I\u2019m not sure who first coined the term \u201cshelfware.\u201d\u00a0 Most of our IT departments have all sorts of stuff we have purchased that we intend to implement but just haven\u2019t done so yet.\u00a0 Or we have implementations that we have abandoned, or we have technology and strategy roadmaps that are mid way through because we ran out of funding, or got stopped by a temporary glitch we didn\u2019t have the mental will to push through.\u00a0 All in all, we have too much in the way of \u201cshelfware\u201d whether it\u2019s actual software or just projects sitting around.\u00a0 And we don\u2019t finish enough of them.<\/p>\n
As a consultant, I\u2019m always glad for the role I have.\u00a0 To be completely honest, I\u2019m a strategist (whatever that means).\u00a0 I\u2019m not good at the detailed stuff \u2013 testing and QA always drove me crazy, and I\u2019m a really bad coder \u2013 because I like shortcuts and don\u2019t like to figure out where I missed a semicolon.\u00a0 In one sense, I\u2019m really glad I don\u2019t usually have to stick around for the implementation of what I come up with.\u00a0 It\u2019s nice to hand off to people at application vendors or system integrators to run an implementation because they are much better at that stuff than I am.\u00a0 At the same time, it\u2019s incredible to me the amount of strategy projects that get held up or never get going after I leave.<\/p>\n
In most cases, organization\u2019s are just not staffed well enough to handle additional project loads.\u00a0 The realities of day to day operations cause them to lose focus, and these organizations also seem to have issues with using external consultants to do implementation work.\u00a0 Granted it\u2019s the most costly way to go, but it\u2019s also the easiest way to maintain your focus on the plan.\u00a0 Internal PMO organizations don\u2019t usually like to play around with HR stuff, and that\u2019s a shame.<\/p>\n
Lexy Martin<\/a> had a post a while back about unfinishable objects.<\/p>\n I’ve noticed, however, that in my studio I have a few UFOs — a quilter’s term for “unfinished objects.” I like to think of myself as not a quitter — as someone who finishes what I start. The UFO from that class, I’ve decided will never be finished as originally planned at that class. And, oh my…it feels good to recognize that. I declare it totally unfinishable! Of course, I will go through some doubts: 1. Is it unfinishable because my techniques are not up to it? 2. Is it unfinishable because I didn’t like the teacher and she did not help me to excel? 3. Is it unfinishable because…. You know what, I don’t need to know the reason. What I do know is that by declaring that one effort unfinishable,I feel ever so much more creative! Plus, it frees up one of my favorite fabrics that I want to use in another quilt project that is to be a gift for dear friends.\u00a0 ((Martin, Alexia, December 22, 2009.\u00a0 \u201cGiving yourself permission not to finish frees up energy – another quilting\/work intersection.\u201d\u00a0 Retrived from http:\/\/lexymartin.blogspot.com on December 25, 2009.))<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The first is what I already mentioned above.\u00a0 Sometimes I need to plan better for an organization that is just not willing to approve an ongoing project with an external implementor.\u00a0 Organizations that really want to implement SAP on their own after deciding it\u2019s the best fit for them\u2026. Well\u2026 perhaps it\u2019s my fault that I only told them 9 times and not 10 times that it\u2019s really unwise to try to do it inhouse.\u00a0 That\u2019s a bit tongue in check, but the reality is that perhaps it\u2019s my fault that even with the best intentions, internal project teams fail to get funding that they need and just can\u2019t handle the workload themselves.\u00a0 That comes to Lexy\u2019s second point.\u00a0 Consultants often don\u2019t provide a backup plan.\u00a0 We put so much time into preparing a business case that justifies the first option that when an organization can\u2019t implement an ERP or global service delivery model (or whatever), that we didn\u2019t tell them what\u2019s next.\u00a0 Maybe just putting their 15 different payrolls on ADP was the right way to go, and they would have gotten funding for it.\u00a0 Not to avoid any mea culpa\u2019s that should be coming my way, but consultants don\u2019t always have the organizational knowledge to know how well you\u2019ll be able to navigate through the approval and funding processes, we\u2019re almost always guided by your judgment and the judgment of the executive sponsors.\u00a0 If you say you can do it, we kind of believe you.<\/p>\n That brings us to the last point.\u00a0 Sometimes, instead of blindly plugging along in the current state, or leaving a project on the shelf and pretending you\u2019ll get to it eventually, you just need to get back to square one and start over.\u00a0 Usually, it\u2019s not really square one, most consultants will have brought a number of good models for you to go after, and it\u2019s just a re-evaluation of the new best fit with the new funding realities in mind.\u00a0 The point is, not to let anything sit there and fester while you do nothing.\u00a0 There was a good reason to tackle a project to begin with, and that reason is still there, whether it be service delivery, technology, process or anything else.\u00a0 Declare it a loss, and reevaluate the project so you can get going again.<\/p>\n UFO\u2019s: <\/span>Unfinished Objects<\/p>\n http:\/\/lexymartin.blogspot.com\/2009\/12\/giving-yourself-permission-not-to.html<\/a><\/p>\n I\u2019m not sure who first coined the term \u201cshelfware.\u201d <\/span>Most of our IT departments have all sorts of stuff we have purchased that we intend to implement but just haven\u2019t done so yet. <\/span>Or we have implementations that we have abandoned, or we have technology and strategy roadmaps that are mid way through because we ran out of funding, or got stopped by a temporary glitch we didn\u2019t have the mental will to push through. <\/span>All in all, we have too much in the way of \u201cshelfware\u201d whether it\u2019s actual software or just projects sitting around. <\/span>And we don\u2019t finish enough of them.<\/p>\n As a consultant, I\u2019m always glad for the role I have. <\/span>To be completely honest, I\u2019m a strategist (whatever that means). <\/span>I\u2019m not good at the detailed stuff \u2013 testing and QA always drove me crazy, and I\u2019m a really bad coder \u2013 because I like shortcuts and don\u2019t like to figure out where I missed a semicolon. <\/span>In one sense, I\u2019m really glad I don\u2019t usually have to stick around for the implementation of what I come up with. <\/span>It\u2019s nice to hand off to people at application vendors or system integrators to run an implementation because they are much better at that stuff than I am. <\/span>At the same time, it\u2019s incredible to me the amount of strategy projects that get held up or never get going after I leave. <\/span><\/p>\n In most cases, organization\u2019s are just not staffed well enough to handle additional project loads. <\/span>The realities of day to day operations cause them to lose focus, and these organizations also seem to have issues with using external consultants to do implementation work. <\/span>Granted it\u2019s the most costly way to go, but it\u2019s also the easiest way to maintain your focus on the plan. <\/span>Internal PMO organizations don\u2019t usually like to play around with HR stuff, and that\u2019s a shame.<\/p>\n Lexy Martin had a post a while back about unfinishable objects.<\/p>\n I’ve noticed, however, that in my studio I have a few UFOs — a quilter’s term for “unfinished objects.” I like to think of myself as not a quitter — as someone who finishes what I start. The UFO from that class, I’ve decided will never be finished as originally planned at that class. And, oh my…it feels good to recognize that. I declare it totally unfinishable! Of course, I will go through some doubts: 1. Is it unfinishable because my techniques are not up to it? 2. Is it unfinishable because I didn’t like the teacher and she did not help me to excel? 3. Is it unfinishable because…. You know what, I don’t need to know the reason. What I do know is that by declaring that one effort unfinishable,I feel ever so much more creative! Plus, it frees up one of my favorite fabrics that I want to use in another quilt project that is to be a gift for dear friends. <\/span>((Martin, Alexia, December 22, 2009. <\/span>\u201cGiving yourself permission not to finish frees up energy – another quilting\/work intersection.\u201d <\/span>Retrived from http:\/\/lexymartin.blogspot.com<\/a> on December 25, 2009.))<\/p>\n The first is what I already mentioned above. <\/span>Sometimes I need to plan better for an organization that is just not willing to approve an ongoing project with an external implementor. <\/span>Organizations that really want to implement SAP on their own after deciding it\u2019s the best fit for them\u2026. Well\u2026 perhaps it\u2019s my fault that I only told them 9 times and not 10 times that it\u2019s really unwise to try to do it inhouse. <\/span>That\u2019s a bit tongue in check, but the reality is that perhaps it\u2019s my fault that even with the best intentions, internal project teams fail to get funding that they need and just can\u2019t handle the workload themselves. <\/span>That comes to Lexy\u2019s second point. <\/span>Consultants often don\u2019t provide a backup plan. <\/span>We put so much time into preparing a business case that justifies the first option that when an organization can\u2019t implement an ERP or global service delivery model (or whatever), that we didn\u2019t tell them what\u2019s next. <\/span>Maybe just putting their 15 different payrolls on ADP was the right way to go, and they would have gotten funding for it. <\/span>Not to avoid any mea culpa\u2019s that should be coming my way, but consultants don\u2019t always have the organizational knowledge to know how well you\u2019ll be able to navigate through the approval and funding processes, we\u2019re almost always guided by your judgment and the judgment of the executive sponsors. <\/span>If you say you can do it, we kind of believe you.<\/p>\n That brings us to the last point. <\/span>Sometimes, instead of blindly plugging along in the current state, or leaving a project on the shelf and pretending you\u2019ll get to it eventually, you just need to get back to square one and start over. <\/span>Usually, it\u2019s not really square one, most consultants will have brought a number of good models for you to go after, and it\u2019s just a re-evaluation of the new best fit with the new funding realities in mind. <\/span>The point is, not to let anything sit there and fester while you do nothing. <\/span>There was a good reason to tackle a project to begin with, and that reason is still there, whether it be service delivery, technology, process or anything else. <\/span>Declare it a loss, and reevaluate the project so you can get going again.<\/p>\n <\/mce><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I\u2019m not sure who first coined the term \u201cshelfware.\u201d\u00a0 Most of our IT departments have all sorts of stuff we have purchased that we intend to implement but just haven\u2019t done so yet.\u00a0 Or we have implementations that we have…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33,8,2,34,36],"tags":[452,103,107,106],"class_list":["post-1312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-finance","category-strategies","category-hr-technology","category-implementation","category-vendor-management","tag-implementation","tag-lexy-martin","tag-shelfware","tag-unfinished-objects"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/systematichr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1312","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/systematichr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/systematichr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/systematichr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/systematichr.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1312"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/systematichr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1312\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1313,"href":"https:\/\/systematichr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1312\/revisions\/1313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/systematichr.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/systematichr.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/systematichr.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}