Optimize Your Software Selection Process: Why 5 and 30 Are the Magic Numbers

Select your applications better, faster, and cheaper.

How to Read This Software Selection Insight Primer

1. 43,000 Data Points

This report is based on data gathered from a survey of 43,000 real-world IT practitioners.

2. Aggregating Feedback

The data is compiled from SoftwareReviews (a sister company of Info-Tech Research Group), which collects and aggregates feedback on a wide variety of enterprise technologies.

3. Insights Backed by Data

The insights, charts, and graphs in this presentation are all derived from data submitted by real end users.

The First Magic Number Is Five

The optimal software selection team comprises five people

• Derived from 43,000 data points. Analysis of thousands of software selection projects makes it clear a tight core selection team accelerates the selection process.
• Five people make up the core team. A small but cross-functional team keeps the project moving without getting bogged down on calendar alignment and endless back-and-forth.
• It is a balancing act. Having too few stakeholders on the core selection team will lead to missing valuable information, while having too many will lead to delays and politically driven inefficiencies.

There Are Major Benefits to Narrowing the Selection Team Size to Five

Limit the risk of ineffective “decision making by committee”

Expedite resolution of key issues and accelerate crucial decisions

Achieve alignment on critical requirements

Streamline calendar management

Info-Tech Insight

Too many cooks spoil the broth: create a highly focused selection team that can devote the majority of its time to the project while it’s in flight to demonstrate faster time to value.

Arm Yourself With Data to Choose the Right Plays for Selection

Software selection takes forever. The process of choosing even the smallest apps can drag on for years: sometimes in perpetuity.

Maximize project effectiveness with a five-person team. Project satisfaction and effectiveness are stagnant or decrease once the team grows beyond five people.

Empower both IT and end users with a standardized selection process to consistently achieve high satisfaction coming out of software selection projects.

Project Satisfaction and Effectiveness Are Stagnant Once the Team Grows Beyond Five People

• There is only a marginal difference in selection effectiveness when more people are involved, so why include so many? It only bogs down the process!
• Full-time resourcing: At least one member of the five team members must be allocated to the selection initiative as a full-time resource.

Info-Tech Insight

It sounds natural to include as many players as possible in the core selection group; however, expanding the group beyond five people does not lead to an increase in satisfaction. Consider including a general stakeholder feedback working session instead.

Shorten Project Duration by Capping the Selection Team at Five People

However, it is important to make all stakeholders feel heard

Exclusion is not the name of the game.

• Remember, we are talking about the core selection team.
• Help stakeholders understand their role in the project.
• Educate stakeholders about your approach to selection.
• Ensure stakeholders understand why the official selection team is being capped at five people.
• Soliciting requirements and feedback from a broader array of stakeholders is still critical.

Large Organizations Benefit From Compact Selection Teams Just as Much as Small Firms

Think big even if your organization is small

Small organizations

Teams smaller than five people are common due to limited resources.

Medium organizations

Selection project satisfaction peaks with teams of fewer than two people. Consider growing the team to about five people to make stakeholders feel more included with minimal drops in satisfaction.

Large organizations

Satisfaction peaks when teams are kept to three to five people. With many SMEs available, it is critical to choose the right players for your team.

Keep the Core Selection Team to Five People Regardless of the Software Category

Smaller selection teams yield increased satisfaction across software categories

Info-Tech Insight

Core team size remains the same regardless of the application being selected. However, team composition will vary depending on the end users being targeted.

Think beyond application complexity

• Our instinct is to vary the size of the core selection team based on perceived application complexity.
• The data has demonstrated that a small team yields increased satisfaction for applications across a wide array of application complexity profiles.
• The real differentiator for complex applications will be the number of stakeholders that the core selection team liaise with, particularly for defining strong requirements.

The Second Magic Number Is 30

Finish the project while stakeholders are still fully engaged in order to maximize satisfaction

• 30- to 60-day project timelines are critical. Keep stakeholders engaged with a defined application selection timeline that moves the project forward briskly.
• Strike while the iron is hot. Deliver applications in a timely manner after the initial request. Don’t let IT become the bottleneck for process optimization.
• Minimize scope creep: As projects drag on in perpetuity, the scope of the project balloons to something that cannot possibly achieve key business objectives in a timely fashion.