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IT/Software Development Vendors are booking cruises with the money your Company is throwing at them!

 Dear IT/Compliance, Procurement and Auditing; your IT/software development vendors are booking cruises with the money being thrown at them!

Your IT/software development vendors’ roles, responsibilities, staffing and billing practices are most likely going on unchecked.  As a result, the company you work so hard to protect, could in fact be bleeding money to these “vetted and procured” IT/Vendors!

 Here’s the (all too common) scenario:

• Your company is knee deep in IT/software development vendors for application software development. 
• These IT/Vendors come in as Project Managers (or worse; run your PMO).
• The PM’s staff the projects they’re managing with developers (and testers) from the vendor they too represent.

You become buried in vendor  performance metrics so colorful and detailed you have no idea if you’re behind schedule, on schedule or ahead of schedule. The time spent on creating these creative colors, charts and graphs is wasted; they mean nothing!

This all too common scenario is a red flag!

If you disagree, then tell me what constitutes raising one in your area of expertise?

• Too many fat fingered password attempts?
• Clean desk violations?
• Missing receipts on expense reports?

Well if that’s true (and I hope it’s not) I suggest re-allocating most of the money going towards any of these and apply it to some much needed  “maker-checking” on the day to day business practices of your IT/software development vendors!

Talk Me Down!

In your “metric centric” world of Corporate tracking, where’s the metrics on IT/vendor compliance?

• What’s the turnover rate on their projects?
• How about the cost of re-training and constant knowledge transfer?
• What about the quality of the deliverables they’re producing or the never ending project costs?
• Any “maker-checker” procedures in place, specific to decisions, actions and behaviors?

Yes, your IT/ Software development Vendor executives are booking cruises with the money your company is throwing at them!

• Tell me what I just described is NOT your problem; it is!
• Say it’s sour grapes from a disgruntled employee; it’s not!
• Be predictable and tell me go away son you bother me; terrible!
• At the very least, be present and say something; please!

Talk Me Down!

Don’t go down the fixed price outsourced route as your answer.  We can have a “talk me down” session on that mismanaged fiasco too, if you like.

As far as I’m concerned:

• If I’m an internal auditor, am I OK with this? NO!
• If I’m a compliance officer, am I OK with this? NO!
• If I’m a Vendor procurement officer, am I OK with this? NO!

But you guys are?

 

• If your IT/vendor/PM looks to staff their project with their own developers  is that OK?
• Is it OK if your IT/vendor/PM is controlling the progress, duration and status of a project they’re managing?
• Is it OK if your IT/vendor/PM assigns billable overtime to developers from the same vendor he/she represents?

Any idea how much this is costing your company; on your watch?   Your FTE developers, testers and PM’s deserve an answer!

What can YOU do?

• Get involved!
• Ask, observe, contribute!
• Attend some of these IT/vendor led project meetings!
• Brainstorm together to develop better vendor assessments, legal contracts, procurement standards and better overall internal communication.
• Put some “maker-checker” procedures in place to keep the vendor honest.

Let’s fix this; it’s the right thing to do!

Charlie Lobosco; Agile influencer and Delivery Expeditor
I fight for developers, reduce IT/Vendor dependency and transform resources into partners!

 

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