We Can – But Should We?

Controls and automation “people” are notoriously curious, especially about whizbang new technology. This clip from “The Big Bang Theory” summarizes how it feels when you get a new technology to work the way you want it to.

If you fall in love with a new technology enough, you risk fulfilling the quote “If the only tool you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.”

The same thinking applies to technology with which you are comfortable and experienced. You may rely on comfortable solutions because you can. After all, they work just fine, right?

Project Management

We use the term “Project Management” to include the proposal stage of a project in addition to the project itself.

The most successful systems integrators focus on a small number of (perhaps even one) customer segments. These integrators stay abreast of technology trends, learn from their extensive experience, and confidently select the best options to get the job done.  In many cases, they understand the client’s business as well as or better than the client.

Overused strengths, however, become weaknesses. If confidence proceeds to overconfidence, complacency, or even arrogance, it becomes easy to build a system the way you want to “because we can”.  When partnered with a relative weakness in project management, the end result is a disaster for the client.

You may love a certain solution because you have lots of great experience with it, or because it is the latest, most exciting new technology. But the point of project management is to make sure that what you produce is, in fact, a solution. For your client. Listening is the single most important part of project management, from the proposal stage to the post-project service stage.

Pendant strives to fit the solution to the client. We sometimes get it wrong. But we use project management to avoid “because we can” and turn it into “because it’s the solution that works for you.”

Customize a solution for me, please