From Cutting Board to Cutover: Applying cooking lessons to ERP Consulting.

I love cooking.
This started as a necessity since I am a vegetarian (occasionally I eat eggs) and I have to travel abroad for work. My travel is often 2 to 3 months at a stretch and I have to cook my food to survive.
Of course cooking is relaxing as well.
Recently I re-discovered the joy of cooking.
The catalyst, the cue, that made me love cooking again was very simple.
A sharp knife.
I found a very sharp knife and I discovered that with it I could cut onions at a granularity that I had never done in life. I have used many sharp knives earlier, but this one was exceptional. The fluffiness of my omelette increased manifold as I used really 'Finely chopped' onions.
Cooking suddenly become a delight.
I am an ERP Professional. Whenever I experience such things, I try to find lessons that I can use in my profession. What are they?
Here goes.
The obvious lesson is to be prepared. Have the right tools in place before you start the work. In the cooking shows on TV, the chefs arrange everything they need before they start cooking.
Unlike the chefs, many PMs start the ERP Implementation projects and THEN start looking out for tools and templates. Is there a project plan that I can reuse? Are there a data migration templates, or extraction scripts that I can give to the customer? Or standard training materials or connectivity tools or reusable components that others have used or even I have used earlier...
There is no tools standardization in the project. Every project creates its own tools. A classic example is Data Migration Strategy Document. I myself have used at least five different templates while managing my project. There is nothing stopping me from consolidating the lessons and preparing a master template.
The second lesson is about having a process. A good chef has a 'place for everything and everything in its place'. And she maintains the discipline over and over again.
A typical ERP implementation begins with a process. It starts with an awesome folder structure with folders for Project Planning, Invoices, Tools and Templates, Familiarization, Refinement...
Every team member knows the structure and how to update it.
As the project evolves, new employees join and educating them on folder structure is the least of the priority. Gradually the process fails. New personal folders get created on the common folder, files start getting saved in local machines, version mismatch, customer complaints....
The third lesson, I think the most important one, is to go slow. As we all know, cooking on small flame is the best way to cook. The flavor is enhanced and all items are consistently cooked. I have seen novice cooks toggle between 'High' and 'Low' flames. The cooking is never tasty.
Similarly in ERP implementation, there will be situations when things don't go your way. Project Managers react to every small events like it is a catastrophe. Do not do that.
If cooking teaches you anything, it is to stay calm. Things have a way of sorting themselves out.
#ERPConsulting