Draft for Tamir's review. Not published.
Compare people and terms, then brand
A large firm may staff the project with juniors after the sale. A small firm may not survive a key person leaving mid-project. Require named key staff from both, with your approval over replacements, and interview the proposed leads on a similar project they personally ran.
Ask the large firm for its ratio of senior to junior staff by phase. Ask the small firm what happens if a principal leaves. Call references and ask who did the work and whether they stayed.
Find the cause before you renew or replace
A late project or a stream of defects can come from the partner, from your own decisions or from a third vendor. Write a one-page timeline of each slip with the decision behind it. Separate misunderstood requirements, recurring errors and integration failures, and compare accepted work with the agreed criteria.
Get the documentation, tests and environments into your hands before any renewal talk, and check that a second team could use them. Then split support from the next phase, with separate terms and exit conditions. Set measurable acceptance criteria for the next phase before you award it.
Depending on where you are
If you're choosing a partner for a major system, put staffing and exit terms in the contract before signing. If a project finished late and the same partner sent a renewal, read the delay first and award support and the next phase separately.
If a partner keeps rotating its team, count your own team's review and rework hours before and after each change. Ask for a named core team with a notice period in writing, and get one alternative's transition plan to know the real cost of switching.
What to check before you decide
- Require named key staff in the contract, with approval rights over replacements.
- Interview the proposed leads and ask them to walk through a similar project they personally ran.
- Call references and ask specifically who did the work and whether they stayed.
- Write a timeline of any past delay with the decision or event behind each slip and who made it.
- Secure the documentation, tests and environments now, and check a second team could run them.
- Split support from the next phase, and set measurable acceptance criteria before any award.
- Get one alternative partner's transition plan, so you know the real cost of switching.
Questions people ask
Integration project finished a year late, should we renew the same integrator for support and phase two?
Renew only after you know why it was late, because the cause decides whether the integrator is the problem or a symptom. Separate the support renewal from the phase two award and put the interface documentation in your hands first. It depends on whether the delay came from the integrator, from your own decisions or from the EMR vendor.
Offshore development partner keeps rotating the team and quality is dropping, how do I decide whether to stay or switch?
Measure the cost of the rotation in your own team's time and in defects, then compare with a transition. Ask the partner for named staffing commitments with penalties, and see whether they accept. It depends on how much of your system's knowledge now lives only with the partner.
Large consultancy or small specialist firm for our implementation, how do I choose between them?
Choose the people who will actually do the work and the terms that keep them there, whichever firm they belong to. Judge the large firm on named staff commitments and the small firm on continuity and backup. It depends on the project's size, on how much vendor-specific knowledge it needs and on what happens if a key person leaves.
Should we replace our development vendor or change how work is accepted?
Compare the defect pattern with the requirements, review responsibilities, and demonstrated supplier capability. It depends on whether the existing team can meet a bounded acceptance standard and what a replacement would need to succeed.
How I can help with this decision
- Ask or talk (Free)
- I give my view on what to ask each firm so the comparison rests on people and terms. If a renewal is on the table, I say how to read the past delay.
- Review (Pay if it was worth it)
- I write an independent assessment of the proposals, staffing and terms, or of the partner's record and the switching cost. I recommend which partner to engage, or whether to renew, split, re-tender or replace, and on what conditions.
- Retain (When it makes sense)
- I stay available at continuation decisions to review staffing changes and milestones against the terms you signed, while your delivery leaders remain responsible for execution.