Delivery Assurance and Knowledge Management

Delivery Assurance at ThoughtWorks

Delivery Assurance, DA. Isn't that the men in grey suits checking up on people? At ThoughtWorks we think DA is more than that. It is more about helping projects with best practice, having a touch-point for every proposal, every project and for every ThoughtWorker to check in with. Am I doing the right thing? Have we done this well somewhere else before? What problems have other projects hit? DA is a partnership with the delivery teams; not just policing.

Delivery Assurance checks that ThoughtWorks' project managers and client principals are making promises to
our clients that we can keep; and then helps make sure we keep them. We also focus on getting 800 strong-minded intellectuals to agree on the best way of doing things. Or sometimes, just agree to disagree. We referee to make sure that our clients simply receive the final output, the collective Thought Leadership. And that leads to the best possible solutions.

Knowledge Management at ThoughtWorks

We have all worked in companies where process and procedure is passed down from on high from a small group of individuals. This creates two main problems. Firstly, there is limited buy-in to the content. The best practice contained is not necessarily the view of those at the sharp-end having to use it. Secondly, processes like this tend to stifle innovation. Even if your "Procedures Team" has done a good job in capturing current best practice, how can they keep it up-to-date and fresh with new ideas? Invariably they can't and the whole system falls out of date quickly with obvious consequences.

ThoughtWorks' answer to this is ThoughtPedia and Communities. Communities are groupings of ThoughtWorkers who share common interests around our business. For example there are communities around all of our core technologies and project management disciplines as well as a host of other areas such as Testing and Analysis. ThoughtPedia is a wiki-based system which brings together our internal communities, it's here that we share and agree on best practice, and build the global pool of knowledge that is the living, breathing ThoughtWorks. The Communites own the content of ThoughtPedia and hence everyone contributes and in turn owns the content; again, no men in grey suits dictating "the right way". The ThoughtWorks' way is owned by all ThoughtWorkers and is a evolutionary entity, constantly being infused with new ideas and feedback from current projects.

Dave Whalley
Global Head of Delivery

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