Technical Demonstration Plan Template

1. Technical Demonstration Plan Template Dr. Patrick D. Allen, PMP Patrick.allen@jhuapl.edu

2. Purpose • To present a template for planning successful technical demonstrations • Map the required steps to the project management processes

3. Overview • Background and need • The four common purposes and types of technical demonstrations • The five-step template and example • How tech demos fit into project processes • Wrap up

4. Background and Need • Many projects include the need to present to the stakeholders a demonstration of technical capabilities • May be an R&D proof of concept • May be a demo designed to win a contract • May be an interim spin capability in an agile project • May be final deliverable • Unfortunately, many technical demonstrations fail to live up to expectations, or just plain fail • Many technical demos fail or do poorly because the PM doesn’t plan, or monitor the plan, for Tech Demo • Misunderstandings about what needs to be demo’d and how to best demo it often occur during projects

5. Common Errors in Tech Demos • “We identified use cases months ago to help the technical team understand what they were going to develop. We were close to actually demonstrating before we realized we had not yet sat down and defined what we really were going to need to present in the demo. If we had been prompted by this template, it would have helped.” • “The demo went fine during rehearsal, but when we arrived at the customer site, we could not reach our services through their firewall so we weren’t able to show very much. We needed a better back-up plan.” • “What we wanted to show and why were not well-defined up front, which led to us not being sure how to best show each feature.”

6. More Common Errors in Tech Demos • “During the design of the demo, we were focused on the design and implementation of the final system, and not of the demo. All we really wanted to develop and demonstrate was enough to show the realm of the possible and express our thought leadership on the topic. What we had spent months developing was trying to prepare a shrink-wrapped capability to deliver to the potential customer, and the demo was due next week.” • “We thought we didn’t have time to do a detailed demo plan. Unfortunately, not having one was more painful later. Define the date up front when you will do it [the Tech Demo Plan], and the whole process will be much easier.”

7. Tech Demo Plan Five-Step Overview • Define the purpose of the demonstration • Decide and document the features, and which features will be shown and which will be described • Provide context description and maintain it throughout the demo • Prepare a detailed demonstration plan • Institute a formal feedback loop • A demo can be considered a “mini project” within the larger project context, or it may be a separate project to support an unsolicited proposal • The PM may be the demo lead, or may assign a PM to lead the demo mini project

8. Define purpose Show or Describe Feature Context Map Write Plan Feedback Loop Demo Plan Step 1: Define the Purpose • There are usually four types of tech demos, each associated with a well-defined purpose: • Marketing or Research and Development Demo (the unsolicited proposal case) • Competition-specific Demonstration (usually in response to an RFP) 3. Agile Project “Spins” • Project Deliverable Demonstration (may be final or an interim major deliverable) • All but the first type tend to be one-shot chances (there may be many spins, but one demo per spin)

9. Define purpose Show or Describe Feature Context Map Write Plan Feedback Loop Summary of Purpose and Features of a Demo

10. Define purpose Show or Describe Feature Context Map Write Plan Feedback Loop Demo Plan Step 2: What to Show vice Describe • Decide the features the demo will include • It would be nice to actually show the customer every feature, but there are usually constraints in the way • Not enough time, hardware replication, applicable data • Alternative is to describe what the customer would be seeing if everything were up and running • Cooking show analogy for features that take a while • Early rehearsals have fewer ‘shows’ and more ‘describes’ • What to show vs what to describe becomes part of the documented back-up plan for each feature at main event • If the method of showing a features does not work, use the description of the feature as the back-up

11. Define purpose Show or Describe Feature Context Map Write Plan Feedback Loop Demo Plan Step 3: Context Description • Set the context, scope, and sequence of demo up front • “Tell them what they will see, show them, tell them what you showed them” • The Context Map helps keep the customer oriented throughout the demo • Context Map shows the steps they will see in the demo and where the key features are and why their shown • Avoids the problem of the customer “getting lost” during the demo, especially if you have lots of features to demonstrate • Maintain and update the Context Map shown at the start throughout the demo, such as in top right corner

12. Sample Context Map • Show the context map at the start, reshow it at major transition points, and leave a small version in a corner or on a wall display that’s visible throughout the demo Output of Second Feature Second Feature Output of First Feature First Feature Output of Fifth Feature Fifth (combining) Feature Output of Third Feature Third Feature You Are Here Out 2 2nd Output of Fourth Feature 1st Out 1 Fourth Feature 5th Out 5 3rd Out 3 You Are Here Out 4 4th

13. Define purpose Show or Describe Feature Context Map Write Plan Feedback Loop Demo Plan Step 4: Detailed Demo Plan • Who is doing the (various parts of the) demo • What to show and why we want to show it • When in the demo and where do we want to show each feature (keep sequence logical to customer) • How to show it • Development Status (feature schedule and status) • Person responsible to develop the feature • Priority of each feature • Schedule the rehearsals up front! • “Our rehearsals helped us refine which points of our message we really wanted to highlight, so if we were short of time, we would make sure those critical messages got across.”

14. Define purpose Show or Describe Feature Context Map Write Plan Feedback Loop Demo Plan Step 5: Formal Feedback Loop • During a demo, stakeholders usually provide feedback • So do team members on what could be improved • If you don’t institute a formal feedback mechanism, this feedback is lost • “We had done a good job obtaining verbal feedback, but had no mechanism for capturing it in writing. We would debrief on what we needed to do better next time, but no written record and no place to store the feedback. We did not even maintain the written plan we originally had, so no one at that point referred to it. All modifications after the first demo were done on the fly.” • Even for one-shot demos, need to formally document organizational lessons learned for next one-shot demo

15. Sample Excerpts from a Tech Demo Plan • Who: John Q. Public • What and Why: We will show the HotStuff algorithm applied to our first scenario data to show the algorithm works ion that data • When and Where: Third feature to demo, shown on the main screen • How to show it: Show selecting the data and clicking start, then show pre-stored output data • Development Status: On schedule, ready next week • Person responsible: Jane Doe • Priority of each feature: High priority. We must show this algorithm works with this data • Rehearsal schedule: 31 April 2011

16. How Demo Plan Maps to Project Processes • These are not “new steps” but where in the processes to perform tech demo planning, execution, & feedback

17. Wrap Up • The Tech Demo Plan Template can help you improve the quality of your demos and their chances of success • Write your tech demo plan early! • Tech Demo Plan includes: • Define the purpose of the demonstration • Decide and document the features, and which features will be shown and which will be described • Provide context description and maintain it throughout demo • Prepare a detailed demonstration plan • Institute a formal feedback loop • Schedule your rehearsals up front! • Benefits: Demo will be more likely to succeed, achieve its objectives, and be on time and within budget

18. Contact Info and References Dr. Patrick D. Allen Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab 11100 Johns Hopkins Road MS 21-N246 Laurel, MD 20723-6099 443-778-9915 v 443-778-3838 f Patrick.allen@jhuapl.edu “Managing Knowledge in Technical Demonstration Plans: A Template,” Knowledge Management Research & Practice (KMRP), 2008 No. 6, pp. 245-253. PMBOK Fourth Edition