Page 109 - Straight Talk On Project Management IV

IT Project Support - How long after delivery should you be on short dial?

In a blaze of glory, the fantastic piece of software
you've been working hard on is introduced to your
client organisation. The system goes live without a hitch
- you are an IT delivery expert, after all. Each and every
requirement is delivered, the project is on-time and
within budget. Customer training was well received, and
the application is quickly in daily use delivering business
value. In short, a job well done – you crack open the
champagne and then move on to your next IT Project
with the cheers ringing in your ears.
Fast forward six months, it's a different story. The shine
has worn off, the customer is unhappy, and the
previously stable system is now the most hated
application in the department.

What happened? Because this does happen!

In most cases where IT Projects go from hero to zero soon after delivery, it is because of a lack of
adequate support.

“Each time a query has to be raised the support desk simply do not know what to do with the
application and tickets remained unresolved – they don’t who to call!” This is actual feedback I read
on an IT project just five months after delivery. End users were forced to create elaborate
workarounds. Confidence was lost.

This is how reputations are ruined.
Organisations support their applications differently and IT project teams can address this by
reframing the post-delivery landscape and working on the basics of a support service. So, for how
long should you support your project?
I remember once, during onboarding, a former colleague asking new recruits, "When do YOU think
our responsibility for an IT Project ends?"

The ink would hardly be dry on their freshly minted certificates and the theory would be fresh in
their head so almost all would answer that responsibility ended on, or shortly after, delivery.

My colleague would mimic that sound the Mr Babbage computer emitted on Family Fortunes when
a contestant gave a wrong answer.
Some would then consider that responsibility might last into a settling in period, or perhaps until
customer or end-user training was completed. Again, my colleague would make that iconic television
show sound and then smile.
"It never ends," he'd say, adding, "we are responsible for our IT Projects until the day they are
superseded."