Terry Waite Sez

If you do the X / Bluesky thing, follow me at @HousingITguy or LinkedIn here https://uk.linkedin.com/in/tonysmiththathousingitguy

You’d think, after three decades working with social housing ICT in organisations, I’d have seen every flavour of delayed ICT implementation known to humankind. But apparently not. 

Recent projects have shone a light on a whole new genre of horror. In an off the cuff conversation recently with some procurement professionals we had a wry chuckle about how project teams often get so close to our software suppliers, its almost like they have agreed to be taken hostage, without noticing. Close to where I live we had a real life hostage in Terry Waite, educated at Stockton Heath County Secondary School (where he became head boy). Hopefully this post will save you from the “Terry Waite experience”.

Projects that run so way, way beyond their contracted timelines, cost envelopes, and original scope that even “Stockholm Syndrome” looks like a healthy working relationship. I must stress up front, this is not the fault of the procurement team, so don’t be running to them when the issues finally emerge. 

Let me set the scene Shakespeare style, because if you work in UK SocialHousing, I can guarantee you’ll recognise at least a fair chunk of this.

Act 1: The Great Oversell

It always starts the same way. Compliant procurement signs off a shiny new housing system / CRM / data platform that was apparently “delivered successfully” somewhere (it’s always a council no one can contact because the project team “moved on”, ever heard that old chestnut?).

The demos were slick, the roadmaps looked credible, and the supplier said the magic words: “No, no, this isn’t a prototype. It’s basically ready. Just needs a bit of configuration.”. Slim chance any meaningful soft-market engagement tool place, right questions asked during procure, or any external impartial third party Critical Friend involved. 

Fast forward 9 months and the client is discovering that the “product” is actually:
•    Five wireframes,
•    A half-started API,
•    and relying a Scrum Master Jedi space cadet developer, called Carl who only works Tuesdays and sometimes answers Teams messages.

Act 2: The Delays That Are Always Someone Else’s Fault

Here’s where the real fun stuff starts.
The supplier discovers ‘unexpected complexity’. By which they mean: we never actually considered or built this bit.
Your Subject matter experts (SME’s) are blamed for being unavailable. Usually because they’ve been dragged into three other failing IT projects at the same time.

Data migration is apparently now “your problem”.

Even though the supplier’s salesperson swore blind last year that “our tools handle that automatically”. Limited data tools or config provided, probably some command line stuff, so like chainsaws with no handle.

And then the classic:
“We’ll need to raise more expensive Change Control for that.”. A phrase now heard almost more frequently in the sector than “Have you tried turning it off and on again chum?”.

Act 3: ICT Starts to Side With the Supplier
This is where the proper 'Stockholm Syndrome' bit creeps in.

Project teams who have been battered by eighteen months of supplier excuses start to internalise them. I’ve watched perfectly sensible people begin to turn into Terry Waite, defending the supplier like they’re auditioning for a Channel4 hostage negotiation documentary.

Things I’ve heard in real project meetings, with my own ears:

• “To be fair, they’re trying really hard.” - (No they’re not. They’re trying to sell you the 8th Change Control in 18 months)
• “It’s not the supplier’s fault the module isn’t finished… these things take time.” - They do, yes, but not three years, Pauline!
• “We shouldn’t escalate, it might upset them.” - They’re not an endangered species. They’re your contracted supplier.

Once IT starts parroting supplier talking points, senior business stakeholders quietly lose interest. Project Boards stop meeting, or worse, the only people turning up are ICT and the supplier, the two groups most invested in pretending everything is Absolutely Fine. Someone might notice and try to involve procurement. Guess what, its not really their problem. 

And at this point, the supplier has effectively taken your project hostage.

Act 4: Senior Leadership Fatigue

As humans we are pre-wired to think not too far beyond a single orbit of our nearest star. When a project runs past 12 months late, corporate and human memory shortens.

People move on. New Directors arrive, assuming the system must almost be live because the budget’s mostly spent.

You will have experienced this one. Project Boards get cancelled “just for a month” because the sponsor has something more urgent. Then it’s two months. Then it’s “shall we just reconvene after year-end or Christmas🧑‍🎄🤶 (no year specified) ?”.

Meanwhile the supplier enjoys the freedom of operating without scrutiny. It’s magical what you can get away with when no one’s checking the mileage on your sprint burn-down charts.

Act 5: The Last-Minute Crisis Call

Here’s the real punchline.

After three, four, sometimes six years of this, the organisation finally admits something’s wrong. And guess who they gonna call?

Yes (not Ghost Busters!). Me.

And what I find is depressingly consistent:
•    Its an archaeological dig to find the original tender and contract (to check what teeth we might have to bite our supplier with)
•    A project team who can’t remember what the original business case said.
•    De-scoped requirements to the point we are not actually delivering core requirements
•    A supplier who still insists “we’re 90% there” (always 90%, never 92%, 69% or the actual 38%).
•    A half-configured system glued together by promises, spreadsheets, lucky pants and hope.
•    And business users who now hate ICT with the power of a thousand suns.

You can almost hear the theme from “The Shawshank Redemption” playing as we dig through issue backlogs older than some of the apprentices on the team.
So why does this keep happening?

Across multiple clients, councils, ALMOs, HAs, and AHBs I’ve supported over the years, the root causes are depressingly predictable:

1. Oversold products - Solutions sold as mature via PDFs and PowerPoints when they’re closer to shabby GCSE coursework.
2. Under-skilled/staffed implementation teams for client & supplier - Your project shouldn’t hinge on “a really good data conversion contractor, Norman” that Eric in ICT found on LinkedIn, nor supplier implementers from another half-implemented site.
3. Unrealistic timelines - A £1m transformation which should take 21 months, sold on a £300k 9 month schedule.
4. Weak governance - Project Boards that meet quarterly “if diaries allow”, with high-level sponsors missing from client and supplier.
5. Change Control addiction - A supplier finance business model masquerading as a methodology.
6. Internal staff worn down by attrition

Eventually they accept the supplier’s narrative because it’s easier than fighting it.

Breaking Out of Captivity

When I get involved early enough, there are things that generally work:

• Re-establish governance ruthlessly. Have your supplier exec sponsor ruck up in person monthly in person to experience some of your pain (especially if you are on the remote edges of rural Scotland, West Wales, English West Country, Galway etc)
• If a full Project Board isn’t meeting monthly, it’s not a Project Board, it’s a rumour. Also, have the supplier sponsor ruck up in person, forcing them to feel some of the SMT/EMT pain of not having the benefits of your project, plus ongoing cost of internal and external staff budget. 
• Force transparency.- roll in the burn-down charts, backlog reviews, demo-driven delivery, RAID stats and being held to account for ever-aging issues. No more “trust us”.
• Re-baseline the whole thing - Painful and brave, but better than throwing good money after bad.
• Re-empower business leads. ICT should support delivery, not rewrite business requirements on the fly OR be the sole delivery stakeholder. Round up the real (other) business stakeholders.
• Hold suppliers to the contract clauses you have, not going with vibes and vague promises. And sometimes, controversial, but true, you might have to pull the plug on the project. Because after too many years of captivity, sometimes the hostage doesn’t need a mediator. They need a rescue mission.

Final Thought

If any of this rings uncomfortably true in your organisation, you’re not unlucky. You’re just living through the same pattern that’s played out across the public sector over and over. Birmingham City Council perhaps one of the most recent.

The trick is spotting Stockholm Syndrome before you start defending the supplier’s latest “unexpected delay”. Also, if you’re already defending them? That’s when you need someone from outside the room to remind you who’s actually tied to the radiator 😉

Is your SocialHousing  ICT / transformation project drastically overrunning  ? 

Get in touch , I will drop in for a coffee & bring the KitKats ☕

       Related Post: The right Critical Friend will save you stress, time (and money) ?

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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.

The Fall – Terry Waite Sez

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


Access a quick list of our Social Housing ICT blog posts here , what projects do we get involved in? Access them here

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