Project: MicroStation/InRoads Comprehensive Migration from MicroStation/J
Client: Oklahoma DOT (ODOT)
Prime Contractor: Bohannan Huston, Inc. (BHI)
Primary Collaborators: Janet Griffen (ODOT) and Brad Adams (BHI)
Work Scope: Precursory Education, Needs Assessment, Standards Development ("integers to names"), Software Setup
2002-2003
While the OpenRoads transformation is the biggest I've seen in a three-decade career, the jump from the integer-based MicroStation/J platform (63 levels) was the second biggest transformation.
The Oklahoma Department of Transportation's (ODOT) comprehensive migration from the MicroStation/J InRoads platform was led by Project Manager Janet Griffin on the ODOT side and Brad Adams on the Bohannan Huston (BHI) side. Scope spanned from survey through design and production.
My role was Technical Lead. I was assisted by Pat Callahan for plotting and Nick Johnson for MicroStation.
I created a website early in the project so that the widely-distributed BHI migration and management team members (San Diego, Dallas, Albuquerque) had instant access to in-progress material and near-live project status (email is not a management tool, it's a notification tool).
This project had the typical inherent Transformation Project Problem: the owners, users, and decision makers of the new system had to be educated about the new system and its decision points before they could make informed decisions.
Because travel added directly to the cost of the project, we had to maximize communication during and between on-site visits, which were typically a week in duration.
By 2003 I had eight years of designing and delivering professional training systems under my belt and a few years of website design. It was natural (and easy and cheap) to extend our internal collaboration web to a client-facing education, training and coordination site.
Personalizing the Remote
We'd scope out on the web what we'd focus on for the next visit. Explain the new concepts, preview what we'd be going over at the beginning of the week, point out the required decisions. All ODOT users had access to the information prior to Nick and me flying in.
On Day 1 we'd meet as a (large) group, present, discuss, and identify decision paths. We would then break out to meet with subgroups for topical decisions, and work the middle of the week resolving issues with stakeholders and refining the vision.
Thursday nights I generally would update the website with decisions made for the week, decisions still needing resolutions, and subscopes getting attention next.
Friday morning we'd have a general meeting discussing the week's progress and identifying any items needing in-person attention prior to us leaving.
We held on-sites more frequently early as we were establishing trust and identifying primary stakeholders and leads. As the project progress, we were able to meet less frequently because we had very effective remote collaboration.
The Big Jump from MicroStation/J was going from 63 unnamed levels to, to, to what? One end of the user spectrum was "Name them Level 1, Level 2, etc."
"To go fast, go alone. To go far, go together." I still struggle with "do we have to take everyone with us?"
So, how do you please folks who love simplicity versus those who prefer a logical but more complicated convention?
EOP vs road_pavement_edge?
Our proposal, which seemed to satisfy both ends of the spectrum was "structured Level Names and simple Descriptions". You could sort and filter levels on either heading.
I will always be biased towards the value of collaboration via wide-access curated ("mastered") websites (as opposed to Blogs), by this one surprise.
Late in the migration project, we got an email from an ODOT Surveyor who wanted to fill a vacant and very necessary leadership role for part of the survey scope. He was from a satellite office (Tulsa?); we had not met him.
"Thank you for your offer to help. I haven't met you. Do you know what's going on and what we need?"
"Yes, I've been following the website and keeping up with all the developments since the beginning. I know what's going on, and I know how to help."
Out of the blue, because of the share-broadly-and-easily philosophy, we filled an important need with a resource we didn't know we had.
It was a pleasure working with everyone involved. Janet Griffin was great at leading the DOT side of things (keeping Stacey and Carl in line, among other things). Nick was my on-site wingman throughout. But special thanks go to Brad Adams.
Brad, aka "B-Rad", is one of my favorite people to work with. He is excellent at recognizing good ideas and getting it worked into the contract with the client's support. B-Rad's catchphrase, and guiding principle, was "How to we get it to the Next Level?" Our response, dated now, was "Level 64?"
To this day I am somewhat awed by the leap of faith Brad showed by giving me so much latitude in how we worked the project. Maybe it only seemed like I had any latitude. He might very well have been manipulating all the strings the entire time. I was often surprised when I realized Brad is just a bit older than me. But he had kids a lot earlier: that changes a person. You get wise fast. I'm still very thankful for his trust.