One project team to promote collaboration

In the majority of projects where Supply Value acts as project manager, suppliers or partners play a role. A lot is therefore invested in collaboration, at all levels. In the example discussed here, this was also of great importance, because different parties were very dependent on each other to be able to deliver a good product. For this reason, one project team has been created. The example concerns a project in which an IT application is built together with suppliers. We work according to Prince2/Agile method, which means that the operational process is carried out by a scrum team. The project leader manages the scrum team in consultation with the product owner and reports to the steering group. The transition from Agile to Prince2 is therefore up to the product owner and the project leader. A number of things have been set up at an operational level to stimulate optimal cooperation between suppliers:

• Everyone who contributes to the end product is part of the scrum team. The scrum team therefore consists of employees from the client's organization and employees from the various suppliers. Everyone is expected to know the Agile method.
• An Agile coach trains the team in scrum and assists the scrum master in promoting cooperation within the team. The Agile coach also gives advice about the role of the scrum team within the rest of the organization, which is not Agile structured.
• Suppliers must give each other feedback about their working methods and how they can work more efficiently and effectively as a team.
• Before complex parts are built in which no experience has yet been gained, a Proof of Concept is carried out. In this way it quickly becomes clear where bottlenecks are and a solution can be found before this part is built.
• The scrum team should jointly propose and discuss risks. So even if risks are identified at another supplier.

This way of working between suppliers requires trust and mutual understanding, which ultimately leads to minimal coordination of the client and low transaction costs. A lot of energy has therefore been put into performing a good retrospective by a good scrum master. It's nice to see that the team became more mature with each sprint and therefore also had more and more energy.

Attention to the project at all levels

In order to be resilient when things go wrong in the project, it has been ensured that the cooperation is well organized at all levels. In addition to the operational cooperation as just explained, the tactical and operational level has been merged at key moments. This means, for example, that all project managers from all suppliers are involved in the project start, so that they know each other and can contact each other when necessary. In addition, architects (both from the client and suppliers) and business analysts are involved in the refinements and sprint planning so that there are no surprises during the sprint. By uniting business analysts and architects from all parties, it is already thought out beforehand where difficulties can arise. These are then reported to the project manager as a risk.

Setting up these structures is not the only thing that is necessary, because how can it be prevented that if the project threatens to be unable to deliver, the suppliers do not fall back on their contract and ensure that they have delivered what was requested? After all, you as a client want a working product, rather than a contract that is delivered neatly to the letter. For this reason, a strategic meeting has also been set up in which the director of the commissioning organization invites the directors of the suppliers. During this consultation, it is discussed how the organizations deal with each other when setbacks may arise. Is there a traditional way of working together and does everyone focus individually on the client one by one? Or do we call each other first to find a solution? In that case, a real network collaboration is set up.