Going Ballistic!

[controlnovice]

I'm about to go ballistic and need to vent...
[/rant]
In preparation for migrating to a new DCS and making the selection that fits best for this plant, key personnel and I created a Kepner-Tregoe chart with the KPIs important to the plant and personnel. The KT chart included the DCS vendors the company has approved and after analysis, clearly indicated which is the best fit.

So, in sending the request for quote to the DCS vendors, our internal procurement manager (responsible only for DCS and instrumentation - so has knowledge and experience), sent our analysis to all three vendors!!!!!

So now the vendors have this comparison and know which one is the best fit. This really destroys any leverage we had in negotiations. And this on top of what we're going to hear from the two 'lesser' vendors.

I'm so furious I could choke...
[/end rant]

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This is normally the space where people post something insightful.

 

[TDAA]

I have felt your pain, inflicted in different ways. Nothing like doing your job to have an important aspect of what you are trying to do undermined.

 

[jmw]

Need to know!
A good precept to operate by.

Did your internal procurement manager need to see your KT chart?
Probably not. At least, not at this time. This is surely a tool to review the bids once they are received, not an aid in obtaining quotes.

But if you were all feeling pretty good about the chart, maybe you felt a need to share for some reason?
Yes?

Perhaps you should have marked it "Confidential. Internal Use Only. Not to be disclosed to suppliers."
Did you discuss the chart with the procurement manager or was this just something in amongst the documents?
And if you discussed with him, were you sure to say "this is how we can evaluate the responses, don't let the suppliers see it"?

Yes, hindsight is wonderful. So let's just say that this is one of those things that happen once, and, if you learn from it, won't ever happen again.

It's how we learn not to put in an email to a colleague what we don't want a client to see.
we do it once and endure the embarrassment but you don't do it again.

It would be nice to lay all the blame at the Procurement manager's door but you know this isn't the case.

I'm not being critical, I'm sympathetic. I have made my share of mistakes I shouldn't have made and hope I won't make again. It would be nice to think that I have avoided many mistakes by thinking ahead but if that is true, I still have an impressive tally of learning experiences.

JMW

http://www.ViscoAnalyser.com

 

[cvg]

assuming the procurement manager was in on the analysis, he should have known better. Even assuming he was not, he should have known better. Otherwise, a trained monkey might do a better job.

 

[jmw]

Yeah, but its quite likely the KT chart is one piece of paper in a stack of documents that are the specification.
Procurement Manager most probably says to his secretary, "Here, go make N copies of this. Put them in binders. Add a covering letter and send a copy to each of these guys."
Depends where the KT chart was in the heap, how big a heap, and how much else was going on. All too easy for one chart to get mixed in with a bunch of other stuff unless it was segregated from the word go.


JMW

http://www.ViscoAnalyser.com

 

[controlnovice]

A short while ago, in preparation of documents to send to bidders, he indicated the decision was going to be based on cost only, which led me to develop the KT analysis.

For him to better understand what was at stake, it was discussed at length with him just a few days before the Requests for Quote were sent out.

I've only sent two documents to him regarding this project:

The Functional Specification
The KT Analysis

He knew very well what the document was and what was contained in it.



______________________________________________________________________________
This is normally the space where people post something insightful.

 

[jmw]

OK, Understood.

Despite your saying "....responsible only for DCS and instrumentation - so has knowledge and experience." it was apparently a mistake to credit him with any smarts or to assume the title meant anything.

You judge him by his actions, not his title.

Any monkey, straight from the zoo, can make cost based buying decisions, don't let a fancy title fool you.
Apparently it didn't because you cooked up this KT chart.

So: what was the agreed procedure?
[ul][li]You produce The Functional Specification'[/li]
[li]he sends it to a range of suppliers. Which suppliers? ones nominated by you or a selection of his lunch buddies?[/li]
[li]What next? Was he going to make the decision all by himself? A decision based on lowest cost? or:[/l]
[li] there is, as a standard procedure, a bid review session scheduled to which you would have been invited?[/li][/ul]

I mean, if there was a bid review scheduled, and you would be consulted as the technical authority, why the rush to present the KT chart to him before the requests have even gone out?
The time for this is once the bids have been received and before the buying decision has been made i.e. at the bid review.

If there was no bid review scheduled and if there is no consultation between the Procurement Manager and the technical authority, once requests have been sent out or the bids have been received, then you know ahead of time that this is a monkey with a title, not a professional.

Therefore anything can happen.
Therefore he may well not understand that this is not a document for the client to be shown. Not to be sent out with the bid requests and not to be shared at the golf club over lunch.

You don't say if, when you discussed the KT diagram with him, this was a familiar tool or a complete novelty, almost as much of a novelty as shockingly suggesting there are other factors to base a buying decision on that cost.

If it begins to seem as if this is not a smart person you are dealing with, a monkey with a title, it's Ok to take him out and shoot him.
Unless he is married into the boss's family.

I should also consider a memo to him expressing your concern that he should have released an internal document. If, that is, you suspect a blame game later on.


JMW

http://www.ViscoAnalyser.com

 

[berkshire]

Control Novice,
You now, know, that you need to treat this guy on a need to know basis, and that he should not, be your friend.
B.E.

 

[tygerdawg]

It's not your fight, bro, you're tilting at windmills. Take it to the Engineering Director and have a calm talk with him. Voice your complaints about the situation and the procurement hack's chowderhead policy that created it. If nothing happens, then escalate at your own risk. Or take...umm....other actions.

TygerDawg
Blue Technik LLC
Virtuoso Robotics Engineering

http://www.bluetechnik.com

 

[Murec]

A few years ago I was Mechanical Engineer on a project. The Contractor was asking us to waive a certain standard requirement, claiming it is impossible to fulfill. I sent the Project Manager an email not to waive the requirement and showing a way to fulfill it. Next thing I see the Project Manager forwarding my email to the Contractor with the comment "Despite what M says, we will waive the requirement".
In those happy days I was able to get another job in two weeks, complete with a substantial salary increase.
Today I would probably have to manage the manager more carefully and never assume any knowledge or experience on his part.

 

[RolMec]

i think it's perhaps a question of culture & know-how on the job:
a) Read documents that i send out into the world, at least cursory.
b) Undertand the importance of its contents, even if not being familiar with the details or speciyinglish.
c) Ask back about unclear things or wordings, even under the fire of upper ranks shooting:"get over with it!!!!"
d) being able to shut up both tongue and typing finger

What a world where a "technician" should be able to steer a manager, should do it for self preservation...
(& if nec., then why not cut out the middleman?)
Why, one could even set up an incentive etc about all that to make people learn, never to repeat that incident...
Turn the wheel, stop targeting the culpable (?cf. jww.!!) and make it the next step to improve the companys culture, as other ones make the same mistakes.. i could tell...
R.

 

[DesignerGuy16]

One always has to be aware that most people only need certain information. Half of the battle is figuring out how to get what you want while giving away the least amount of detail.

James Spisich
Design Engineer, CSWP

 

[FreddyNurk]

Its no where near the same scale, but I got rather tired of others in my workforce grabbing documents and handing them out as release version.

I've had at least 3 meetings in the last month where copies of my documents, complete with large watermarks stating 'Draft' have been handed around as submission documents. Frustrating thing is, no one cares.

By the way, whats a Kepner Tregoe analysis?

 

[controlnovice]

Here's a good explanation of the analysis. Used quite often to narrow the selection, or determine the final selection, of vendor's offering.

http://www.decision-making-confidence.com/kepner-tregoe-decision-making.html

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This is normally the space where people post something insightful.

 

[jmw]

FreddyNurk.... no where half as mad as I have been finding some brown-noser has grabbed my proposals and submitted them to management as if they were his own.


JMW

http://www.ViscoAnalyser.com

 

[berkshire]

JMW,
How long did you let him get away with that, before you fed him the poison pill?

 

[jmw]

Well, he is still there and I'm not but that's for different reasons.
I called him on it outside and let him see me mad.
Short of using a 2x4 over his head, what could I do?
Brown-nosers have incredibly tough hides - make a hippo wince - and, because they are brown-nosers, they have the Boss's ear (or access to some other anatomical feature).
Thing is, if management are stupid enough (and most are) to listen to the self-serving sycophantic babble of brown-noserss, you have no hope of getting a fair hearing.

JMW

http://www.ViscoAnalyser.com

 

[berkshire]

JMW,

I am now retired, so I do not have to do battle with brown nosers anymore.

However, I did find that you have to give these people just enough rope to allow them to hang themselves, which they will inevitably do. It may take a while, but it will happen.
As you found out, confronting them does no good at all.
B.E.

 

[kontiki99]

I wouldn't assume someone is incompetent just because you don't understand their actions or motives.

There could be corruption issues, alternate business models, partnerships etc in the background.

There is a story on NPR's This American Life about the ADM anti-trust case. One fascinating aspect of the story was how they handled the sales team. They essentially had to stop them from going after good deals for the scheme to work. Those people had a hard time understanding the company's apparently self destructive policies.

 

[jmw]

Interesting comment Kontiki99 - I think perhaps assuming him to be incompetent is the nicest interpretation to put on damaging actions but you could be right, maybe he is corrupt

JMW

http://www.ViscoAnalyser.com