24 August, 2005

Breaking the chain of command

We have a business analyst in at the moment to navigate the Council's labyrinthine purchasing process and prepare specifications for the software that would have made Death Spiral a breeze if the Project Office hadn't decided it made more sense to buy the software two-thirds of the way through rather than at the start when it would have been most advantageous.

But, y'know, if we'd bought it at the start then we wouldn't have had all this triplication of effort and working in the dark, and where would be the fun in that?

Anyway, the BA's done an impressive job so far, and has put together pretty much all the documentation in just over two weeks. He's also upset PMv1 in the process.

This is partly because he didn't use the approved method - he was supposed to hold numerous meetings; kill thousands of trees circulating draft documents that don't get read; and then hold more meetings where people alternate between boredom and fighting with other attendees over who has responsibility for what.

Mostly, though, it's because he was talking to individual stakeholders, identifying their needs, and producing results. And that's just not on.

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