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Lease by XKCD

July 30, 2009 at 9:32am

Another fabulous comic by Randall Munroe:

lease

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This Week on The Web for 2009-07-26

July 26, 2009 at 7:32am

Forms and Templates

July 23, 2009 at 9:32am

There are a lot of people pushing for contract process automation. Ken Adams, famously known for his contract style manual, has been on this bandwagon for some time now. Others are close behind – all trying to find ways to automate the parts of the contracting process that can be automated.

While I'm a big fan of gadgets and tools, and yes, even templates, I worry a bit about what is being offered by way of these various forms companies. Recently, I wrote about WhichDraft – a good service with templates that (while I didn't review all of them) seem to at least have been written by someone with knowledge of what is supposed to go in them. On the other hand, I see hundreds of software developers looking online to find a sample agreement that they can crib for their own use.

I've tried time and again to express to these developers (and my fellow contracts professionals) that templates are all well and good – if you wrote them yourself or if you know and/or trust the author. If, however, you're simply grabbing whatever you can find – or using a pay service who doesn't put the author's name on the template, you might want to think twice. [In fact, I recently inquired of one such company and they wouldn't even respond.]


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IACCM and other contracting groups

July 22, 2009 at 9:32am

I launched Skribit suggestions over a year ago to attract ideas for these posts and to-date, I have to say that it's not been as successful as I'd hoped. Either that means that I'm giving you all what you want, or you're not seeing the suggestion box, or it doesn't really matter and I'm just another form of entertainment. :)

In any event, I received the suggestion "IACCM" the other day. No instruction, no guide… just IACCM. Do you want dirt? A recommendation to join? Positive comments about the organization? OK. I'll give you everything I know.

For contracts professionals, IACCM is one of three major (Caucus and NCMA are the other two), and a handful of minor, professional organizations you can join to hopefully provide you with resources and connections to other contracts people. These organizations are membership-based, relying on membership dues along with other sources of revenue to exist. Generally speaking, they all have some sort of platform to keep members communicating with each other (such as a forum), a resume/jobs area, and additional for-purchase information available to members (and sometimes non-members, too). Oh, and they provide certifications, too.

As an association professional, my wife would kill me if I didn't say that these types of organizations are indispensable. And for the most part, I think she's correct. They provide immensely valuable information and networking opportunities and are a must-have for anyone who is new to the profession.

IACCM in particular focuses on the international nature of contracting and the special relationship between organizations dealing on a global scale. They hold at least one annual conference both in the US and somewhere abroad. IACCM's certification program is academia-based and is centered on a person's history as a contracts professional and their contribution to the profession as a whole. They offer a forum for members to discuss various topics, a jobs board and resume database, and they offer research reports based primarily on surveys of the membership. From a business perspective, IACCM is a true association – a non-profit organization governed by a Board of Directors and managed by Tim Cummins and his staff.

Caucus is more US-based – and as a for-profit organization, is designed around a consulting practice whereby ICN consultants provide contracts and vendor management-related information to buyer-clients. Caucus is, by their own definition, a procurement-only organization, founded under the belief that sales teams obtain thousands of hours of training a year and buyers get almost none. As such, the one-sided viewpoint skews their offerings, but the annual conference and other provided training materials are well-received by the membership. Like IACCM, Caucus provides a members-only forum to ask/answer questions of your peers and they have a certification program that is program-based (take course, take test). As previously stated, Caucus is privately held and while members pay an annual membership fee, the organization's behavior is guided by the owners of the organization rather…

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The Value of Testimonials

July 20, 2009 at 9:32am

If you've not seen the latest CarFax commercials, they're pretty funny. Essentially, the buyer wants to see the CarFax report and the seller doesn't want to give it to them. Here's my favorite:

Yet, as enterprise software buyers asking for references, this is essentially what we're accepting from the vendor – a note from the prior owner.

Several years ago, I started to put together a list of folks I'd rather talk with and I'd love to hear your suggestions as well. These include:

  • customers who never finished implementation (for any reason)
  • customers who discontinued maintenance in the last 12-24 months (I want to know the number as a percentage of total customers and I want names/contact details)
  • customers who are similar in size of implementation to me, but who had exceeded planned implementation time

As a customer myself, I would never hesitate to serve as a reference under these circumstances. Would you?


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