The following is framed on my office wall.  It keeps me focused when things don’t go according to my desires.  As I read it here again, I realize that it also very much applies to software implementation:

1. Things will not always go exactly as you have planned.

2. Things might take longer than you have planned.

3. You might encounter some heavy bumps while following your plan.

4. The bumps may frighten you.

5. You may have to change direction to get where you want to go.

6. You might have to temporarily ‘park’ in a place you don’t want to be and this might trigger anger, fear, worry, impatience, and resentment.  And while all this is going on you may think and act as ifyou are the ‘only one’ going through this.

7. You can, however, go through all of these seemingly negative situations with a smile, if you have trained yourself to do so.

Thanksgiving was a big deal when I was a kid. Relatives gathered. But mostly what I was waiting for was the Friday after Thanksgiving.

I vividly recall the day and weekend immediately after Thanksgiving as something really big and special, when I was a kid. That was the official start of the Christmas season. That’s when you drove into the city, to the big department store near downtown Houston, and saw Santa Claus, and shopped..

The death of the downtown department store as mecca has destroyed a lot of ‘specialness.’ Now the holiday shopping experience surrounds you and bombards you. Worse, now Christmas season starts before Halloween. I’m sick of it before Thanksgiving even gets here. I don’t think we’ve done the kids, ourselves or even retail commerce any favors by stretching the season into a calendar quarter.

But the bigger point is how much of “the special” has been taken away, spoiled, diminished and diluted. There’s real opportunity there for the business person who finds a way to give his customers (internal and external) a truly special event, something to look forward to with anticipation, to experience with awe and wonder and fun.

In any case, I hope your Thanksgiving holiday this year is somehow special.

When I say ‘thanksgiving’, you’ll be included in the thought.

From time to time, I am asked how I went into business for myself…how it got started for me.

It started back in 1990…I was in desperate situation at the time – I did not have a job, I was 2 more bad breaks away from being homeless and had custody of two young children. I really needed the job I had applied for with First Gibraltar Bank.

I got the job and began my recovery. I learned a lot working in an Information Systems department (was called MIS back then) and added it to my other wanderings in real estate, publishing, and the CPA world. I found that I had a natural gift for working on systems – both as a business analyst, project manager, and in solving the actual technical problems.

One of the last things I did for First Gibraltar was to lead a team that was assembled to select a software management system for the real estate group. We ended up choosing the most well-known package at the time. This was March, 1991.

After First Gibraltar made the selection, I started (covertly) dabbling with the software, but because I was ‘management’, I didn’t really get the opportunity to dive into the details like I wanted. My bosses always reined me in. My first use of the software while still employed at FGB was on a government-backed real estate portfolio project with very strict reporting deadlines. The deadlines came and went because the software did not work as warranted. I spent a lot of time with the President of the software organization trying to work through the problems and trying to keep First Gibraltar from losing the large government contract. What really struck me at the time was how poor and apathetic the support from the software company was. They treated me as if the problem was of my creation and that I was an idiot. I remember thinking – I could do this for a living and certainly do a much better job of it.

Shortly thereafter, Bank of America purchased First Gibraltar Bank. I was offered a job with BofA and a job with the remaining bank – First Madison Bank. Instead I finagled a consulting contract with First Madison as they viewed me as irreplaceable. I sold myself as a software expert.

I started Lupine Partners on February 1, 1993, as an independent consultant performing software consulting services.

I had one client – my former employer.

My contract with First Madison ended 9 months later in October. I will never forget the night in October – about 2 weeks before the engagement ended. It was a Friday night and I was sitting in the bedroom watching a basketball game on TV. And it hit me – I did not have any jobs lined up. And furthermore, I did not have any prospects in the work, because I had not done marketing or selling during the previous 9 months. I had felt, and I am not making this up, that it would be disloyal and dishonest to look for other jobs while engaged by a client. This horrible feeling of stupidity is one I will never forget….

I had a rough 6 weeks…but finally, I caught a break when I received a referral from MRI to perform a 2-day training for a client in Denver, Colorado. (Thank you again Chris.) The training went very well – and they called me back 2 weeks later to see if I would be interested in leading a nationwide conversion of all 100 of their remote locations. I told them I would have to check my schedule, which of course was completely empty, and would call the next day.

I landed the engagement and never looked back. I never again put myself in the position again of not having substantial work either sold or in the works.

I can clearly remember in May 1995, sitting at my desk when it hit me. I had a client base of about 15 by that time, was busy every day, was marketing very little, and the phone rang frequently for more work. What hit me was that I had made it. I had actually created a little small business for myself that was based on some very simple principles. I think of them as the 5 customer service truths:

1. Say please, thank you, and your welcome.

2. Over-manage expectations. Or said another way, do what you say you are going to do.

3. Don’t make your problems your client’s problems.

4. Return all client communications (written, verbal, voice, e-mail) promptly. Thank you again Governor.

5. Show your appreciation for their business. Say it.

Okay, you asked…so here goes.

If you recall last week I was brought in to consult on an ongoing evaluation effort. They had a consultant already on the job – wanted to get my input before they sent their RFP out.

They had done a pretty good job…my only criticism was the sheer number of questions they were asking the vendor.

Here are some additional questions s I took out of the RFP.

What are the major industry associations that you belong to? The vendor will list all of these organizations anyway. But what does this really prove? Anybody can join an organization. Many vendors join the organizations because their core competitors are members. Is it relevant to you if vendors are members or not? I have always felt this was way over emphasized.

What is your mission statement? Ugh. Every mission statement will have some version of this: “We at (fill in organization name) feel that our employees are our most important asset “ Terrific. That has nothing to do with whether their product will help you meet your business objectives.

What is your employee turnover rate? I know what people are going for here—they want to know if you have a revolving door with regard to the employee base. A better way to ask this is to inquire into seniority levels. Something to the effect of asking for the number of employees in various levels of tenure: over twenty years, fifteen to twenty years, ten to fifteen years, etc.

What is your decision-making process when developing new software or making enhancements? Would one decision process skew your opinion over another? Is one visionary within the organization better than a whole team making the decision? Is it worse? What do we (the project team) know about developing software?

What is your ownership structure? This just flat isn’t relevant and it is intrusive. The business structure of the software vendor has no bearing on the purchasing organization. What’s better: sole proprietorship, limited partnership, general partnership, limited liability corporation, or subchapter S corporation? They all have benefits and limitations.

Bottom line is: If you don’t know what you are going to do with the answer, don’t ask the question.

I was brought in to consult on an ongoing evaluation effort last week…they had a consultant already on the job – wanted to get my input before they sent their RFP out. They had done a pretty good job…my only criticism was the sheer number of questions they were asking the vendor. I was pretty certain the guy had just downloaded a questionnaire off the internet because it was chock full of boilerplate questions. Here’s the rule: If you don’t know what you are going to do with the answer, don’t ask the question.

Here are some requests I took out of the RFP.

What has been your organization’s track record in meeting your internal development deadlines? Do you really think you are going to get an honest answer here? And what relevance does it have to your decision?

How effective have you been in implementing your strategy and vision? Who cares? The answer to that question lies in market share and the amount of revenue on the income statement. The free market answers that question. Also, it really isn’t even answerable.

Describe the limitations of your current system. That’s the evaluation team’s job. Once again, you are not going to get an honest answer here.

Describe the most common customer support requests. This sounds good, but what do you do with this information? Is it really going to come into play during deliberations?

There were more…let me know if you want to know the rest.

Request for Proposal. Those three words put shivers through the spines of project teams and software vendors across the country. The only thing worse than the three words is the three letters—RFP. They conjure up images of documents the size of phone books that are unanswerable and require an Arnold Schwarzenegger body to carry.

What is an RFP? It is an invitation for providers of a product or service to bid on the right to supply that product or service to the individual or entity that issued the RFP.

Let me let you in on a secret. Do you have to create an RFP? Answer: No.

If you do decide to create an RFP, does it have to be an enormous document? Answer: No.

Are there any definitive rules for creating an RFP (assuming we are working in the private sector and your company does not have established guidelines concerning the use of RFPs)? Answer: No.

Do we need to create a written document that:

1. specifies exactly what we require in a software package?
2. documents for the vendor relevant background information on our organization?
3. asks relevant questions regarding the vendor organization?
4. requests pricing information from the vendor based on our background and requirements?

Answer: You bet!

Can we call this document anything we want? Yep.

My point is obvious. Don’t get caught up in calling it a RFP—and let go of any negative baggage that you may carry with regard to RFPs. What’s important is the document, not what it is called.