Atos Blog

Show and Tell

November 5th, 2009 Duncan Holmes Tags: programme assurance
Posted in IT Leadership |

“Show and Tell” for those of you who have not attended class 5c of a primary school in the last 20 years and whose senior moments are becoming an everyday occurrence, is the opportunity that a seven year old has to “Show” a special item to the rest of the class and “Tell” them a story of particular interest.  Usually, the more extraordinary the item and far-fetched the story, the more interest will be shown and questions asked to check out if Oscar is telling another porky pie!

My son was in tears and agony earlier this year when stung by a jelly fish on the ankle in Sardinia.  But a week later he was as proud as can be when he rolled up his trouser leg and proudly displayed his purple and yellow scar to rest of the class and declared that he had been stung by a jelly fish.

OK, so I hear all the moans in the background “where is this going”, but bear with me this is my first blog and all the children in his class thought it was a really cool story.

Insiders vs outsiders

If you will, consider all the children to be insiders (inside the school) and all the staff to be outsiders (grown-ups).  Exclamations of “No way!”, “Did it hurt?”, “What did you do?” and “Will the skin grow back?” were coming from the insiders.  However, the outsiders had experience and evaluated the story based on many more years in the real world, quickly recognising the story to be true and that the scar would heal.  The lesson that I took from this, was that if you want someone to quickly and confidently tell you if a story is true and the expected outcome, ask a grown-up – ask an outsider.

I am also used to listening to stories: “The programme is on track.”  “It is worth spending £3m because of the benefits it will deliver.”  “Yes, we are confident that all the software will be delivered as designed”.  But who should I choose to provide me with the Programme Assurance that I need to make sure that I will achieve my desired outcomes?

What’s your view for Programme Assurance?

This is all about who is best placed to provide Programme Assurance to achieve success – internal or external resource?  The reality is that despite both sources being ethically sound, honest and demonstrating high levels integrity, there are reasons for choosing an external resource.  I have listed these below, but would like to know your thoughts on benefits of internal resource or dis-benefits of external resource:

- Lack of availability of suitable resource and bandwidth constraints internally

- Lack of specialist knowledge (knowing your scyphomedusae from your hydromedusae)

- Open questions and discussion, unconstrained by organisational / process boundaries

- A guaranteed delivery that demands attention against competing priorities

- Provides gravitas and credibility based on reputation of external resource

- No baggage or history, therefore greater objectivity

- Benchmarked assessment against similar programmes

- Increased competence based on “real world” experiences

All these benefits need to be weighed up against the depth of assurance required, complexity and sensitivity of the programme, blending together with the extent of internal and external controls that are already deployed within the programme. However, the overriding contribution made by an outsider is their experience and exposure to different scenarios and events that have impacted on previous programmes.

Swimming with outsiders

If you have been swimming in the sea with an onshore wind, you will know that there is a risk that you may get stung by a jellyfish. An external resource will have this wider exposure can use this within the context of your programme to make sure you avoid the jellyfish and don’t get stung.  However, if this fails and the sting needs treating, who are you going to believe when told that you have to urinate on your own ankle – your classmates (insider), or an adult (outsider)?