Insights

Serb Jodha

Head of Consulting - Asia Pacific
Bluefin Solutions

The Gelato Theory: De-mystifying Multi-Partner Project Engagements

I've spent time with a variety of global customers and it's become increasingly apparent that organisations are employing the services of multiple partners to become increasingly agile; especially within IT. Customers expect, when required, that partners have the ability to engage in intellectual teamwork with multiple partners - towards a common objective or deadline.

As a customer the evaluation criteria has changed. You must now not only evaluate subject matter expertise but also the collaborative and agile nature of the partner.

As a customer, are my expectations too high?  Does this process need to be any more difficult then choosing several scoops of Gelato and expect them to fuse together to provide me the ultimate flavour experience?  Begin experiment.....

It was a sunny London day (rare - yes, I know) so I strolled down to my favourite Gelateria which has become my one-stop for gelato goodness due to the variety of flavours on offer. As I gaze through the glass casing, the options begin to blend into one big haze of goodness.  Independently they offer a unique taste; but today; my craving won't be met with just one flavour. My objective is clear - combine as many varieties as possible into the best value sized cup; thereby maximizing my flavour/spend experience. As a customer - it's ultimately up to me to choose the best-fit combination. I may even take a small sample of each flavour to test the waters.

It's now decision time!  Chocolate and pistachio, and with a recommendation from my wife, coffee makes the shortlist.  I brace myself for the taste journey.  At first I scoop each one individually and it brings back the familiar tastes I am accustomed to - now dip the combination of chocolate and pistachio, and then the coffee and chocolate, and then all three!  They all seemed to work together bringing their unique flavour profiles to the table - but collaboratively exceeding my expectations!

So what knowledge have I gained from this experiment?  Is it unfair for me to say that at the simplest level - my fundamental approach and expectation was pretty much the same?

As a Customer I was expected to take the following journey:

One flavour or many?

Does achieving your requirement need the strengths of an individual partner or is this journey only going to be complete with a collaborative effort?  Don't over complicate but don't be afraid to use the strengths required to achieve your goal regardless of where they come from.

I'd like to call a friend

I can't stress enough the importance of calling a friend, a peer or tapping into the industry for firsthand experience with the partner.   It's one thing to say you're agile and collaborative; but for it to become a true value for an organisation, the partner must be employing it consistently externally and internally. Don't accept this on paper - ask for real life examples.

Can I have a small sample taste?

Of course!  Use your past engagement experience with a partner as a benchmark for their ability to collaborate and provide the agility you are looking for.  Every initiative or project with a partner should end with a closure document.  Amongst other things, this document should contain the lessons learned and a section to capture the collaborative and agile dynamics that made it the project a success or challenge.  More importantly - share this document internally with others who wish to learn from the experience or make changes on how things are done going forward.

Do I eat them one at a time or mash them together?

On any engagement involving multiple partners, agility and collaboration should not come at the expense of structure and process - although being too structured may defeat the objective.  As a customer you've chosen partners based on the individual strengths and skills they bring to the table.  Ensure there is clear ownership of the tasks whilst playing on their strengths and then manage the overlap to get you to the common objective.

So what have we learnt? As a customer you're in control of the defined vision that is to be achieved by a set of partners.  You'll hand pick them and empower them to interact and share ideas and information in a secure, real-time format allowing you as an organization to reduce costs, reduce time of delivery and quickly meet the requirements of your organization.  The success of this shouldn't depend on your ability to choose, as each may have individual strengths you desire.  The success of this will be determined by the partners themselves and their ability to demonstrate the value of collaboration and agility in the execution of the defined objectives that are in the best interest for you, the customer.