Well... I'm back in Jo'burg.. n here, some things have just not moved an inch.. like the people at the bank (that's where I work) were speaking exactly the same things when I had left them, the problems clientele were facing, the four dogs (two with tails n two without) of my landlady which bark all 24 hrs, the forever stuck lifts in office which were installed when the dinosaurs walked the earth, n my favorite project - IB (Internet Banking) which has been going on forever now..
But there are also some things which have changed.. the temperature has dropped considerably prompting everyone to look gift wrapped 24/7, the world cup fever has caught on big time with footballs hanging all over the place, flags lining up all the streets n malls, people blowing the vuvuzelas (weird trumpets capable of producing ear-splitting noise of buzzing swarms of bees) all day long, sporting gear adorning all possible shops n the emergence of the new "football" pizzas n burgers in most cuisines :)..
But what has been ruining my happiness these days, is my fav project which I mentioned earlier..the new IB for the bank.. this venture happens to be the perfect example of how to do everything wrong but still expect great results.. when I say wrong, I mean wrong right from the word go.. first of all, this project is being executed out of 3 continents, not even countries, by 2 vendors for the bank.. vendor No.1 to develop the IB application and vendor No.2 for building the interface between the application and the core banking system.. unfortunately I didn't have the privilege of working with this project in its initial phases (like it happens in most cases when all stakeholders are never there) but ever since I have come in, I have learnt to appreciate the SDLC process a lot more.. most companies more or less follow the text book method and get it right most of the times.. but this place is on its way of creating a whole new process of its own.. maybe I should list down the winners:
- having an entire phase of development or even the project for that matter, without even a single document listing what exactly the requirements are.. it's all in the minds of the bank and vendor No.1..
- vendor No.2 is nowhere a part of this project until the beginning of the development phase.. n yes, without the requirements..
- no requirements, means no BRD n that means no functional specs either.. not from the bank or the 2 vendors...
- incredulously, vendor No.2 comes up with the technical specifications all based on past experience in this field.. u know reusable code n reusable logic.. always so helpful ...
- both the vendors proceed towards development, in their own directions... very very opposite directions..
- the first effort at integrating everything, the SIT or system integration testing turns out to be a herculean task.. vendor No.1 almost has no clue what vendor No.2 has been trying to tell them for 3 months and now vendor No.2 is almost teaching vendor No.1 how to interpret transaction specifications.. I really think language is a big problem while working with people from different countries.. both verbal n written :).. bank has no clue what's happening...
- trying to conduct UAT without a team since the bank does not have enough resources who can work full time on testing and whoever is available declines to be a part of it coz they weren’t part of the requirement gathering phase so they dunno what needs to be tested… fair enough..
- sudden discovery during UAT that half the requirements are missing in the product delivered… now really, who can one blame…
- UAT drags for more than 3 months coz every issue fixed breaks something else which was working correctly previously .. almost like redeveloping everything that was delivered by vendor No.1..
- vendor No.2 is twiddling thumbs coz work is complete but can’t bring the project to a closure..
- bank knows the project is delayed beyond measure but it can’t do a thing about it..
- Project is still waiting to go live coz now the marketing team suddenly realized that they were almost ambushing the existing clientele with the new IB without even a warning... very crucial since the new IB doesn’t even have all the features the old one had.. can’t even imagine the wrath of the clientele the bank is gonna incur when they realize this..
- this is the best – no one in the bank knows what’s really “new” in the new IB to make it their USP ;)…
Well.. I’m still stuck in the middle of nowhere trying hard to keep the bank, vendor No.1 and vendor No.2 happy and yearning like no tomorrow for the project to go live.. it’s almost like a ticket for me to go back home :(.. this saga has gone on longer than one would imagine with a lot of I’ll-pull-my-hair-out-rite-now kinda experiences..
The only thing that brings cheer in times like this is football :)… I get to watch them at times which are not-unearthly n yeah, I can catch them even when I’m in office on the large LCD tv hung close to my room ;).. it’s wonderful watching the likes of rooney, ronaldo, n messi play, along with the my colleagues each supporting a different country :D .. just that there seems to be a dearth of goals rite now.. but never-the-less, the one good thing about being in the world cup host country is now I can manage to identify most countries by their national flags :D.. if not anything else.. happy footballin.. n Cheers :)..
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