Finishers

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

Do you find starting stuff exciting?

You know, new relationships, maybe a new role or (dream) job, procuring or buying something new.

We have all been there I guess. Getting off to an exciting start but then realising there is much to be done, new cultures to understand or much hard legwork to put in. Long hours with often barely a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel. (Then it could be an on-coming express train, rather than the sunrise!).

In a couple of work chats this last week, I have recently discussed this phenomena in relation to ICT software and projects. There is tremendous excitement in procuring new solutions, it’s often a drawn out process taking somewhere (if done properly) between 3 and over 12 months). If organisations are not familiar with it, just getting to the selection can feel like the whole project team has just ran a marathon.

The final ‘money-shot’ of that can be the final signing of the contracts. If your preferred bidders publicity team is on the ball, they will record that for posterity with the traditional ‘signing shot’ with a fountain pen the size of one of those Italian restaurant pepper mills, the size of a chair leg. The reason for asking for that photo early is that it might be many months or years before go-live. So better to hype up the excitement early.

We have no end of ‘starters’ in organisations, but intriguingly far less ‘finishers’. Its just not exciting to many folk. Indeed, a CV looks way better with three procurements of SAP over 6 years, at different companies, than just one successful SAP/ABAP project over that time. “Why did you stay there six years”, might be the interview question for the latter, while for the former, “ooooh, do you think you could help us procure SAP here”?

The reality is that we need to nurture and recruit far more finishers, to safeguard against more of our projects becoming ‘Ghost Projects’ and sometimes money pits. Both the contacts and myself agreed we regarded ourselves as proven ‘finishers’ and all had identified some in previous projects. Some in the most unlikely of places. Seek them out, nurture & cherish them. They will be the saving of your projects.

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Acutance Consulting would be happy to help you manage to finish, 

please just get in touch, for a chat over a Hobnob & a brew ☕😋

       Related Post: Getting Go-Live right - tricky or not?

Catch the blog monthly archive at https://soundcloud.com/housingitguy/

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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 Smiths - I started something I couldn't finish.
(c) Tony Smith, Acutance Consulting www.acutanceconsulting.co.uk 07854-655009


Access a quick list of our Social Housing ICT blog posts here

Could we help you or your organisation? Our contact details are here , get in touch we will be pleased to chat about your problems and help with your organisation issues.

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Changes On Standby

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




Application software solutions are expensive aren't they?

The only thing more pricey is the cost of additional programming changes after live running has successfully started. While I would suggest that on new OJEU procurements, the functional requirements are as tight as possible, this will only take you so far. The future is notoriously hard to predict and changes are often needed for a multitude of good reasons.

The pain of justifying changes internally with budget holders, change control, ordering, authorising the PO, and issue is bad enough. Your supplier has then got to agree your amendments, schedule it, delay it a release or so, deliver, fix the buggy bits, then have you sign it off. You will have been invoiced for it by this point. Pain over. Job done you would have thought.

However, I come across more & more organisations that seem to have increasing numbers of changes like this, that are permanently held on standby. Why would you do that and what's the real cost of unwanted RFC's and not putting a lot of this stuff live?

How many examples like this, have you got in your organisation?
I come across many of these, when I ask why "Is that done manually" or "Why aren't you using that functionality", often the answer is "we paid for a change to fix/enhance that, but never switched it on".

It's essential to be sure before ordering changes, why the changes are needed & what the benefits will be. Ask yourself if you can solve the problem in a different way, before reaching for the Request For Change form. Does the change support the processes as required and are all users in the 'journey' involved, when specifying the change. Many RFC's fall down when driven just by a single dept/team, just in one part of the process journey. In many cases like this, the process as a whole may not be fully supported/accepted, possibly leading to the change never being put live.

Many RFC's are initiated by decisive or charismatic managers. In the organisation you need 'Finishers', to efficiently push these changes through to completion. Refreshing your test system, building an efficient/thorough UAT and getting this into live takes some commitment.

In addition, the time it can take suppliers, to turn a change around does not help.  It's not uncommon for me to hear of Housing Associations waiting 18 months or longer for delivery of RFC's. The worse I have seen was something I helped specify for a housing group, in December 2013, its due on the suppliers April 2016 release. A whopping 27 months! By the time that RFC is delivered, that client will have been using a workaround for at least 20 months. So in the context of that 'delivery fatigue' , it's not surprising the change never makes it live.

So, know why the RFC is important to you and what its benefits will be. Have your 'finishers' lined up. Check your delivery times with your system and application suppliers, factoring in if you need an upgrade (particularly if you are a few releases behind).

     Catch the blog monthly archive at https://archive.org/details/@housingitguy

Related Post: So, how many Ghost-Ship projects have you around the place? 

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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.


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


Access a quick list of our Social Housing ICT blog posts here
Could we help you or your organisation? Our contact details are here , get in touch we will be pleased to chat about your problems and help with your organisation issues.
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