Case 3 - Patti Smith looked up at the brigh blue Carolina sky before she entered the offices of Horizon Consulting. Today was Friday, which meant she needed to prepare for the weekly status report meeting. Horizon Consulting is a custom software development company that offers fully integrated mobile application services for iPhonc tx , Android m. Windows Mobile and BlackBerry platiorms. Horizon was founded by James Thrasher, a former marketing executive, who quickly saw the potential for digital marketing via smartphones. Horizon enjoyed initial success in sports marketing, but quickly expanded to other industries. A key to their suceess was the decline in cost for developing smartphone applications, which expanded the client base. The decline in cost was primarily duc to learning curve and ability to build customized solutions on established plattorms. Patti Smith was a late bloomer who went back to college after working in the restaurant business for nine years. She and her former husband had tried unsuccessfully to operate a vegetarian restaurant in Golden. Colorado. After her divoree, she returned to University of Colorado where she majored in Management Information Systems with a minor in Marketing. While she enjoyed her marketing classes much more than her MIS classes, she felt the IT know-how acquired would give her an advantage in the job market. This turned out to be true as Horizon hired her to be an Account Manager soon after graduation. Patti Smith was hired to replace Stephen Stills who had started the restaurant side of the business at Horizon. Stephen was "let go" according to one Account Manager for being a prima donna and hoarding resources. Patti's clients ranged from high-end restaurants to hole-in-wall mom and pop shops. She helped develop smartphone apps that let users make reservations, browse menus, receive alerts on daily specials, provide customer feedback, order take-out, and in some cases order delivery. As an Account Manager she worked with elients to assess their needs, develop a plan, and create customized smartphone apps. Horizon appeared to be a good fit for Patti. She had enough technical training to be able to work with soft ware engineers and help guide them to produce client-ready products. At the same time she could relate to the restaurateurs and enjoyed working with them on web design and digital markeling. Horizon was organized into three departments: Sales, Software Development, and Graphics, with Account Managers acting as project managers. Account Managers generally came from Sales, and would divide their time between projects and making sales pitches to potential new clients. Horizon employed a core group of soft ware engincers and designers, supplemented by contracted programmers when needed. The first step in developing a smartphone application involved the Account Manager meeting with the client to deline the requirements and vision for the application. The Account Manager would then work with a Graphic User Interfice (GUI) designer to cone up with a prelininary story board of how the application would function and look. Once the initial concept and requirements were approved the Accomt Manager was assigned two pairs of software engineers. The first pair (app cngincers) would work on the smartphone side of the application while the second pair would work on the client side of the application. Horisen preferred to have software engineers work in tandem so they could check each other's werk. The two app engincers would typically work full tine on the application until it was completed while the other engineers would work on multiple projects as needed. Likewise, GUI designers would work on the project at certain key stages in the product development cycle when their expertise was needed. The head of Graphics managed the GUI designers' schedule while the head of Sofware managed the software engineer assignments. At the end of each project Account Managers submitted performance reviews of their team. The Director of Sales was responsible for the Account Managers' performance reviews based on customer satisfaction, generation of sales, and project performance. Horizon believed in iterative development, and every two to three weeks Account Managers were expected to demonstrate the latest version of applications to clients. This led to useful feedback and in many cases redefining the scope of the project. Often clients wanted to add more functionality to their application once they realized what the software could do. Depending upon the complexity of the application and changes introduced once the project was under way, it typically took Horizon two to four months to deliver a finished product to a client. Patti was currently working on threc projects. One was for Shanghai Wok, a busy Chinese mom and pop restaurant located in downtown Charlotte, North Carolina. The owners of Shanghai Wok wanted Horizon to create a smartphone app that would allow customers to order and pay in advance for meals they would simply pick up at a walk-ap window. The second project was for Taste of India that operated in Kannapolis, North Carolina. They wanted Horizon to create a phone app that would allow staff at the nearby bio-tech firms to order food that would be delivered on-site during lunch and dinner hours. The last project was for Nearly Normal, a vegetarian restaurant which wanted to send out c-mail alerts to subscribers that weruld describe in detail their daily fresh specials. James Thrasher was an admirer of Google and encouraged a playful but focused environment at work. Employees were allowed to decorate their work spaces, bring pels to work. and play ping-pong or pool when they needed a break. Horizon paid its cemployees well but the big payolf was the annual Christmas bonus. This bonus was based on overall company profits, which were distributed proportionately based on pay grade and performance revicws. It was not uncommon for employees to receive a 10 15 percent boost in pay at the end of the year. STATUS REPORT MEETING As was her habil Panti entered the status report meeting room carly. David Briggs was in the midst of describing the game-winning catch John Lorsch had made in last night's softball game. Horizon sponsored a co-ed city league sofiball team which most of the Account Managers played on. Patti had been coaxed to play to ensure that the requisite number of "females" were on the field. She balked at the idea at lirst; softball wasnit really her sport, but she was glad she did. Not only was it fun, but it gave her a chance to get to know the other managers. James Thrasher entered the room and everyone setled down to husiness. He started off as he always did by asking if anybody had important news to bring to everyone's attention. Jackson Browne slowly raised his hand and said, "I am afraid I do. I just receised molification from Apple IOS that they have rejecked our TAT app." TAT was a phone app that Jachson was the project lead on that allowed subscribers to reserve and see in real time what swimming lanes were available at a prestigious athletic club. This announcement was followed by a collective groan. Belore an Apple app could go operational it had to be submited and approved by Apple. Usually this was not a problem. hut lately Apple lad been rejecting apps for a saricly of reasons. Jackson weil on to circulate the list of changes that had to he made before Apple would approve the app. The group studied the list, and in some cases ridiculed the new requirements. Ulimately, James Thrasher asked Jackson how long it would take to make the necessary changes and resubmit the app for approval. Jackson felt it would probably take two to three weeks at most. Thrasher asked who the engineers that worked on this project were. Palti's heart fell. One of the app engincers who had developed the TAT app was working on her Shanghai Wok project. She knew what was going to happen next. Thrasher announced. "OK everyone, it only makes sense that these engincers are the hest ones to finish what they had started so they are all going to have to be reassigned back to the TAT project. Those affected are going to have to get together after this meeting and figure how you are going to replace them." The meeting then proceeded as planned with all the account managers reporting the status of their projects. and sharing relevant issues with the group. POST - MEETING Patti was one of the Account Managers and was managing the Shanghai Wok project. One of the leading engineers, Shin Chen, that was working at that time in her project, worked before in Apple TAT app project and now had to return to work full-time into Apple TAT app project. Her project now would lose the lead engineer. As manager of the project, she had the right to ask James Thrasher (the program director) not to let her lead engineer go from her project (that meant she had to debate and argue with him and try to convince him that her project is very important and may fail to complete if they change the lead engineer), but she was afraid that this may damage her relationships with her superior, the program director. She asked Jackson for advice. Jackson mentioned that she could look at other capable engineers for her project. "Take Mike Thu as a lead engineer, for example", he said. "He is a good programmer. I have worked with him before, he enjoys working in new projects, is a quick learner and it is someone that is fan to work with." If Patti would ask you for advice, what would your advice be for Patty (go with Mike or protest for the removal of the actual leading engineer)? REQUIRED: As a product of your work, write a memo and executive summary to Patty that lays out your recommendations for her as a solution of the problem: go with Mike or protest for the removal of the actual leading engineer. Read the instructions for how to prepare and submit the file for Individual Case_Memo \& ES (posted in CMS). Hints and Guides: The following are some questions may help you to get a better understanding of the situation and guide you towards constructing the required memo and executive summary: Why is Patty worried? What is more important for the business? What would happen if the lead engineer is removed from Patti's project? What would happen if the lead engineer was substituted with the proposed replacement? What would happen if Patti talks to her boss about the matter? Be specific to the above case