New Beginning

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or LinkedIn here https://uk.linkedin.com/in/tonysmiththathousingitguy



It was great last week to be invited to present, by what used to be the DWF (the Direct Works Forum) group, which is being re-organised and getting a makeover, a new beginning as ‘Direct Works’.

It will still have a discussion forum, but should be a better organisation to represent Housing Associations, Local Authorities and RSLs employing their own trades staff to undertake repairs and maintenance.

A big thank you to Mike Wilson and Russell Thompson for inviting me. Judging by the volume of recent projects, it’s a good time more than ever, for internal workforces and DLO’s, to share best practice. So I wish them well.

My session was my take on ‘Why we buy some of the best IT and then implement and use it badly” and we had good attendance, many people I am sure have experienced, first hand, a lot of the areas I covered. As anyone who reads this blog knows, I am not keen that everyone has to suffer and learn from their own mistakes, why not get a leg up from others? So where with systems do you start?

Well, know your market to start with. Too many organisations rush in and buy the first silver bullet they see. OJEU has always provided pre-market analysis as an option, its strange so few take advantage of it. Risks are rarely taken into account too. Who might have thought that software was risky? Sales people never mention risks, do they?

What about alternatives to external software packages? Who hasn’t had their social housing ICT team, offer to ‘write a system for you’? Often I wager, followed by, ‘How hard can it be’? This approach contains risks too, particularly as its more likely your IT team are more skilled at support than writing quality software. When I was a supplier I had a few customer IT teams suggest they had useful things they had written, which might be profitable (for us both) when sold to a wider customer audience. Only one idea ever made the cut and only then after a total re-write to bring error trapping etc, up to scratch. A common problem, quality control.

When we go to seriously buy, do we understand the problems we are looking to solve? A business case generally flushes this out with benefits. I have seen many business cases done afterwards to tick the box. OJEU does try to protect us from ourselves and we should embrace formal process that does that.

After the excitement of the procurement, how well do we resource projects. Regular readers know I always prefer the A-Team, although occasionally it’s the C, D or reserve teams, we can get stuck with. Never try to involve staff who have to juggle their day jobs too.

In DLO’s and internal workforces, often introducing software creates cultural changes for staff too. This is often neglected and the reason why dynamic scheduling is most often far less than dynamic and users are not guided into new roles and behaviours. As with many issues, some are embedded in the phrase, “well we have always done it that way”.

Well I cover all of the above and more in the recording of the session. I would guess there’s half a dozen takeaways, for even the most seasoned DLO systems implementers. If you would like to get access to the session, checkout this link - Zoom.US/DW_HousingITGuy_Jul2020

Related Post: Budget for regular ICT infrastructure or application maintenance & get the best from your previous investment

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I would be pleased to connect with you on LinkedIn - http://uk.linkedin.com/in/tonysmiththathousingitguy Message me with any issues or queries, you would like to be explored in this blog. We generally receive a couple of suggestions each month.

Girlschool – New Beginning.
(c) Tony Smith, Acutance Consulting www.acutanceconsulting.co.uk 07854-655009


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