Tag Archives: Black Hole

Practicing What I Preach — ESCAPING DELETE

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ESCAPING DELETE will go on sale shortly and the “New & Improved” Reality Check will come out of the closet. Fifteen years ago we had no book or no slick website but our mission and message have remained unchanged: we help clients put wayward Information Technology projects back on track.

In 1984 I helped a large manufacturing company implement an early ERP system. My technology implementation career brought me through the hallways of the world’s largest IT consulting firms and their clients. While I continue to marvel at technology’s might, I am equally amazed at the inconsistent results that large IT projects bring. Failure, not success, remains the standard. While IT’s power and potential skyrockets, IT’s reality is full of overblown and over budget projects. Despite the fancy advertising by the IT industry, the basic management challenges confronting IT implementation haven’t changed. Potential desperately trails actual. Capability is purchased among fanfare and fanfare turns into rivers of red ink, wasted time, and massive opportunity cost.

ESCAPING DELETE is a lighthearted look at a serious problem. It debunks the IT industry’s heady claims and deflates the collective ego of those who hold sway over, and sometimes strangle, corporate IT.  I wrote the book because I firmly believe that IT will continue to be the engine of progress but that engine ought to be getting ninety miles per gallon, not nine. As Big Data becomes Big Distraction and Smartphones steal our attention from the tasks at hand, we need a massive Reality Check. It’s time to reign in IT, harness that potential, and tightly control its risk.

The Marimba tone on your iPhone is your wakeup call!  For a preview of ESCAPING DELETE, please visit Reality Check’s contact page and send me your information.

Jon Bellman

 

City Time is Party Time

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New York City is closing schools and cutting other essential services. Why?  New York City has pumped nearly $1 billion dollars into a still-failing payroll system.  You won't believe how egregious this fiasco is, but don't heap too much blame on the consultants pictured on the masthead…they are merely the foot soldiers in this failed war.

Smeldek's meaty hands are all over this one…



http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2010/03/26/2010-03-26_city_pours_722m_down_consulting_contracts_black_hole.html 



Five Observations re: CityTime

  • The consultants (Fallon, Stanca, etc., probably get paid $200K to $250K per year)
  • No technology project that is scheduled for more than eighteen months EVER works, despite what the vendors represent! That said, consulting firms love to sell corporations and municipalities on multi-year projects because they know they’ll never be accountable for actual results!  There are many reasons why these projects fail, but perhaps the most glaring is that the person who originally approved/commissioned the massive project has already been promoted to a new job without ever having finished the old one.
  • Once consultants and consulting firms are replaced by new consultants and consulting firms, total failure is all but assured because knowledge transfer is too difficult.
  • The city needs to shut down CityTime for ninety days, hire and expert to CSI or audit what’s happened, and then do a business case to determine whether any portion of the project should go forward.  
  • SAIC is probably using several other well-known subcontractors (big consulting and technology vendors) to supply consultants on this job, making it nearly impossible for SAIC senior management to control quality.


Five Questions

  • Which firm or agency has been auditing the project?
  • Has the city negotiated for substantial givebacks from the vendors?  Why not?  
  • What did the city do (reference checks, background screens, etc.) to ensure Fallon, Stanca, etc., were the best qualified consultants for the job?  Did the city merely accept SAIC’s claims of their capability for jobs that the city pays $300 per hour for?
  • Which city employees approved these jobs?  Have they been showered with “grease” by SAIC and the other vendors?  Steak houses, strip clubs, and sporting events are typical ways that the “relationship managers” from the consulting firms grease the client decision makers.  The individuals for whom CityTime has been PartyTime must be exposed.
  • What is the “consultant to employee ratio” on this project?  When consultants outnumber employees, failure is imminent.  Also, imagine the challenge in maintaining team harmony and motivation when a consultant billing $600K per year is doing the same job as an employee making $80K.  How hard would you work if the guy next to you was collecting 7.5 times what you make?