pull him from your project and have him work full time on Crosby’sproject. What do you think?”

1. If you were Palmer at the end of the case, how would you respond?2. What, if anything, could Palmer have done to avoid losing Olds?3. What advantages and disadvantages of a matrix-type organization are

apparent from this case?4. What could the management at M&M do to manage situations like this

more effectively?

Case 3.2

Horizon ConsultingPatti Smith looked up at the bright blue Carolina sky before she entered theoffices of Horizon Consulting. It was Friday, which meant she needed toprepare for the weekly status report meeting. Horizon Consulting is acustom software development company that offers fully integrated mobileapplication services for iPhone™, Android™, Windows Mobile®, andBlackBerry® platforms. Horizon was founded by James Thrasher, a formermarketing executive, who quickly saw the potential for digital marketingvia smartphones. Horizon enjoyed initial success in sports marketing butquickly expanded to other industries. A key to their success was the declinein cost for developing smartphone applications, which expanded the clientbase. The decline in cost was primarily due to the learning curve and abilityto build customized solutions on established platforms.

Patti Smith was a late bloomer who went back to college after workingin the restaurant business for nine years. She and her former husband hadtried unsuccessfully to operate a vegetarian restaurant in Golden, Colorado.After her divorce, she returned to University of Colorado, where shemajored in management information systems (MIS) with a minor inmarketing. While she enjoyed her marketing classes much more than her

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MIS classes, she felt the IT know-how she acquired would give her anadvantage in the job market. This turned out to be true, as Horizon hired herto be an account manager soon after graduation.

Patti Smith was hired to replace Stephen Stills, who had started therestaurant side of the business at Horizon. Stephen was “let go,” accordingto one account manager, for being a prima donna and hoarding resources.Patti’s clients ranged from high-end restaurants to hole-in the-wall “momand pop shops.” She helped develop smartphone apps that let users makereservations, browse menus, receive alerts on daily specials, providecustomer feedback, order take-out, and in some cases order delivery. As anaccount manager she worked with clients to assess their needs, develop aplan, and create customized smartphone apps.

Horizon appeared to be a good fit for Patti. She had enough technicaltraining to be able to work with software engineers and help guide them toproduce client-ready products. At the same time she couldrelate to the restaurateurs and enjoyed working with them onweb design and digital marketing.

Horizon was organized into three departments: Sales, SoftwareDevelopment, and Graphics, with account managers acting as projectmanagers. Account managers generally came from Sales and divided theirtime between projects and sales pitches to potential new clients. Horizonemployed a core group of software engineers and designers, supplementedby contracted programmers when needed.

The first step in developing a smartphone application involved theaccount manager meeting with the client to define the requirements andvision for the application. The account manager then worked with aGraphic User Interface (GUI) designer to come up with a preliminary storyboard of how the application would function and look. Once the initialconcept and requirements were approved, the account manager wasassigned two pairs of software engineers. The first pair (app engineers)worked on the smartphone side of the application, while the second pairworked on the client side. Horizon preferred to have software engineerswork in tandem so that they could check each other’s work. The two appengineers typically worked full time on the application until it wascompleted, while the other engineers worked on multiple projects asneeded. Likewise, GUI designers worked on the project at certain keystages in the product development cycle when their expertise was needed.

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The head of Graphics managed the GUI designers’ schedule, while thehead of Software managed the software engineer assignments. At the end ofeach project account managers submitted performance reviews of theirteam. 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 threeweeks account managers were expected to demonstrate the latest version ofapplications to clients. This led to useful feedback and in many casesredefinition of the scope of the project. Often clients wanted to add morefunctionality to their application once they realized what the software coulddo. Depending upon the complexity of the application and changesintroduced once the project was under way, it typically took Horizon two tofour months to deliver a finished product to a client.

Patti was currently working on three projects. One was for ShanghaiWok, a busy Chinese mom and pop restaurant in downtown Charlotte,North Carolina. The owners of Shanghai Wok wanted Horizon to create asmartphone app that would allow customers to order and pay in advance formeals they would simply pick up at a walk-up window. The second projectwas for Taste of India, which operated in Kannapolis, North Carolina. Theywanted Horizon to create a phone app that would allow staff at the nearbybio-tech firms to order food that would be delivered on-site during lunchand dinner hours. The last project was for Nearly Normal, a vegetarianrestaurant that wanted to send out e-mail alerts to subscribers that woulddescribe in detail their daily fresh specials.

James Thrasher was an admirer of Google and encouraged a playful butfocused environment at work. Employees were allowed to decorate theirwork spaces, bring pets to work, and play Ping-Pong or pool when theyneeded a break. Horizon paid its employees well, but the big payoff was theannual Christmas bonus. This bonus was based on overall company profits,which were distributed proportionately based on pay grade and performancereviews. It was not uncommon for employees to receive a 10–15 percentboost in pay at the end of the year.

STATUS REPORT MEETING

As was her habit, Patti entered the status report meeting room early. DavidBriggs was in the midst of describing the game-winning catch John Lorschhad made in last night’s softball game. Horizon sponsored a co-ed cityleague softball team, which most of the account managers played on. Pattihad been coaxed to play to ensure that the requisite number of “females”were on the field. She balked at the idea at first; softball wasn’t really hersport, but she was glad she did. Not only was it fun but it gave her a chanceto get to know the other managers.

James Thrasher entered the room and everyone settled down tobusiness. He started off as he always did, by asking if anybody hadimportant news to bring to everyone’s attention. Jackson Browne slowlyraised his hand and said, “I am afraid I do. I just received notification fromApple iOS that they have rejected our TAT app.” TAT was a phone app,which Jackson was the project lead on, that allowed subscribers to reserveand see in real time what swimming lanes were available at a prestigiousathletic club. This announcement was followed by a collective groan.Before an Apple app could go operational it had to be submitted to andapproved by Apple. Usually this was not a problem, but lately Apple hadbeen rejecting apps for a variety of reasons. Jackson went on to circulate thelist of changes that had to be made before Apple would approve the app.The group studied the list and in some cases ridiculed the newrequirements.

Ultimately James Thrasher asked Jackson how long it would take tomake the necessary changes and resubmit the app for approval. Jackson feltit would probably take two to three weeks at most. Thrasher asked who theengineers working on this project were. Patti’s heart fell. One of the appengineers who had developed the TAT app was working on her ShanghaiWok project. She knew what was going to happen next. Thrasherannounced, “OK, everyone, it only makes sense that these engineers are thebest ones to finish what they had started, so they are all going to have to bereassigned back to the TAT project. Those affected are going to have to gettogether after this meeting and figure out how to replace them.” Themeeting then proceeded as planned, with all the account managers reportingthe status of their projects and sharing relevant issues with the group.

POST-MEETING

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As everyone filed out, Patti looked around to see who else was in her sameboat. There were three other account managers as well as Jackson Browne.Resource assignments were a recurring issue at Horizon, given the nature oftheir work. Horizon had developed a policy where decisions were madebased on project priority. Each project was assigned a Green, Blue, orPurple designation based on the company priority. Priority status was basedon the extent to which the project contributed to the mission of the firm.The Shanghai Wok project, given its limited size and scope, was a Purpleproject, which was the lowest ranking. The list of available softwareengineers was displayed on the big screen. Patti was familiar with only afew of the names.

Leigh Taylor, who had the only Green project, immediately selectedJason Wheeler from the list. She had used him before and was confident inhis work. Tom Watson and Samantha Stewart both had Blue Projects andneeded to replace a mobile app engineer. They both immediately jumped onthe name of Prem Mathew, claiming he was the best person for theirproject. After some friendly jousting, Tom said, “OK, Sam, you can havehim; I remember when you helped me out on the Argos project; besides, myproject is just beginning. I’ll take Shin Chen.” Everyone looked at Patti; shestarted by saying, “You know, I am familiar with only a few ofthese names; I guess I’ll go with Mike Thu.” Jacksoninterjected, “Hey, everyone, I am really sorry this happened, and I am sureMike is a good programmer, but I recommend you work with AxelGerthoff. I have used him before, and he is a very quick study and a joy towork with.” This was a relief to Patti and she quickly took his advice. Theyleft to submit a report to Thrasher detailing the decisions they each hadmade and the impact on their projects.

1. How successful was the post-meeting?2. What factors contributed to the success or failure of this meeting?3. What kind of project management structure does Horizon use? Is it the

right structure? Explain.