Meet Team Monorail.

To invigorate market share growth and distinguish itself in the competitive retail banking market, one of the top-ten US financial institutions initiated the first major enhancement to its core checking product in ten years. West Monroe Partners provided the program expertise and approach that brought the new product to market in less than five months.

The players:

Tom: program manager and chief ring leader, responsible for overseeing all West Monroe Partners and client project team members, interacting with key stakeholders, and ensuring that the program remained on schedule and on scope. Years of experience: 12. Years at West Monroe Partners: 1 (three days when the project started).

Kevin: project manager, Sales and Retention, responsible for ensuring that all customer sales channels -- online, call centers, branches, ATM -- had a plan in place for selling the new product. Years of experience: 12. Years at West Monroe Partners: 4.

Nate: business analyst and project manager, responsible for working with the client to define new product features and functions in detail. Years of experience: 4. Years at West Monroe Partners: 1.

Katie: responsible for the team's project management office. Years of experience: 4. Years at West Monroe Partners: 1 -- she started this project on her first day.

Jill: business analyst and project manager, responsible for supporting the Conversion and Servicing project team to ensure that all business lines had a plan for servicing the new product. Years of experience: 4. Years at West Monroe Partners: 1.

Lindsey: assistant project manager, responsible for supporting project managers on the business process definition team. Years of experience: 1. Years at West Monroe Partners: 1.

Michelle: business analyst, responsible for working with the client to ensure that communications for the product release -- internal, media, and customer -- were synchronized. Not an easy task! Years of experience: 4. Years at West Monroe Partners: 1.

Doug: project manager for Conversion and Servicing, responsible for ensuring that all business lines had a plan in place for servicing the new product. Years of experience: 15. Years at West Monroe Partners: 4.

Jen: project manager, Product Definition and Business Process, responsible for working with the client to define the product features and functions and supporting business processes. Years of experience: 10. Years at West Monroe Partners: 1 (including 14 days prior to this project).

Our biggest strength:

Determination and perseverance. This team was willing to do whatever it took to get an incredibly complex project delivered on time. 

The one thing that contributed most to our success:

Flexibility and commitment. Our team really cared about the quality of our work and "getting it right"so that our client was satisfied with the end result. We had a lot of folks traveling between Chicago and Seattle -- a lot of red-eye flights!

What we learned from this project:

With the right level of senior management attention, it is possible to compress a typical 12-18 month product release cycle into six months. We also learned that Nate has extremely good taste in clothes and that Specialty Cookies are the BEST at 2pm in the afternoon.

Our experience will change the way we approach our next assignment:

Next time, we will spend more time in the team kick-off meeting to help all of our team members assimilate the client environment.

Our biggest challenge:

Some of our Chicago team members traveled every other week -- over an extended period of time -- to support this project. But in return, they received a lot of cross-training in the financial services industry (and a lot of frequent flyer miles).

The most fun we had:

The best part of this project was building friendships among Seattle and Chicago team members. That, and celebrating a successful conclusion. Krumping forever!

How we fostered a strong working relationship with our client counterparts:

We established team norms -- such as "we only swear behind closed doors" -- for our project teams in order to create a team culture that was comfortable for all members. We also established "special acknowledgements" to recognize particular individuals during our weekly program status meetings.

If we had to do one thing differently:

We would involve all affected parties early and often, even if they don' have work to do immediately. Planning for what's to come is critical.

Where we did our work:

Most of our time was spent at the client site, in conference rooms and one, occasionally very cozy office.

The best project quote:

One client executive announced that he didn't want the project team spending "one nano-second" on Phase II, so that we'd remain focused on the project at hand. That became a recurring theme throughout our work -- and, it helped keep us focused.

We celebrated success by:

Snowshoeing on Snoqualmie Pass in Seattle. Kevin, Tom, and Nate took turns jumping off ledges to show how extreme they are.