B08 Fake promises – resolve

Preventing, identifying, defining and resolving fake promises

Not once organisations have signed up to fake (often inexistent or impossible) promises. By the time this becomes clear it is too late. It is customary that at that point denial kicks in from both sides, client and supplier. It’s better that these false promises are caught earlier, before signing on the dotted line. That’s one option we can assist with. However if that was not the case because the project is passed that stage, there’s more we can do.

The next logical step, if there is a suspicion of fake promise, is to identify if there is a fake promise that we are dealing with. Usually a technical documentation audit or some other type of assessment (including documented conversations) uncovers beyond reasonable doubt if that is the case or not. If we are indeed dealing with a fake promise, then various options become available at this stage. They all require technical expertise coupled with a very solid technical conceptual vocabulary, experience and crystal clear and creative communications skills. These special communication skills are needed so that one can explain the technical aspects (and options together with consequences) to non technical decision makers.

The line of command in a typical IT implementation project goes from the CFO, who pays for it, to the project sponsor/director, who’s team is going to use the application, to an IT programme/project manager, who should manage it, and then to the actual project workstream leads and individual project team members. The actual project team members (and sometimes but not always the workstream leads) are the ones that have the technical skills, of breath and depth, sufficient or not, to see potential risks and uncover issues and deal with them.

Only that in reality these people have little or no authority. Even if they have not relinquished their integrity and are prepared to speak out at the risk of being removed, then office/project politics and individual interests/fears kick in with a vengeance. That’s how when project progress is reported upwards through the established mechanisms, reality can become fake itself. There are often white lies that are employed for this purpose and some have become very good at doing it, later on, finding a poor individual as an escape goat for the near disaster which at some point will erupt in full view of everyone concerned. What is described here is a well recognised generic challenge named in the industry “the shift to green”. They say that all projects have it.

Fake promises can appear at any time during an IT project implementation. Anybody involved in an IT implementation project (including all in the chain of command) can produce them at any time (deliberately or not). They can take many forms and come in many shapes and flavours. The causes can be many. Here are just a few: unrealistic (politely called untruths) but documented claims, insufficiently skilled (heterogeneously skilled) supplier/client consultants, incorrect attitude, insufficient communication skills.

Resolving the fake promises challenges at any stage in a project depends first on identifying, accepting and defining the challenges. Then one must resolve and eliminate the causes of it. Authority is needed for this step. Depending where in the chain of command the cause is located the authority needed has to be above it (either intrinsic authority or invested authority). The previous statement can be interpreted as removing the individuals that are causing the problems. It often comes to that in real life, however it doesn’t need to. It is far better that the individuals who cause the issues in the first place are educated and trained so that they contribute to the resolution themselves as part of a concerted and often high intensity effort.

The mitigation for all fake promises is to have on board, not necessarily on a permanent basis, someone technically able to see through the fog and gently sound the alarm before the fire takes hold and devastates the place. Depending at what stage the fire is discovered (better prevented though) then various remedies can be applied, including taking over the responsibility that created the trouble in the first place. Technical ability is a necessary quality for being able to do so. In the technical ability we include a substantial amount of proven experience and a track record. We do indeed have all that for IT projects.

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