1. Lack of constancy of purpose
2. Emphasis on short-term profits
3. Evaluation by performance, merit rating, or annual review of performance
4. Mobility of management
5. Running a company on visible figures alone
6. Excessive medical costs
7. Excessive costs of warranty, fueled by lawyers who work for contingency fees

“A Lesser Category of Obstacles” includes

1. Neglecting long-range planning
2. Relying on technology to solve problems
3. Seeking examples to follow rather than developing solutions
4. Excuses, such as “Our problems are different”

Deming’s advocacy of the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle, his 14 Points, and Seven Deadly Sins have had a huge influence outside of just manufacturing.

The statement of work (SOW) defines the effort required for the completion of a desktop outsourcing solution.

2. Applicable Documents

Related documents that can accompany this document are as follows:

• RFP/RFI as applicable
• Standards
  • Vendor solution standards
  • ITIL/ISO20000
  • Governance (BS7799/ISO17799)

3. Requirements

Management of solution lifecycle, which is sequential in the large and iterative in the small. Sequential phases are described as: inception, elaboration, construction and transition.
3.1 Inception

The inception phase relates to activities undertaken to understand the deal scope from a commercial and technical perspective including the following:

• Establishing solution timetable
• Reading all available documentation RFI, RFP
• Establishing a clear brief from client/engagement team

3.2 Elaboration
The elaboration phase is the assembly of the required resources and shaping of the approach to create a solution which includes the following:

• Identifying and engaging internal resources
• Identifying and engaging external resources
• Performing benchmark analysis
• Defining the shape of the deal/proposed delivery architecture.

3.3 Construction

The construction phase is the detailed definition of the services including the following:
Completion of statement of work (SOW) including supporting service schedules, roles and responsibilities and SLA’s/KPI’s to address the following:

• Service Design
  • Service desk, IMAC, Break Fix Maintenance
  • Incident, Problem, Change
  • Fulfilment
  • HR Solution (TUPE)
• Governance Processes
• Maintenance of risk logs
• Mitigation of risk
• Completion of review/sign off processes
• Completion of appropriate proposal schedules

3.4 Transition

The transition phase is negotiation phase through to contract signature and handover to delivery including the following:

• Supporting negotiation process
• Leading due diligence activities
• Maintaining solution documentation prior to delivery handover
• Delivery handover

So what happens when you get an inbalance?

Business Users & Technologists vs Service Delivery.

Typically this is the situation where something gets designed which is technically perfect, visionary and wonderful but is impossible to deliver.

The manufacturing industry tried to head this off with the championing of something called Concurrent or Simultaneous Engineering.

The principals of Concurrent or Simultaneous Engineering still apply today.   Ultimately a service will need to be delivered and in order to achieve the target ROI.

I was reminded of this recently when I was asked to give my thoughts on the quality of proposals for upgrading an active web site.

We are talking about a business user here who has been succesful in promoting an offering, but wants to take it too the next stage.

The proposals did not appear to speak to the brief that had been prepared, therefore failed to engage with the client at an appropriate level.

How many times have we talked of the need for listening to the client and to what extent do we really listen?

• Business Users (Directors, Managers, Owners)
• Technologists (IT specialists)
• Service Delivery (People that deliver the services)

Business Users are the customer who define what they want in business terms. The may not be aware of how it should be done through technology or indeed how that should be delivered.

Technologists know the best way of doing it from a technological perspective based on their expertise. What they may not be so skilled at is putting this into a business context.

Service Delivery can deliver the project based on the constraints placed upon them, however they will implement in such a way that enables them to maintain their cost base. Change from a service delivery perspective drives costs, therefore should be resisted.

The role of the solution architect is to make sure that these three actors work together in a complimentary way to deliver value in the context of the Business.

There is alot of truth in what he is saying, however I think that many companies are in real trouble in this respect and therefore sticking plaster is valid prior to getting to the source of the problem. That doesn’t mean getting hooked up on the ITIL and it’s cohorts who have spotted a value add niche!