Rolling, Rolling, Rolling...Keep that IT Rolling!

I am currently acting as project manager/local design lead for the Japan phase of a clients' global roll-out of WMOS, Manhattan's world leading software package for warehouse management. Being the third site of the total roll-out, I feel the whole implementation is like a cattle drive across the American plains. You start off with a decent sized herd, get it disciplined and moving at the right pace. But along the way you are tasked with integrating smaller herds of all sorts, and it strains your ranch hands as you try to keep the new pieces together with the old. You try to use any standard methods you established at the beginning, but there are inevitable gaps along the way. Some locals don't care for you too much; pitfalls are just around the corner ready to throw a monkeywrench into your operation. In the end, it's the team and their experience that keeps the herd together, moving toward its destination. I am basically a ranch hand helping integrate a new herd in my area, but going onto my next task after the whole herd moves on to new country...

Over the next few days, weeks, or months I plan to share some ground-level perspective on the execution of a global IT roll-out and my goal is to utilize these captured thoughts towards the creation of an ideal global, roll-out framework that can be used for any client. Because I still have much to learn in this regards, I look forward to pulling references from various sources to synthesize and further develop such a model.

Comments

[Larry dunbar]

Nice imagery. Get'em up move'em out, Rawhide!