This is definitely something that should have greater consideration in my organisation, I have been quite vocal in pushing it. I have worked in teams where particular members have found the lack of bounds extremely stressful as they feel they are crowded out or put upon by the more vocal members, who are equally frustrated it takes so long to get things done. Clarity in defining the roles and responsibilities can often be an enabler.

Agreed, this is a great article and really gets you thinking about the behaviours instilled within your own immediate team. If we cannot get the behaviours and roles clearly specified for our own team members first we are setting ourselves up to fail in the wider team and externally.

Agree - this was quite an insightful article. I've always believed that it should work in reverse - that you should set the objective and then leave it up to individuals to work out how to get there, which is what the article says except for specifying that their roles need to be clear. I believed that if roles were less clearly defined then it gave people scope to expand their remit, however I can see why this can cause confusion.

Hi,
Ive had a lot of experience of very dominant Clients who are never willing to negotiate any give on their side, only improvements for them. I have found you need to identify this type of individual very early on in the process and realise that this behaviour will not change through the lifecycle. Decisions need to be made as to whether the deal that you are being faced with is worth it or not - is it good business for you or are they asking for too much. Id love to hear any specific approaches of how to deal with this type of client as its not easy.

You are correct, but don't you think that is implied under the 'ultimate objective'? Perhaps you have only experienced part of the statement so far.

I think it's a fabulous idea- especially in the US where maternity leave is paltry at best, and childcare costs are astronomical (in consideration of the lack of subsidies).  Many working mothers (and I'm sure some fathers) have an emotionally difficult time leaving their children and as a result, stress increases.  As stress increases, performance decreases.  In my opinion, ny accomodations that a company can make to allow parents to spend more time with their children will only produce better long-term results (i.e. happy staff = longer term employment/loyalty = more output).

Yes, procurement is very interesting and challenging. Now Tim Cummins posits the end of procurement. 'Procurement' roles of the future will focus on market management, economic assessment, funding and relationship quality. In fact, some procurement professionals have been steadily shifting into these more holistic roles - but this trickle is now set to become a flood as the old ways are abandoned. See www.iaccm.com/resources/; and also www.iaccm.com/resources/;

Hi Diego, this is a great story to share. Our research suggests that organizations should undertake a comprehensive 'uncertainty analysis' for any significant contract, especially if it extends over a considerable period of time. The checklist would help identify that, in a situation like yours that involves fast-changing technology, there is a need for flexibility - perhaps provisioning as you did, or otherwise building in periodic reviews to check estimates and potentially revise funding.

Hi Diego - Intel co-founder Gordon Moore in 1965 predicted a steady, two-year cadence of chip improvements that would double a processor's performance every couple of years. Moore's Law became more than a guideline for computer processor manufacturing. It's instead evolved into a shorthand definition for innovation at regular intervals, and has become a self-fulfilling prophecy driving the tech industry. Those regular improvements in iPhones, Samsung Galaxy smartphones and various other devices are thanks to Moore's Law. HOWEVER, it is slowing and the dramatic fall in hardware pricing will not continue. HOWEVER, hopefully scale and technology economies will cause telecommunications costs to fall so that the Total Cost of Ownership will continue to reduce as you say.

PS IACCM's Contracting for as-a-service Research also suggests that visibility of component costs (hardware, software, comms) is less visible 'in the cloud' and able to be turned on and off on demand. So perhaps the future IT contracts you will sign will have as-a-service as a larger component, so the focus will be on TCO plus the price of flexibility

Hi Judit, thanks for your message.

There is no doubt that the measurement focus is wrong. It drives Procurement to operate within narrow boundaries and tends to drive a strong functional perspective, rather than a broader business focus. In order to deliver value, the role of the future must be far more integrationist in its nature - evaluating and reconciling across stakeholder interests.

As you say, commercial leaders need to be prompting this change and that leads us to a critical area for development - influencing skills. These are built around empathy and coming at problems from the other side's perspective. To some extent, this is a 'soft skill', but actually in my experience can best be learnt through studying elements of marketing. This is also fundamental to becoming a better negotiator - internally and externally.

Some areas I would be focused on right now are:
Agile methods - what are they, how do they apply to my work?
Design-thinking - communicating with the user / receiver in mind, simplifying
Analytics - understanding what data we need and then how to use it (e.g. sources of value versus sources of efficiency)
Negotiation and influencing - as above
Knowledge transfer - enabling others by creating 'self-service'

There are plenty of short courses available - obviously we have a growing library of those and in the next few weeks will make more available - ethics, social value, diversity and inclusion are examples.