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The Case of the Overbooked Meeting Rooms
Background: In a fast-growing professional services firm, meeting rooms had become a precious commodity. With hybrid working patterns, need for video-calls, desk-sharing, and an increase in collaborative project work, the demand for quiet, private meeting spaces surged. However, despite having enough rooms on paper, teams constantly found themselves wandering the building looking for an available…
Use AI to fix Failure Demand
Failure demand is, in essence, the additional (and unnecessary) workload created when an organisation fails to provide a product or service accurately or completely at the first point of contact. In large citizen-facing organisations—government agencies, healthcare systems, or large federated enterprises—failure demand often arises from structural and procedural issues that, if left unmanaged, create spirals…
Slow Software Deployment
Background: A tech company experiences slow software deployment, causing frequent delays in launching updates. This has led to customer dissatisfaction and a decline in product reliability perception. Workaround: The development team decides to increase manual testing and patching before each release to catch and fix issues quickly. This helps minimise the delays and ensures the…
The case of the Delayed Programme milestones
Background: A large enterprise is undergoing a multi-year IT transformation program, which includes several projects aimed at modernising its core systems, migrating data to the cloud, and improving cybersecurity. However, the program is experiencing repeated delays, with milestones being missed across multiple projects. This leads to budget overruns, delayed programme milestones, frustrated stakeholders, and concerns…
Top 20 Problem Solving Methods and Tools
Here is a list of 20 problem solving methods, techniques, tools, and approaches commonly used in startups and small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to help you tackle your own problems: 1. Lean Startup Methodology 2. Agile Framework 3. Design Thinking 4. Business Model Canvas 5. SWOT Analysis 6. Five Whys 7. OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) 8. Rapid Prototyping 9. Customer Journey Mapping 10. Growth…
What is a Problem?
To improve your problem solving, there’s no avoiding the word ‘problem’ and for us as failure-hackers then we need to dissect what is a problem. A “problem” can be broadly defined as a situation, condition, or issue that is perceived as undesirable or deficient compared to a more desirable, ideal state. It represents a discrepancy…
The National Programme for IT (NPfIT)
Why did NPfIT fail? The National Programme for IT (NPfIT) in the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) was one of the most ambitious and costly IT initiatives ever undertaken in the healthcare sector. However, it faced numerous challenges and was ultimately considered a failure. Here are the primary reasons for its failure: In summary, the…
Lessons from Major Service Transformation
This NAO Briefing Note (2015) outlines the major lessons of service transformation and can be found here. Lesson 1 – transformation programmes raise the greatest risks of failure Lesson 2- set realistic goals and be honest about what really matters Lesson 3 – policy development must take account of implementation Lesson 4 – don’t be…
NAO Framework to Review Programmes
Four key elements: Purpose – is there a strategic need for the programme and is this the right programme to meet the business need? Value – does the programme provide value for money? Programme set-up – is the programme set up in accordance with good practice and are risks being well managed? Delivery & variation…
