Workplace Engineering

So by now you’ve figured out that this is pretty much entirely focused on outsourcing partnerships.

Particularly in an outsourcing partnership, an often unstated goal of the partnership is the transfer of knowledge from one partner to the other while keeping it available for both parties during the life of the partnership. While much of the technical knowledge may be documented as well as possibly in the best practice process charts and proposal documents, much of the organizational knowledge on how to get things done and the nuances of the service or operation is held within the heads of the people currently doing it.

This knowledge is critical importance during the early stages of a transition. People that believe they are being poorly treated or feel insecure may decide to “jump before pushed” or withhold that knowledge they have built. 

A solid retention strategy that explicitly targets key personnel before, during and after implementation is a highly effective way of preventing the brain drain. Communicating widely, clearly and openly during the entire process increases confidence and makes it more likely that people will stick around.

In addition to underestimating the effort and time required to plan for and procure a partner, the resources and effort required to ensure a successful transition are also often underestimated. The transition phase can last for six to eighteen months after a contract is signed. The results of underinvestment here can result in an unacceptable reduction in service levels and in the worst cases early failure of the relationship.

For a client, this underinvestment can be the result of leaving too small a team in place (or not leaving one at all) to manage to the relationship or not having the necessary skills.

For the vendor partner, this may be the result of leaving the transition team in place for too short a period or rotating key people away from the contract to meet the pressures of other new contracts. For both client and vendor it may also be the result of a complete lack of understanding of the impact that the change may have.

Commercial realities mean that these issues cannot always be avoided, but they can be mitigated through the development of a clear and unambiguous transition plan and lots of feedback between the partners on how the transition is going, developing risks, actions and next steps.

Chris Spagnulo in Commons Blog reports that according to a survey 40% of CIOs are indifferent to the quality of software they produce. Chris rightly reports that the costs of failed software in a business are tremendous. I’ve heard horror stories of automated bank account payment systems pulling a monthly payment from an account more than ten times in one night due to a glitch and key systems dropping out on a whim.

I hadn’t quite realized how lucky I’ve been to work with a few of CIOs and IT professionals that are fanatical about quality and understand the that a workman is only as good as their tools, yet based upon personal experience I can’t say that these statistics surprise me.