Roadblocks: we all have them. Some are artificial. Others are tangible. Many are mental. A lot are emotional. A handful are physical. A number of them are political. Others are operational. And occasionally they’re removable.
Last week I embarked on a 19-hour road trip from Austin, Texas to Rapid City, South Dakota for a family reunion. Am I making you jealous? I didn’t think so. Along the way I encountered sporadic construction and the occasional roadblock or two. While Google Maps didn’t foresee any changes to my route, the road crews did. Equipped with road snacks and large orange “Detour” signs, I made it to my final destination on time.
My point is, regardless what the nature of your roadblock is, it presents itself as an obstacle en route to a destination on the other side.
In the business world, “detours” are the result of changes (or roadblocks) in the environment:
- Customers’ needs and requirements change
- Employees’ skills need revising to take advantage of new technologies
- New laws are passed that require changes in how businesses operate
- New supply sources emerge
- Vendors exit the marketplace
Sound familiar? Since AMCAD withdrew from the national justice product market in June 2014, organizations throughout the country, including TechShare, have been mapping out alternate “routes” or “detours” for how we’ll continue developing and configuring the system without support from the vendor.
In case you’re unfamiliar with AMCAD, here’s a little background. In 2012, Dallas, Tarrant and Travis counties initiated a TechShare project to acquire and build a court system using a collaborative approach proven successful with the Juvenile Case Management System, TechShare.Juvenile. As part of this effort we contracted with AMCAD, a vendor that had a court case management system that was already operational in some Texas courts and was under contract in other Texas counties, to build a “platform” that the system could be developed on. Once it’s finished, the TechShare.Court system will provide all counties and cities in Texas with a county government choice when in need of a new system in the future.
With AMCAD no longer in the picture, we’ve set into motion our contingency plan or “detour” for moving forward with the project. Identifying potential roadblocks before we get there is a key part of this process.
Potential Roadblock #1: Slowed development due to lack of key resources or skill sets
- We can avoid this roadblock by retaining knowledgeable resources with the skills needed to continue developing the system. In fact, we’ve already secured a number of key resources from AMCAD to continue developing the system.
- We’ve also reorganized the resources assigned to the project to make room for additional developers, architects, and analysts among a number of other key roles.
Potential Roadblock #2: Quality of the source code
- Validating the quality of the source code is critical to continued development of the system. An initial review of the source code has been completed by a third party resource.
- In the meantime, TechShare and the participating counties are working together to determine the direction for the source code moving forward.
Potential Roadblock #3: Changes to the timeline
- As with any roadblock, you’ll want to evaluate whether or not it has an impact to your original timeline. While we expect a three month delay to the overall schedule, we haven’t had any impact to the budget.
- Communicating any changes to the schedule with the project team and participating counties will keep us on course despite roadblocks or detours along the way.
Bottom line: acknowledge your “roadblocks”, follow the “detours”, and ask someone for directions if you’re lost. Responding quickly and effectively is critical to staying the course. Even the most detailed contingency plan (or detour) will fail if people don’t have the right directions they need to take action.
Otherwise, keep your seat belt fastened and put the pedal to the metal because we’re driving toward a new and innovative county government system, with or without detours.
Oh, and don’t forget your road snacks. No great road trip ever started on an empty stomach.
Melissa Hicks, Marketing and Communications Manager