I know, I should not mention football. (Is it worse than discussing politics / religion at the dinner table?) Especially as I have limited knowledge, sure I can understand the rules, including off-side, but I can’t pretend to be a true fan. Although I was involved with selling Navision to Tottenham Hotspur, as a token Gooner this is probably no great boast . . . Actually quite a few premiership clubs use Navision but as this is not a sector TVision specialises in serving I shall move on.

That does bring me to the point of this week’s ramble: specialisms, working to your strengths and working as a team. At TVision we specialise in Microsoft Dynamics NAV (Navision). Unlike some of our competitors who may offer a selection of ERP and accounting packages or additional services such as hardware, networks etc. This means all of our consultants, developers and support team are experts on NAV and how it works with extended technologies (by which I mean we have extensive knowledge of technology such as SQL, SharePoint, web services etc but are only interested in them in the context of a NAV project). When we sell we’re selling NAV, we believe it’s the best mid-market solution. Some of the generalists will propose that they can understand your business then suggest the best product from their portfolio; what this probably means is they’ll position the product that they need to sell that quarter, either to meet sales projections or to assist with staff utilisation. At TVision we work as one big team, sharing common objectives and visions rather than smaller teams fighting over whose offering is the best!

Organising a team of individuals to work effectively can be a challenge. Watching the England v Algeria match last night that was painfully obvious. All these fabulous players, including “one of the best players in the world” (Wayne Rooney in case you were wondering and after last night you may well be), yet they don’t pull together. The sum of the England team is less than its parts and I’m starting to wonder if Fabio Capello really has his heart in it. Husband is off ranting on various forums about the wisdom of playing 4-4-2 rather than 4-5-1 (or is it 4-4-1-1, either way the language is very colourful).

As with football so with IT projects there are many theories and strategies we could adopt. Finding the right one for your team, managing that strategy and getting everyone to pull together is something we have refined over the years. We use the Microsoft SureStep methodology, because it’s sensible and recommended by Microsoft. However, we adapt it to the individual project’s needs based on the scope, complexity and people involved. Recently we adapted SureStep to incorporate a SCRUM approach to the design phase with great success. Our favourite client quote at the moment having delivered the configured solution into test was the feedback, “The system does exactly what we asked for!” The particular client was surprised as this was not their experience of software projects.

The sum of TVision’s team of specialists is greater than its parts (and as Investors in People we are very motivated to support all the team members to achieve personal best). We understand the role of all ‘players’ and we assist people to play to their strengths, including guiding the clients to manage their internal project team (as outsiders whose day job it is to implement projects we can advise on how best to put that internal team together and how to manage the expectations of all stakeholders). This is not about personal glory, it is about end result. Our clients’ experiences of end result is positive and referenceable, so we can boast that the system works but never be complacent that what has worked in the past will necessarily work the next time; constant evaluation to continually achieve is how a team of passionate specialists differs from mediocre generalists who have to rely on a formula as they lack the skill and adaptability.

Sadly England’s fans’ experience of supporting their country during the World Cup is based on prior disappointment. Capello seems unable to pull the team together and unwilling to adapt his strategy. If only we weren’t just NAV specialists we could lend them a project manager!