Something has always bothered me about the medical profession. Whenever you visit a GP (General Practitioner), unless you need to come back for test results or ongoing treatment, the doctor never finds out if their diagnoses / prescriptions have been effective. In my experience at least, they don’t call to see whether there were any complications, allergic reactions to treatments, improvement in condition, etc and only find out if you make a follow-up appointment. As a result, they never close the feedback loop or gather a potentially rich source of data on their efficacy.
I sometimes wonder whether this is true of OSS implementers too. There can be a tendency to move from one implementation project to the next, from one customer to the next, without having the time to circle back on previous clients. Any unrealised but ongoing problems are handed over to operations and/or product support teams, so the implementers may not get to see them. Alternatively the team might also be consistently missing out on identifying opportunities for value-add on their projects.
If you’re an implementer (as I often am), how do you close the loop to find out what you could be doing better? Do you retain dialog with customers after handover? Do you question your support teams about what client problems / enquiries are landing on their desk? Do you ever book follow-up sessions with client staff at scheduled intervals after handover? Are you always engaged on an operational handover period where you have the chance to see post-handover challenges first-hand?
Just like a doctor, you’re bound to hear of any major or catastrophic outcomes after a “patient’s” initial visit. But what about the niggling ailments your clients have that could be easily rectified for all future clients… if only you knew of them?
I’d love to hear the thoughts from implementers on how they’re continually upping their game. Similarly, if you’re in ops / support, what experiences (ie messes) are consistently landing with you to clean up after the implementers have moved on? Do you have any suggestions for how they (we) could close the loop better with you?
Note: For all the highly talented women out there in OSS-land, please note that I’m not overlooking you. The title of my post is just a play on Don Henley’s famous song.
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