Episode 103: CRM Nightmares - Lessons Learned from Implementations Gone Wrong

Learning happens when you make mistakes. In our time working on implementations, we won’t hide–we’ve made some mistakes that we learned from. In this episode, Doug and Jess have an insightful discussion about CRM implementations and projects that have gone wrong. They share real-life examples of setbacks Lift has faced, what mistakes were made, and the key lessons learned to help you avoid similar pitfalls.

Audio:

Video:

Additional Resources:

• [Blog] If You're Note Writing User Stories for Growth, You're Missing Out

Show Notes:

Editor's Note:

• We have launched a YouTube channel for The RevOps Show where we'll be posting the video version and shorts from episodes. We'd really appreciate it if you took a minute to go and subscribe to our channel! 

Pre-Show Banter: 

• Happy belated birthday to Jess! The big 4 - 0 this year! Though nowadays 40 is the new 11.
• Doug shares a dad joke from his collection.
• Doug gets Jess’s opinion on the new chairman of Disney. She’s very torn over it. This leads to a whole discussion about Disney (per usual 😜)

Main Discussion Points: 

• The importance of having clear user stories mapped out upfront before beginning work on an implementation. You can’t tackle more than 3-5 complex user stories simultaneously.
• Define levels of complete for milestones within an implementation. Once you have those, stick to the list of must-have items to reach each level of complete. Avoid incomplete loops by continually changing the definition of complete. 
• Manage delays properly by “cryogenically freezing” the project. This means stopping work entirely on the project until blockers are removed, rather than wasting time and getting out of sync with the client.
• Don’t allow technology limitations to dictate decisions. The business process must drive the technology.
• Have confidence to make clear choices, even if they end up being wrong. Indecisiveness leads to paralysis. A wrong but clear choice often becomes obviously wrong very quickly, and is easier to rectify than no choice at all.

Jess’s Takeaways: 

• User stories are key. You have to have the user story before you build out an implementation.
• You should have a clear punch list of things that need to get done for an element of the implementation to be complete. You and the client should agree on what that is and stick to it. Having a backlog of items is important because that’s your future iteration and enhancements.
• Collaborate and communicate
• You need to be able to make trade offs and make decisions. Indecision will kill you.
• Don’t forget the prime directive: the business process has to drive the technology.

Next Steps: 

• Follow Jess, Doug & Lift on socials for updates on the show or other insights: 

  • Doug Davidoff LinkedIn

  • Jess Cardenas LinkedIn

  • Lift Enablement LinkedIn

• Follow the show on Spotify & Apple Podcasts

• Subscribe to The RevOps Show YouTube channel

• Coming Soon: Episode 104!