration with third-party software
● Demos to key users

19. How to “PoC”?
The majority of the project features are ready within a limited
timeframe:
● use Odoo native features/functions as baseline
● priorities driven by gap (feature/function) or value
● use Odoo Studio for rapid prototyping
● preset staging (Odoo.sh)
● integrated runbot testing (Odoo.sh)
● user profile/access rules testing (Odoo.sh)

20. Data import & development.
● Phasing: necessary vs optional developments
(parking lot principle)
● Data import using Odoo standard tools where
possible
● Velocity : sprints of 1 to 2 weeks, with key users
involved
● Integrate with 3rd party software

21. Funnel principle
Access
Rights
Scope
● Gradual adoption of scope &
advocacy by internal user community
● Where possible fine tune access rights
gradually
● Regularly affirm client warrants data
quality

22. Validation and training.
● Participative change management is key
● Train the trainer or All users (depending on
environment)
● Documentation = responsibility of key users

23. Go-live preparations
● Estimated time to stabilize: minimal 3 to 4 weeks
(freeze)
● Adoption level drives dry run cycles (e.g. accounting)
● Final data validation happens outside Odoo
● Client interface owners approve individual acceptance

24. People are
dramatically changing
how they live and work.
www.odoo.com

25. Project Methodology
Q&A3

26. Thank you.
#odooexperience
2018
Sharing experience
EXPERIENCE
2018

27. Step by step.
Project Scope User stories Validation Analysis
High level scope
to be established
Each theme of the
functional scope should
be filled with its user
stories (writing done by
the customer)
Prioritize the different user
stories using a rating (setting
priorities)
Workshops to present the user
stories and come to a common
understanding
Design hand in hand the main
flows (epics) upon which the user
stories are written
User stories assessment by Odoo in
order provide the customer with:
● A feasibility assessment
● A budget estimate for the
project
● A first version of the planning
(continuous planning due to
the agile methodology)
Assessment Phase