The 2017 CIO Roadmap to Project Success_Final

The 2017 CIO Roadmap to
Project Success

Over the past several years, CIOs in the U.S. and across the globe have become
integral to the digital transformation process — with more CIOs now believing
they are trusted allies and partners of the CEO [1]
. But with greater prominence
and influence, comes greater responsibility — and accountability — for persons in
this important role.
Until recently, the metrics by which CIOs have been held accountable for
projects were relatively lax. However, as organizations shift to more digitally
mature entities — CIOs and their teams face increasing pressure for digital
initiatives to deliver both meaningful and measurable results. The impact on the
CIO role: Greater onus for project success — and that extends well beyond
delivering tech projects on time and on budget [2]
. Today, CIOs are much more
tied to accountability for user adoption or productivity metrics, which are key
hallmarks of successful digital innovation programs.
This shift in accountability for CIOs is already a part of the culture of some
companies. For example, Westpac Banking Corporation, an Australian bank and
financial services provider, holds both its CIO and CMO to similar standards for
project success. Westpac, which “is delivering one of the best ranked mobile
banking experiences in the world,” according to recent Forrester research
report, can attribute this success in part to the CIO’s accountability for user
adoption [2]
.
With this increased level of accountability, it’s important to develop tactics to
help ensure you, as CIO, stay ahead of the game.
Based on our experience at ChaiOne, working with dozens of clients on their
digital innovation initiatives, we’ve learned a thing or two about implementing
and executing successful projects. For CIOs specifically, we’ve determined
some of the most important aspects of their jobs in today’s enterprise
environment involve rethinking technology and architecture, while also
leveraging strategic partnerships and defined product development
approaches.
In this eBook, we’ll give you a few of our most valuable recommendations from
both a technical and a nontechnical perspective to help ensure the success of
your projects.
THE 2017 CIO ROADMAP TO PROJECT SUCCESS · 2
info@chaione.com · 888.316.0357

Rethinking Technology Management and Architecture
As enterprises become more digitally mature, digital ecosystem adoption will
increasingly drive the innovation programs for which CIOs are held
accountable. This shift to digital ecosystems will require CIOs to rethink their
approach to technology management and architecture in order to prevent their
companies from being digitally disrupted.
ChaiOne deﬁnes a digital ecosystem as a series of digital products tied
together via a platform, which solves a multitude of problems for a diverse
customer base with a common goal of making the business competitive.
Today, CIOs face a number of challenges when overseeing the creation of their
companies’ digital ecosystem. From a technical perspective, one of the biggest
challenges is ensuring application program interface (API) design and
management best practices are followed.
Research shows APIs, which serve as the foundation for digital ecosystems and
enable greater enterprise-wide agility, increase sales, net income and market
capitalization [3, 4, 5]
. Savvy CIOs know the business impact of APIs and are rapidly
adopting them as part of their digital innovation strategy.
Why Ecosystems Are Valuable to
Enterprise
The adoption of a digital ecosystem is key
to improving customer experiences and
stickiness and also streamlining business
processes for internal stakeholders
enterprise-wide. The digital ecosystem
achieves these goals largely by breaking
down traditional business silos —
delivering users both valuable and
relevant content from connected things,
people and devices.
ECOSYSYTEM IMAGE
DASHBOARD
iPad App
ibeacon
Firewall
Security
ibeacon
ibeacon
Geofence
VENDOR APP
iPhone
Work
Request

API Best Practices for Digital Ecosystem Projects
At the enterprise level, while the vast majority of CIOs understand the role of
APIs as architecture and as regulators, and their impact on the success of a
digital ecosystem, CIOs don’t always know the most appropriate API best
practices to enforce.
Below are three of the most important API best practices CIOs should work to
incorporate into their tech team’s development programs.
Create proper, well-formed API endpoints
For APIs to be consistent, each must have proper, well-formed endpoints. API
consistency is important to developers because it makes APIs easy and intuitive
to use. Without API consistency, it becomes very challenging for developers to
create interconnected components of a digital ecosystem, which can have a
serious impact on project timelines and, in some cases, the ultimate success of
the project. In large enterprises especially, APIs created using inconsistent
guidelines can result in serious challenges for tech teams to integrate the digital
products or ecosystems of one department with another — impacting
interoperability and platform stability.
At ChaiOne, to mitigate API consistency issues, we use Micosoft REST API
guidelines to help us write consistent API call URLS. We also use the JSON API
spec to help us be consistent with how data is sent once it is called. Both
Microsoft REST API guidelines and the JSON API spec are industry standard and
are easily accessible online for further review.

Generate good API documentation
Documentation is important because it gives developers all the information
they need to easily create an API. It also further enforces API consistency.
Poor documentation or no documentation can lead to a nightmarish experience
for developers — and also slow down the development process. As a result,
undocumented or poorly documented APIs are rarely used.
At a minimum, API documentation should include all the endpoints, inputs
information, headers information and response examples. Great
documentation, however, goes a little further — giving developers usage
examples. Usage examples are what help developers easily understand and
create APIs.
Ensure proper version management
Over time, most APIs will change. That’s why it’s important to have proper API
version management. Without proper API version management, a new API
version could be used that breaks for users still connected via the previous
version. The goal of any digital product or ecosystem is to ensure a good user
experience, and broken APIs hardly contribute to that. With a good API version
management system in place, you can ensure your developers stay abreast of
any new API versions and make the appropriate accommodations for all users
of the APIs.
As CIO, ensuring these API best practices are upheld will go a long way when it
comes to overseeing the successful development of your companies’ digital
ecosystem.
Impact of APIs on Industry
In the oil and gas and utilities industries,
in particular, digital ecosystems built on
top of stable cloud computing platforms
will be increasingly important to connect
stakeholders with valuable streaming
data from SCADA systems and the
industrial internet of things (IIoT).

Taking a Non-Technology-Driven Approach
It may seem counterintuitive, but it’s important to ensure your project isn’t
purely driven by technology.
While technology is the answer to the problem or business challenge, CIOs
need to modify their problem-solving approach to consider the needs of the
user first. By taking a close look at the actual needs of the user, you can better
select the technology solution or technology stack for the business challenge
resulting in a successful implementation of the project.
So, how can you take a more user-first approach instead of a technology-driven
approach? The answer: user experience (UX) research
While you’re likely familiar with the term UX and how it relates to the design of a
digital product, user experience research is a separate discipline.
ChaiOne defines user experience research as the collection or gathering of
information about a user and a user’s environmental context through a defined
set of processes and methodologies to create a list of requirements for a digital
solution.
Assume Nothing About the Problem You Want to Solve
One of the biggest mistakes a company can make in the digital innovation
process is to rely solely on the perceptions and assumptions of executives and
managers about how to solve a business challenge with technology.
To make strategic business decisions and avoid costly errors, CIOs need to rely
on data gathered from the front lines, the field, or the factory floor to develop a
digital innovation strategy.

Traditionally, business analysts have been utilized to provide insights into a
companies’ processes or systems, providing a list of requirements to execute a
digital solution. However, to keep pace in today’s dynamic digital enterprise
environment, CIOs need requirements backed by very specific user data —
something business analysis doesn’t account for.
With UX research — requirements are formed around the user’s needs, not the
business process. The way it works is UX researchers focus on examining a
person’s interactions in the context of their work or environment through
contextual inquiries. In doing so, the researcher leverages principles of
psychology and human factors training to gather insightful data that helps
define requirements for impactful digital solutions that ultimately solve the
business challenge.
When developing a digital solution at the enterprise-level, gathering deep
intelligence on your customers or workforce in the context of their work or
environment is key — because it typically reveals hidden areas for improvements
that may go unnoticed using other intelligence gathering methods. Even the
most minute details uncovered by UX research can have a serious impact on the
final requirements of a solution and, ultimately, its success or failure.
By leveraging UX research to define requirements for a project, the result is a
digital solution that meets the precise needs of the customer or workforce. The
overall benefit? A far lesser chance a company will need to scrap their digital
solution or redesign it due to low user adoption or nominal changes to business
Real World Relevance of Contextual
Inquiries
Consider a mobile solution for a lease
operator in the oil and gas industry to
more efficiently organize his workflow,
get ahead of equipment maintenance to
reduce downtime, etc. When he gets to
the lease site, does it make sense for him
to use a tablet or smart phone? Is the user
getting the most relevant information he
needs from the database to do his job
effectively? What aspect of the user’s
current process hinders his efficiency
most, and what is the best technology
solution to fix the problem? These are the
kinds of questions that are answered with
contextual inquiries. This important
intelligence can then be used to shape
the business requirements for the design
of an app or a complete digital
ecosystem — resulting in a more effective
final product.

For digital innovation programs, “shared metrics drive everyone in the same direction” — thereby strengthening the
connection of the CIO and his team to a project in terms of its overall success. So instead of feeling like work is being done
in a silo, the CIO and his team become aligned with the key performance indicators (KPIs) of other stakeholders who are
also accountable for a successful outcome.
Unfortunately, the reality at most companies is the KPIs are not closely aligned. The graph below excerpted from the
Forrester report “Define New Metrics for Digital Business Success,” illustrates how key stakeholders perceive their roles for
project metrics:
Aligning KPIs with Other Internal Stakeholders
For CIOs focused on improving customer experiences, aligning their key performance indicators (KPIs) to those of other
internal stakeholders, such as the CMO, will be increasingly important to achieving great customer experiences. Conversely,
CIOs focused on streamlining operations in industrial settings benefit greatly from aligning their KPIs to work more in
tandem with key internal stakeholders, such as COOs.
As CIO — your increasingly influential role — puts you in a position of helping to better align KPIs for your organization where
all key stakeholders responsible for a project have shared metrics to achieve a common goal of delivering a successful
project. By aligning your own KPIs to work in tandem with these stakeholders — you greatly increase the chances of project
success.
Using a Proven Product Development Strategy
One of the biggest time wasters for CIOs is trying to formulate a proven product development strategy from scratch.
However, by partnering with a firm that already has a product development strategy in place, you can greatly accelerate
your digital innovation program and chances of project success.
FORRESTER GRAPHFORRESTER GRAPH

The ChaiOne Product Development Strategy
At ChaiOne, we use an agile product development strategy to deliver digital products, platforms or ecosystems that
respond to the constantly changing market conditions or business dynamics of our clients.
The process for our strategy, as illustrated by the infographic below, promotes iterative design — moving a digital solution
back through the process funnel — until it meets certain usability standards.
By following this strategy model, we’re able to achieve a strong initial design for our clients that can be easily iterated on for
continuous improvement throughout the project lifecycle.
Measuring Project Success
When it comes to knowing if a project is going to be a success, the best way to do this is to put it to numbers.
That’s why, at ChaiOne, we use system usability scale (SUS) scores throughout various stages of our product development
process, to evaluate the effectiveness, efﬁciency and usefulness of the solution based on the user’s perception.
While the industry average for a SUS score is 68, at ChaiOne, we aim little higher — shooting for a ﬁnal SUS score of 80 or
better for our client’s digital solutions. The higher the SUS score, the better the chances are users will adopt it — resulting in
a successful project.
5D PROCESS
DISCOVER DEFINE DEPLOYDESIGN DEVELOP
• Project Charter
• Discovery Report
(personas,
preliminary insights)
• Indicative Wireframes
• Business Requirements
Document
• Technical Requirements
• Prototypes Wireframes
• Visual Composition
• Usability Testing Report
• Functional Software
• API Documentation
• UAT Plan
• User Guide
• Admin Guide
• Roll Out Plan
(training and
mentoring)
• Post
• Continued User Testing
• Refactor Wireframes
• Integrate Backload
• Build Releases

Leveraging Cross-Disciplinary Experience
Another important tip to help ensure the success of your project is to leverage
the knowledge of senior team members across the product development cycle.
For advanced digital innovation programs, this will typically include a
multidisciplinary team consisting of a project manager, researcher, designer
and developer.
At ChaiOne, we assign a multidisciplinary team to every project. This measure,
in combination with our proven product development strategy, has resulted in
the successful implementation of numerous digital innovation programs for
Fortune 500 companies in the oil and gas and utilities industries.
Ultimately, with CIO accountability increasing, there are several things you, can
do to remain at the top of your game at the enterprise level. By following some
of the recommendations we’ve given in this eBook, you can make the necessary
changes in your organization to ensure a successful project from start to finish.
Want to learn more tips about how to succeed with your digital innovations
program?
Read our whitepaper, Improve ROI with User Experience Research.
Have specific questions about your project for any of our Digital Strategists?
Call us at 888-316-0357 for a free 20-minute conversation.
The Impact of a Multidisciplinary Team
With a multidisciplinary team in place —
each discipline has a voice throughout
the product’s development cycle. So
instead of handing off a project from one
discipline to the next in stages, team
leadership from all disciplines actively
participate in each stage of the project
from beginning to end. Not only does this
help increase efficiencies both upstream
and downstream of the project, it also
creates a sense of joint ownership and
spurs collaboration among the different
disciplines. The result? A greater impact
from each discipline on the overall
project resulting in a more successful,
high-quality product.

References
1.Gartner, Inc. (2015). Building the Digital Platform: Insights from the 2016
Gartner CIO Agenda Report.
2.Forrester Research (2016). Deﬁne New Metrics for Digital Business Success.
Performance Management: The CIO Digital Business Transformation Playbook
3.Benzell, S., LaGarda, G., Van Alstyne, M. (2016). The Role of APIs in Firm
Performance. Boston University Questrom School of Business Research Paper
No. 2843326
4.Forrester Research (2016). Begin Your Journey to Digital Mastery.
5.Forrester Research (2013). Establish Your API Design Strategy. APIs are a Key
Embodiment of Your Digital Business.

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