I’ve been reflecting quite a bit lately on how to help improve the inner workings between client and vendor in the IT arena.  I will add my thoughts and discovery as it comes in, but for now I have enough for a good start.

Since recently stepping in as a consultant / sr. program manager resource for a large client with a vendor, I noticed an amazing amount of “noise” causing large quantities of chaos when teeing up and executing projects.  There are multiple resources on both sides that are responsible for seeing through specific projects.  Email traffic, phone calls, issue logging and action item tracking has been all over the board and it had gotten to a point where it was a daily challenge to circle the wagons to make sure everyone was up to speed on the statuses of each initiative.

The one very alarming concern with this is that many of these projects are dependent on each other in one way or another…be it a code dependency, an operational impact, business priority, etc, etc.

We’ve decided that the best way to solve this problem is to have a static resource at both the client and vendor ends responsible for keeping a pulse on the broader picture, knowing enough details to make sound decisions and ultimately dictate priority….or at least recommend the best path to follow and let the business dictate priority based on the information known.

Doing this will hopefully lead to greater efficiency and success for all initiatives, leading to more revenue at a lower cost.  It will also give back to those being pulled in to all directions the time to stay focused on the tasks they need to, to bring their respective projects to closure.

I will continue to post updates on the success of this – but I feel very confident that this one step alone will solve many problems that have come up in recent years between this client and vendor.