Radio silence for a little while I know….we’ve been on a few amazing projects and working hard to close out some great deliverables. Lots of activity and lots of fun…and certainly a number of opportunities to flex and bend the old ‘vendor/reseller/enduser’ muscles when needed. Which is what prompted this post.

I have watched, not just on these projects, the proclivity of organisations whether end user or system integrator or vendor to punt problems over the wall and mentally, and physically, click the ‘resolved’ or ‘done’ button….and by god it gives me the s#@ts!

Choose your vendor well, choose your reseller well and choose your vendors well. I have seen the behaviours range from “I will own this problem and work through it with you as a team” to "Not my problem and you deal with them…until then I wont help” - bloody hell its infuriating. Better yet, collecting purchase orders, or credit card details or asking for more money when things are broken…the hide on them!!

My challenge to you is when selecting who you are working on with a project as some really simple questions to get their motivation:

Who owns the project?
Does the commercial lead walk away when the deal is signed?
When will I be seeing your crew onsite?
What denotes success in this project
Who can I call about your project performance on your last project? (and find one they don’t give you)
When do we get the keys?
What support will you give us, and what are our processes for engagement?

Don’t be the industries discussion point, or a litmus test for others. Don’t be the one this guy is talking about…