This topic almost became a 10 episode Podcast.
It’s where the rubber meets the road.
The team that decides whether your company lives or dies:
Delivery. (aka Services)
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Lessons From The Trenches
Live or Die – The Truth About The Delivery Team.
Nothing is more important than your company’s ability to deliver.
It will decide if your business lives or dies. And in some cases, it’ll determine if your customers business lives or dies.
It’s true for all companies. And the business applications and software space is no exception.
But there’s a problem:
Hot and Cold Hurts.
Delivery is easy when a business is new.
Every software project starts from scratch: a clean slate and no technical debt. Everything happens at lightspeed, and it’s bliss.
Even rescue projects are simple. After all, the new team is working to fix someone else’s mess. The customer is optimistic:
“This time, we’ll get it right.”
But that doesn’t last long. The pressure builds, and the cracks start to show. The delivery team begins to run hot and cold. The customers become frustrated, and the trickle of escalations can quickly become a torrent of abuse.
It isn’t unique to companies starting in the business applications and software space. It’s an issue that seems to creep into even the most experienced teams from time to time.
Recently, I spoke to an admired CEO from our ecosystem. He ran a successful business, and still, he said:
“There were extended periods where I spent 30% to 40% of my time dealing with customer escalations.”
That’s insane, and it’s a recipe for disaster.
You can imagine what effect this has on the talent pool!
But Why?
Why do delivery teams run hot and cold?
There are four possible causes:
- Pressure – Too much pressure means shortcuts. And shortcuts lead to the dark side.
- Boredom – Repetitive tasks and “more of the same old” projects make intelligent developers and consultants bored. Boredom leads to apathy. Apathy leads to the dark side.
- Complacency – Also known as “The disease of victory.” Getting so comfortable winning that one stops doing what previously ensured victory. Ultimately leading to, you guessed it, the dark side.
- Knowledge – Or rather the lack of knowledge, especially when working on a rapidly evolving technology platform.
Each one has its own cause and effect. And each one has its own rehabilitation process. But you’ll need to contact me to discuss that in more detail.
[SIDE NOTE] On the topic of knowledge:
Many years ago, Joel Lindstrom told me:
“My knowledge is potentially redundant every time Microsoft release a new version, and that keeps me focused on learning what’s new and writing about it.”
Psst: If you don’t know who Joel is, he’s a long time CRM and Dynamics 365 MVP, experienced practice lead, and rising Instagram and TikTok star (soon to be viral with lovers of dad jokes).
But that leaves us with the big question:
What about the best delivery teams?
The best delivery teams are built in the classroom and proven on the project battlefield.
And without fail, they have three core abilities:
- Ability to learn
- Ability to communicate
- Ability to replicate
I have never seen a successful delivery team that doesn’t possess all of these traits.
Ability to learn
The team don’t have to be in an actual classroom to learn. But the team members do need an insatiable appetite for new information.
Whether it’s the latest updates on the technology platform or a deep dive into the annual financial statement of a new customer, you should witness and encourage their thirst for knowledge.
Ability to communicate
The ability to communicate with each other, with partners and with customers doesn’t always come naturally to the entire delivery team.
Some teams compensate through a few individuals at varying levels of seniority. That’s fine as long as the team’s ideas, questions and concerns are shared at the right time.
Ability to replicate
Do you want the key to profitability, as well as customer and employee satisfaction?
That’s the ability to replicate successful projects, deployments and apps more effectively and efficiently each revolution.
Replication is critical for a great delivery team, whether it’s a business process, wrapped IP, Apps, or just great DevOps. They all count.
Wrapping It Up.
“We don’t have time to learn about the platform updates.”
“The project manager needs to do the communications, and we’ll just do the work.”
“Not sure this is the right DevOps tool. Let’s do an evaluation and come back to it in a few months.”
It’s easy to make excuses, especially when the task ahead is challenging. But that means we’re delaying the pain, and it will catch up at some point.
Want to avoid the pain?
In Part 2, we’ll dig deeper into talent acquisition and retention. You won’t want to miss it.
Title Photo by Suzy Brooks on Unsplash
