Comments on: Let’s Kill Off RFPs!

By: More Of Naomi’s “Killer” Scenarios: Worker Lifecycle Events

More Of Naomi’s “Killer” Scenarios: Worker Lifecycle Events — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 17:53:52 +0000

[...] you can get right here. But you will need to learn how to turn these scenario topics into full scenarios and to conduct a full HRM delivery system platform lifecycle, from HRM and HRMDS strategy to [...]

By: | PseudoHR

| PseudoHR — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 01:58:46 +0000

[...] next at the Carnival Naomi Bloom suggests we rid ourselves of those pesky RFP’s; a scenario package she says, is the way to [...]

By: Naomi Bloom

Naomi Bloom — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 21:20:10 +0000

I found it interesting that Garrett posted the entirety of his own blog’s latest post here rather than providing just the link, but I appreciate his taking the time to comment. There’s clearly more on his mind than my suggestion that RFPs are a poor mechanism for assessing HRM software or even BPO capabilities and fit, so I’ll look forward to his elaboration on his blog of the several project failure themes in his comment here.

By: Garrett O'Brien

Garrett O'Brien — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 20:40:09 +0000

The scenario as well as the RFP approach has been around a lot longer than any of us — think Leonardo da Vinci… As long as the needs of the object (in this case, HRM) are being met (as opposed to desires and wants), scenario thinking has created many innovative approaches, solutions, services and products. And so hasn’t a well formed RFP… It is not the tools that makes or breaks a project – you can have all the right tools and still have a failed project…

When basic needs are overlooked and replaced or conjoined with desires and wants for the business, everything starts to get muddy and the dominoes can start to fall. There is also the issue of proper assessment from the very beginning. Too many times the assessment lacks proper discernment – the approach used is full of knowledge and can lack the wisdom of experience. With as many resources in the HRM field, you would think this is not a problem but too many think inside the box as it is more comfortable there…

For more than 18 years, my company has been called in more often than not to put out a fire that is blazing from the lack of focus of the basic business needs as well as a poorly performed needs assessment that set dominoes falling everywhere. We walk in and the client as well as their provider wants to get everything back on track. As the needs assessment come before the RFI, before the RFP and is early stages of the scenario thinking, the leverage point is found with the quality of the needs assessment…

No matter what approach is used – RFI / RFP and/or scenario — sticking to the basics with discernment always keeps everything and everyone on track. My own company has an approach that has been honed to just do that and is a combination of all three.

Dismissing the RFP outright (as well as the undervalued RFI)? There is a tendency to look at the tool that is not working properly as the problem rather than asking if the tool being used properly… Every tool has its demands and needs, and every time the tool is not giving the desired results we blame the tool and not the means in which that tool is being applied and dismiss the demands we wish to ignore as not relevant to the project. Many approaches start their focus on the middle, top or bottom while the bottom is usually ignored in too many cases we have seen (middle management, C-level and end users)… Make things painful enough for any of the three and the triple-braided cord of productivity at all three levels that can be had is broken…

Every tool today is not new — it has been revamped, re-invented, remolded into something different… We have tools that work when they are applied properly and many just say someone is skilled or lucky for a project to come to fruition successfully. What lacks in the projects that have the right tools is the wisdom to apply and use the tools properly… this is true for both the client and the provider. Too much faith is placed on knowledge too much dismissal is given to the experienced. Stand back long enough and we all see everyone return to the basics at a much later date.

The lack of proper discernment between what is and what is not a need for the business is more the reason for failures than anything else… I am a private pilot and the planes have all the right tools we need yet the monthly NSFB reports indicates more often than not that an accident was pilot error and not the fault of the tools used by the pilot. Business is no different…

Focus on discernment is not something we learn in college, from textbooks, from the web — we learn it through knowledge and experience… whether it be our own experience or the experience of others, discernment takes development… For my money? Merge scenario, RFI and RFP anytime… with a heavy dose of discernment throughout the project…

By: Naomi Bloom

Naomi Bloom — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 01:03:56 +0000

Tim, I’ve used scenarios for more than twenty years to (1) develop HRM business models and strategies, (2) develop HRM delivery system business models, strategies, and designs, (3) to evaluate/select/implement HRM software and BPO, (4) to design/develop specific HRM plans/policies/business rules/processes/workflows/you name it, and all of this has been done using a Scenarios “Starter Kit,” which can be deployed without too much specialized knowledge of domain models, and my much, much larger and licensable HRM Business Model “Starter Kit,” which does take much more training/specialized KSAOCs to use effectively. These same scenarios are the basis of the use cases that my software vendor clients develop as the product definition and so on. Scenarios are a terrific foundation for so much of what we do, and I really appreciate your feedback. Talk to you soon. Naomi

By: The End of the Scripted Scenario Demo Era

The End of the Scripted Scenario Demo Era — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 18:05:36 +0000

[...] Bloom’s recent posts (here and here) on scripted scenarios were a good memory jog to write this post. I have thought a [...]

By: Tim Palmer

Tim Palmer — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 14:49:30 +0000

Naomi, I really like this idea. I’ve been using scenarios in my outsourcing advisory work for some time for three purposes:
1) as part of selection processes – helps support or even cut down those dreaded RFPs
2) as part of due diligence – helps expose misunderstandings wilful or otherwise
3) as part of making the contract work – building mutual understanding between teams of how to work

It’s a really good way to expose, for example, the boundaries of what triggers a change control process, or how a service issue would trigger a diagnosis and continuous improvement action.

I like your structure Naomi, thanks for sharing.