IT and Telecoms
‘Long term’ isn’t something that is easily realised by businesses in this sector. The pace of change is relentless and the risks of disputes arising out of projects and supply contracts are significant.
Understanding the sector is key to knowing how and when to support businesses through demanding times. Early intervention at the the point when things start to go wrong will bring tangible benefits to all concerned. Keeping the project on track, revisions to scope, realigning expectations and dealing with costs are thought to be normal project management functions. The difference is that the mediator has an independent view, a confidential ear and is on the side of all concerned with experience to deal with needs and interests, short term or long term.
Mediation is a simple process which deals with complex issues in real time with the people who have a shared responsibility to deliver. In experienced hands, mediation can restore the interface between the business of technology and the end user, thereby restoring the essential partnership between performance and experience.
Amanda has helped parties negotiate successful outcomes for some extremely complex, high value disputes involving household names in mobile and internet technologies.
IT Case study
On-line booking system for railway maintenance.
Background issues:
- Perceived conflict between commercial performance and safety performance.
- Politically sensitive background following the Paddington rail crash and performance demands from the government affecting all parties.
- Regulator imposed standard and short time scales for implementation.
- 1200+ contractors to engage initially.
- Union engagement.
- Provisional estimate for web based maintenance booking system £1m and procurement process and traditional project management process would take over 18 months.
- New skills and training required – traditional training programmes would take too long.
Solution
From conception to full implementation took 12 weeks including specification, development, beta testing and training. This was achieved through a series of mediated sessions conducted with key parties and frequently those who were the most cynical or critical of the overall standard due to be introduced. The sessions were conducted by phone, workshop and individually as the issues arose. The programme was developed from previously unused technology and was recognised by Microsoft® as the first use of .net technology for this application in the world.
Corrections, upgrades and ‘wish lists’ were implemented on the following basis: if it could be done by the end of the day it was. Otherwise it would be done within 7 days. And if it was not urgent ie on the wish list, it would be done on the next upgrade and therefore within one month.
A new role was created for people with existing strengths in the required areas. People self-selected for the new role out of commitment to the process, improving safety for their colleagues and advancing progress in an area in which they were personally competent and therefore which caused frustration at work because the resources and applications were not available to them.
The training was carried out with the initial core group of users through a combination of online training, peer-to-peer training and coaching with access to trainer/mentor at anytime and an online forum for sharing issues and solutions. The software was designed with the mental models of ‘planners’ in mind and with a simple and intuitive user interface.
Problems resolved: access to bandwidth, equipment, involvement of contractors, information sharing with parties who were not the direct responsibility of the client, procurement and budgetary constraints, producing print versions which complied with the Rule Book (changing the Rule Book is equivalent to changing legislation). User engagement reduced resistance, decisions made by the people who would have to comply with the standard.
Cost of the project:
Including development, 12 months secure hosting with failsafe provisions for 24/7/365 access and £50,000 for maintenance and upgrade for 12 months. £125,000. The cost is a remarkable part of the success of this process.
A similar project was announced for the NHS for booking consultants appointments (Choose and Book) shortly after the implementation of this one (2003). The cost of that project rose from an initial contract for £64.5m to something over £1bn. In June 2007, the following appeared in ComputerWorld UK reporting on the The British Medical Association’s annual conference in Torquay,
’...has passed a resolution warning that the “exorbitantly expensive” project is “doomed to fail”. Earlier on at the conference, acting BMA chair Dr Sam Everington said NPfIT was in “a sorry state”.
“Estimated costs of upward of £20bn, interminable delays, the chaotic shambles that is Choose and Book, growing concerns about patient confidentiality and security – it’s a wonderful exercise in how not to do things,” he said.’
The basic differences between the two systems was server capacity to deal with the number of hits, ownership of the solution which lay with the end users in one and ‘elsewhere’ with the other and in the first instance this was a ‘no frills’ design – functionality first, aesthetics later!
Overall project involvement:
2 years (running concurrently with 5 other similar issues).
From concept to full implementation:
12 weeks.
In Practice
Showed great determination to achieve an acceptable outcome. Adapted well to the local environment. Good practical/commercial approach to drafting legal agreements. Showed patience and calmness throughout but also displayed ability to be impatient at the appropriate times. Right temperament, personality and skills for mediation work. 
