The Wisdom Deficit: Proceed at your own risk
Danger,Danger,Will Robinson! Is your orgnization about to lay off it’s most knowledgeable workers? If so, it could be a disastrous and perhaps fatal mistake according to this recent article in BusinessWeek: Cutting Mature Workers Widens the Wisdom Deficit
In the deluge of head count slashing and budget cuts, companies may be making critical mistakes in shedding a vital asset: mature workers. The current economic climate is prompting organizations to reexamine priorities and jobs. In the talent hemorrhage pouring from the arteries of U.S. companies are employees who hold significant institutional wisdom and knowledge—the kind that cannot be easily replaced.
Of course, your company can take advantage of the Wisdom Gap by onboarding those wise veterans other companies may be shedding.
PeopleSoft Upgrade Insights: Mind the Gap
If you have been an American in London it is quite likely you have taken the Underground. As the train pulls into the station you hear that wonderful, very British phrase: Mind the Gap. I remember hearing it for the first time and thinking: “What is she talking about?” Then I looked down and noticed that there was a significant gap between the platform and the door. And I had better pay attention to it if I wanted to keep all my body parts attached to, well, my body.
The size of the gap, or to be more precise, the size of your gaps will determine the size of your project. What are some of these gaps and how can they be measured?
Here are few suggestions:
- How old is your current application release? The older your release the more steps will be required to bring it up to date. Each step adds time and potential complications to your project. If the new release is 9.1 and you are still on 8.0 you are at least 4 releases behind. Do not pass go, do not collect $200, do add at least 2 months to your plan.
- How old is your technical release? One might think there is one and only one software release about which you need to worry. Unfortunately, it is not the case. Before you can upgrade you have to install and the first thing that gets installed is the latest tools release, the foundation upon which all the new and improved application functionally rests. To the casual observer the gap between PeopleTools 8.47 and 8.48 (and now 8.49 and soon to be released 8.50) may seem small indeed. Rest assured it is not.
- How have you changed your system? To many this is just a count. How many “mods” have you made? The number is only part of the story. If you know precisely what you did and, more importantly, why you did it subtract a month. If not, add a month. If you were smart and careful subtract a month. Add a month if you usually changed delivered objects without seriously considering alternatives.
- Do you have right people? People do projects and if you do not have the right people you cannot expect the project to get done right. Sometimes organizations misconstrue warm bodies as contributors. The most important person on your project, with the possible exception of the person who approves the funds and signs the checks, is an experienced technical installer/upgrader. If you have an experienced person then subtract a month. If you don’t have one but intend to find or train one add a month. If you don’t think you need a competent one or have no intention getting one go directly to jail, wait for your “Get out of jail” card, and add at least 2 months.
- Do you have enough horsepower? Upgrading your system will take more space and more processing power than running the new release in production. Make sure you have enough disk space, processing capacity, and basic technical resources to support each upgrade step including extensive user testing.
Look for my next posting in this series. I will be addressing the question – What are the major phases of an upgrade and how should I prepare for the crucial first phase?
The Third Chapter could be the most rewarding
Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot’, a renowned Harvard sociologist and the Emily Hargroves Fisher Professor of Education, has recently published a book entitled The Third Chapter: Passion, Risk, and Adventure in the 25 Years After 50. This is not a book about giving up the world of work. I repeat, this is not a book about the best retirement communities or those locations having the peak number of sunny days. It is about productive alternatives that can help all of us: young, old, or somewhere in between.
U.S. Census statistics from 2000 tell the story of a recent and significant bulge in the population of older Americans who are healthier, better educated, and yearning for a productive and enjoyable alternative to retirement.1 The arc of life and learning is continually being expanded and redefined. As a matter of fact, demographers who study the shifting patterns tell us that not only are people living longer and thus facing interesting questions related to how to compose their lives, but also that what I am calling the Third Chapter represents a significant and new developmental period in our culture, one that comes along only once a century.
In past prosperous times our society could ignore the value of those over 50 and get away with it. A long, long time ago there were few people alive past the age of 45 and those who lived longer were often in poor health. Now there is a large segment of the population who are reality tested, well educated, extremely productive, and, most importantly, ready to work passionately creating a more prosperous future. Leaving this sector of the workforce on the sidelines is too risky given today’s economic challenges. My question: Is your business in a tunnel and you cannot locate the light at the end of it? My advice: Find these people and put them to work. They can help you.
You can listen to Ms. Lawrence-Lightfoot talk about her research here on NPR radio.
PeopleSoft Upgrade Insights: Prevent a problem. Solve a problem. Justify your Upgrade.
Could this problem have been prevented? This is not the kind of question one wants to hear if one is in charge of the system at the center of a crisis.
PeopleSoft is a complex set of interrelated applications and it is that very complexity that makes us vulnerable. Even a small fault in a small component can lead to a big problem. Preventing big problems and the expensive remedies that invariably result is why staying current with PeopleSoft support is an important but not necessarily sufficient reason to do an upgrade.
The upgrade must also solve a known problem. Having trouble tracking employee absences? If so, maybe Absence Management can help. Are your managers being overwhelmed with the number of applicant resumes? Is each piece of paper received individually reviewed? Perhaps a paperless recruiting and screening application is the solution. Finding something in the upgrade that will improve the organization will go a long way toward justifying the effort.
Contemplating an upgrade project? Here are few suggestions that could help justify your upgrade:
- How long before we lose normal support? Can we really afford abnormal (i.e. extended) support?
- What problems are we experiencing today and are some of them of our own making? Maybe that bolt on we did way back when can be replaced by new, more efficient functionality in the new release.
- Is our technology getting a little long in the tooth? Maybe upgrading the technology will enable us to do that paperless approval workflow our sales managers have been telling us will help get those new customers the company desperately needs.
- Is there something in the new release that would enable fewer workers to do more with less? There probably is something if you know where to look.
Look for my next posting. I will be addressing the question – How big is this thing and are we ready for it?