Planning (II)

 Ms Dixon was not impressed with my response and replied equally slowly “That is what I am talking about.”

So it was a crunch point between me and Ms D. She clearly had views on how she would progress this project and trouble was I knew how she would progress it as well: Ms D had what I call a butterfly mind or – to put it more clinically – she was a divergent thinker. She would start from one point and follow thoughts in many directions – at once! Analysts on the other hand need to be convergent thinkers: directing everything, every thought, every action to solving the problem in hand.

Convergent thinkers are great for solving problems and being methodical. Divergent thinkers are great for creativity, thinking outside of the proverbial box and intuitive insight. One without the other was yin without yan. We would make a great team, but I would have to be the one to structure the activities, to focus our efforts where needed given our scope.

Next problem: could I do that? Technically yes as I had the information needed and knew what to do with it. But did I have the authority to do that? Know your role. Know your remit. What backing do you have from your sponsor?

Lord Todd had explicitly stated I was leading this project – and as yet another aside, this is not my preferred role. I’m an analyst, not a project manager. Project Managers have their skill set and analysts have theirs. They mix like oil and vinegar: a great salad dressing but left to stand they always settle out. Still, needs must.

I crossed over to the summary of my analysis to date. It could be used to inform the project planning as well as solve the case.

“Look,” I began pointing up to the relevant items, “There are 4 processes:
1. document exactly what happened the night of the attack
2. investigate who might be have been involved and why
3. identify security issues/faults from the products of 1 & 2
4. identify steps that could be taken to fix security issues/faults

Let's plan the work by these processes.” and I drew up a table using just the summary of my analysis (see blog post  Summary of Objectives and Scope) and a little bit of on-the-fly thinking:

No	Task	Who	Effort	When	Resources	Dependencies	Deliverables
PROCESS 1 – define crime chronology
1	talking to all involved parties	Me	2 day	Tomorrow (Day 1)	Involved parties	Involved parties availability
2	write up, review, resolve discrepancies	Me	1 day	Day 3		Process 1 Task 1	Involved parties statements
3	reviewing any electronic material	Ms D	1 day	Day 1	Electronic material
4	write up, review, resolve discrepancies	Ms D	1 day	Day 2		Process 1 Task 2	Electronic evidence
5	Collate involved parties personal accounts and electronic material	Both	2 days	Day 4	Involved parties statements. Electronic evidence.	Process 1 Task 2 Process 1 Task 4	Corroborated involved parties statements

PROCESS 2 – find motive

1	Investigate motive	Me	5 days ???	Day 1	Involved parties	Involved parties availability
2	Report to Lord Todd daily or every other day	Me	1 day	Day 2 onwards			Motives report

PROCESS 3 – review security

1	Analyse security components	Ms D	2 days	Day 5	TipleA tech specs
2	Define how security components allowed security breach	Ms D	2 days	Day 7		Process 1 Task 5 Process 2 Task 2	Security components weaknesses

PROCESS 4 – address security breaches

1	Define security breaches counter measures	Ms D	1 day	Day 9		Process 3 task 2	Security components fixes
2	Prepare cost/benefit proposal	Ms D	1 days	Day 10		Process 4 task 1	Cost/benefit case
3	Present conclusions to Lord Todd	Both	1 day	Day 11	Lord Todd	Lord Todd availability Process 2 task 2 Process 3 task 2 Process 4 task 2

“So,” I said, when I had finished, “no need to speak German just yet?”