Case Study: How to avoid chaos and get international teams working together.

The Situation:

A new system was sold to replace unreliable discrete systems, transform the operations of a regional UK healthcare group and thereby reduce the risk of inappropriate treatment and physical danger to patients, clinicians and the public.

Unfortunately the client did not know the internal workings of existing systems or have detailed requirements for government reporting as this was being done by another organisation with no interest in the new system.

The client’s staff hid behind time differences and contract obligations. The product team, in another country, expected the client to write their requirements using “our” process, UK customisation was sketchy and the client lacked business analysis, process design and change management skill. Clearly a recipe for disaster.

Our Solution:

Once on site it was clear that sales assumptions would not lead to a successful project. I started by talking with key client staff and established understanding of each party’s situation, building working relationships through teleconferences, on-site visits, and a visit to a New Zealand site using the system.

The Result:

The adversary client/product team relationship was turned around and together we revised the requirements documentation process, tracked down interfaces, and selected and taught client trainers.

The system was successfully implementation improving the care of at risk patients and becoming a reference site for further UK sales.