At the end of 2019, a friend asked me to observe a net new ServiceNow implementation. While they've recently celebrated 30 days live, it was fraught with huge battles with their implementation partner. This mega-post catalogs red flags for customers to watch out for, and vendors to learn from them. (TL/DR at the bottom)

My friend's earliest red-flag was a gut-feel uneasiness with the EM. Imagine saying the word "vendor" in a meeting and getting a cordial LECTURE about using "partner" instead because of all the accolades their company supposedly deserves. Then being corrected on it twice more during the week. Is the EM a fierce advocate for YOUR success and challenges? Or more like a brand advocate for whatever partner they represent. My friend burned through two of them. Both treated her concerns as attacks on brand, instead of opportunities to slay dragons.

PRO TIP: If you'd prefer a freelance vendor agnostic architect, rather than a brand advocate for your partner, get in touch with my friend Cory Wesley, of Tekvoyant.

Weeks into an ITBM deployment, a particular challenge prompted the vendor (sorry, "partner"!) to bring in their new ITBM expert. This expert's intentions intentions and expertise were unimpeachable. But her team told her NOTHING about the story thus far. Not only was the original challenge left untouched, but the workshop went on a tangent not germane to Phase 1. It spooked the PMO. 1 extra problem to worry about, & no traction on the first.

Easily avoided with (1) in project documentation & (2) a situational briefing.

Result: A spooked PMO that was slower to act & less confident in deployment direction.

If you're involved in scoping process pay REAL close attention to the mix between resources:

• Project Managers
• Engagement Managers
• QA Resources
• BA's
• Subject Matter Experts (like an ITBM expert in addition to...)
• Architects
• Developers
• Jr Developers

The bigger the job, the bigger the risks here. Remember: NO AMOUNT of the other resources make up for developers & architects. "That goes without saying!"

"Does it?" Watch your meeting invites & time reporting. If your dev/architect time is a low fraction of the total, you're being taken for a ride. All the roles listed are important in their time, but ask yourself why a QA lead is on all calls at the start of the project. Or why EVERYONE has to attend a project status meeting? In my friend's project, she was getting billed an entire day's labor for 1 hour Project Status meetings since all other roles attended (and billed). OVER HALF the time, the critical Architect resource was never available anyway.

Two versions of this red flag (both of which my friend was burned by). 1) Customer has an architect (even a 3rd party one), that partner avoids interacting with, since they believe they occupy that role. After agreeing to supply in-house architecture a design doc before developing, suddenly we're in a Project Status meeting where the partner is asking customer to test developed items. OOPS!

2) The hyper stretched architect. Huge overlap with team composition, but it speaks volumes when you have 5+ team members for an engagement and the architect is billing 2 - 4 hours a week in a project desperate for that leadership.

You should be buying your customers a large bag of GroundShark Coffee. Every morning, they'll wake up and build like they mean it, and they'll remember you as they do. They can even white-label their coffee with your brand. Tell them The Duke sent you.

I've got nothing against offshore talent. But not when they're supposedly required for western hemisphere meetings. Speaks volumes about a partner's commitment to your success if they make YOU adjust your schedule to the offshore resources. That's what happened in my friend's case, & it cost them days. Possibly weeks in completely unnecessary scheduling drama.

Partners: Want to look like customer is #1? Do your own briefing with your offshore resources, then allow your customers *THEIR* optimal times.

Customers: You really want to pay these rates just to scavenge available time slots like a plebe?! Demand better!

Yup, we're here again & not just for solution documentation. Imagine sitting in weeks of CMDB / ITOM workshops and having no artifacts. Imagine asking over & over "can we get that slide deck? can we get that common practice guide you mentioned" & ever receiving it?

I don't understand why partners want to be forgotten so quickly. Comprehensive documentation isn't NEARLY as hard as they say, & gives 100 vectors to stay STICKY with the customer. Cross reference handoff docs with new versions of ServiceNow & you have an excuse to call *your entire customer base* every release. Sales reps would skin implementers alive if they knew the opportunities lost because dOkUmEnTasHuN iZ hArD.

End result:

• Back engineering solutions days after go-live
• Finding toxic easter eggs of features deployed to production without ever being asked for.
• CMDB / ITOM users void of specific use case documentation, or playbooks on the M part of CMDB.
• A legit feeling of abandonment & waste

Nothing wrong with partners advocating "best practice", but the REAL winners slay the dragons their customers are really threatened by. In my friend's implementation, there was a week of development & a day of workshops on notifications. You know... those things everyone hates & can change easily?

Meanwhile a single hour dedicated to reporting of any kind. That gorgeous Performance Analytics product packaged with ITSM Pro collecting dust.

- Make sure Engagement Managers are your advocate, not the partner's brand - Don't allow partner to bring in new resources without full briefings on the project thus far. - No amount of PM, BA, QA, EM, or jr delivery resources make up for dev and architecture hours. Not by a long shot - Watch out for low utilization of Architects. - Watch out for making offshore resources required attendees, where you're offered garbage time slots.

- "IT DOCUMENTS ITS IMPLEMENTATION OR IT GETS THE HOSE AGAIN!"

- Slay dragons. Deal with big problems. "Best practices" are fine, but they aren't the POINT.

- Take My Content Survey- Reply with questions, objections, corrections, suggestions. I answer all emails.

- Make a small donation. I do this all on my own time. Only donate if my work has truly blessed you.

Onward to victory. I remain yours truly,

Robert "The Duke" Fedoruk