Try anything once

Last week a call went out on our 50D internal comms channel, asking if anyone fancied writing a Blog for the website. I immediately replied, “I’ll give it a try”. It’s safe to say the thought ‘what was I thinking?’ has gone round in my head several times since.

I blame my parents. Their modus operandi when I was growing up was to not allow us to say no, or that we didn’t like something, until first giving it a try.

Thinking back on my working years, I’ve not applied this approach as often as I would’ve liked. I don’t need to think too hard to know that in previous employment I wouldn’t have even entertained the idea of volunteering to write a Blog. The environment that Andy, Emily, Matt, and the whole team at 50 Degrees have created allows you to try something out of your comfort zone.

The worst that can happen is the Blog doesn’t get used. If you’re reading this, however, then it wasn’t all bad and I’m already boring friends and family with claims of being a published author!

My role within 50 Degrees is solution development. Looking back on my own experiences, the tendering landscape has changed significantly over the past few years. The days of the bidder getting away with providing a one size fits all, off-the-shelf solution are in the past. Procurement teams now tend to know what they want and will document this in their requirement specifications, which is effectively their wish list.

As a solution developer, you need to build a solution to meet the requirements. Tried and tested methods might be perfect, alternatively, they may not be the best fit. In previous employment, I was encouraged to adhere to the same way of building the solution regardless of the requirements. There would be an adverse reaction if I even suggested a new approach.

Increasingly, we’re now seeing contracts awarded to companies who would historically not be seen as having much of a chance in the tender process. Cynics will state that they’ve won because they undercut on cost. But is it actually because they were prepared to try a new approach and create a solution that actually met the specifications, rather than regurgitating the same content each time?

While we don’t claim to know it all, the team at 50 Degrees has a wealth of experience and knowledge to draw upon, coupled with an environment where you’re encouraged to think outside the box and not be afraid to try something new.

This leads to one final burning question, “Will this be my only attempt at a blog?”

To quote Mae West ‘I’ll try anything once, twice if I like it, three times to make sure’.

So watch this space.

Mark Hamilton
Principal Consultant