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Well, yes, but why not do it better?

On October 12, Sourcing Nederland organised a seminar "an alternative view on sourcing". We heard an interesting story about mediation from Lieneke Viergever and Patrick Wit. I was provided the opportunity to share some thoughts about alternative…
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Minimum Viable Contract

Contracting the terms in a business relationship involves a bizarre dynamic: the more you regulate, the more you have to regulate. It often starts with working out a limited number of situations, but soon the conversation becomes more detailed.…
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Minimum Viable Relationship

Outsourcing engagements should be based on trust and collaboration. Isn't that obvious? Apparently, it is not. Outsources typically don't set up their selection process based on that premise. Clients often act like they don't trust potential…
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Cultural fit (or not)

When companies decide to outsource part of their activities, this will require serious preparation. They invest time and effort in a sourcing strategy, considering what should or should not be outsourced. There is attention to the scope (involving…
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Lean Agile Procurement

When starting as a freelancer, people warned me that I might get stuck. Some colleagues at the time were afraid that my development might come to a halt. Without the R&D back-up of a company or corporation, how would I come up with new ideas? It…
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Agile Sourcing

Onlangs lanceerden we ons Agile Sourcing-aanbod, ontwikkeld om organisaties te ondersteunen die meer waarde willen genereren in hun samenwerking met IT-leveranciers. Geïnspireerd door verschillende Agile principes... waaronder een compleet…
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“So, anyway…” words of wisdom by John Cleese

Recently I came across a Google Talk with John Cleese who was interviewed about his memoirs "So, Anyway...". To call it an interview is a compliment to Jason Sanders who did his best to guide the conversation. Despite the no-doubt well-prepared…
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The Art of Possibility

Lately I came across the work of Benjamin Zander. He was the conductor for the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra for 20 years. He is also a renowned music teacher with students from all over the world. Apart from his musical career he co-authored…
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Turn the Ship Around! (or any other type of organization)

In my current engagement I came across the ideas of David Marquet, a captain in the US Navy with interesting ideas about leadership. He isn't the first articulating these kind of ideas but his context is unique as a nuclear submarine is an…

Sourcing for a better world?

The drivers for sourcing are quite diverse, but more often than not 'cost savings' is high on the priority list together with 'focus on core business' and 'quality improvement'. Very rarely sourcing engagements are seen as an opportunity to…

Robotics: can your work be automated?

A recent trend in Shared Services and Outsourcing is Robotics Process Automation (RPA). In the early days labour arbitrage and industrialized delivery models were used to optimize processes and bring down cost. Twenty years later we see that…

Parkinson’s Law or why we procrastinate while we can…

Management Consultants as a species are always busy. Client meetings, presentations to prepare, reports to finish, networks to be maintained, we are running all over the place. But to be fair, our level of activity varies over the year. When…