The British should look across the channel for tips on
project management rather than the Far East, says Colin
Beveridge
It never ceases to amaze me how the British and French
working cultures - separated by such a minor geographical distance
as the English Channel - can be quite so different and it is
terribly difficult for highly stressed-out and highly driven Brits
to grasp how a people with such a laid-back attitude can ever
achieve anything worthwhile. But they do.
The French have a strong track record in successfully delivering
large public projects and we could do far worse than taking a
closer look at the French way of managing. We might well learn some
very useful lessons about delivering big change, far more than our
own, allegedly superior, Anglo-Saxon work ethic might initially
allow us to countenance.
You only have to look at the sustained litany of struggling
government IT projects in the UK and wonder if we can ever make
things easier for ourselves, or if we are forever condemned to a
future where we always fail to keep the project cost, quality and
timescale plates spinning harmoniously, at tremendous expense to
our pockets and national reputation.
For the past few years now we have increasingly tried to address
these issues by looking to the East, more specifically to the Far
East, in a desperate search for cheaper and quicker IT projects. A
whole new offshore outsourcing industry awaits UK development
business with open arms and we feel ourselves inexorably drawn
towards a new systems paradigm, in the hope that we will eventually
find that elusive panacea for our diminishing budgets that will
finally allow us to do more with less.
Yes, I am sure that there are some answers to be found in India
and other emerging offshore IT economies. But I am also sure that
we should be looking much closer to home to sort out some of the
management fundamentals that will actually facilitate the true
benefits of the offshore service propositions.
After all, simply doing more of the same, in the traditional UK
style, with cheaper overseas resources is not good business, or did
I miss a meeting where we finally agreed to dispense with common
sense?
I think that we really need to get the management basics right,
before we all hurtle, lemming-like, towards the offshore
outsourcing cliff.
And in this instance, I think that we should spend some time
looking at how they do things in France.
Don’t be fooled by the superficial, devil-may-care appearance of
the French. Behind their carefully groomed façade of insouciance,
they are really closet bureaucrats par excellence.
Admittedly their desire for orderliness may seem to the
untrained eye more like bloody-mindedness but I think that closer
investigation is merited, particularly given our own challenged
circumstances and deteriorating track record.
A word of caution, however, before you all book the next
available Eurostar train in search of the Holy Grail. Don’t bother
going to France until September. Because one of the first lessons
we can learn from the French is how to have a proper break in
August.
They don’t trade their summer sunshine for a project plan doomed
to inexorable slippage caused by the frequent and random absences
of key players at critical points, which is what all too often
happens with UK projects scheduled to run through the summer
months.
Maybe we too should adopt the simple approach of starting major
projects in September, rather than April, and see what that can do
for our productivity and performance.
Maybe, like the French, we should only do business change if
there is an “R” in the month, leaving us with plenty of time to
reflect, plan and prepare properly during the pleasant weather
months of May through August.
Just think, we might end up with better projects and a bit of
sun on our backs, instead of disappointed users…
Colin Beveridge is an independent
consultant and leading commentator on technology management issues.
He can be contacted atcolin@colin.beveridge.name