Fools ignore complexity, Pragmatists suffer it. Some can avoid it. Geniuses remove it – Alan Perlis
I’m convinced that one of the most overlooked aspects of HCM technical consulting is the practice of implementing simple solutions. Simplicity is most always the best path to follow. Simple solutions are easier to setup, configure and train regardless of the technical platform. They are more reliable and they generally cost less to run and maintain.
Now, simple solutions are also sometimes the most difficult to design and implement. They can incur more change management effort than the status-quo practice. And because of these issues, we – HCM technical consultants – too often settle for implementing solutions that are too complex for the given problem. It’s just easier sometimes to implement the as-is process and its complexity so that we can avoid the hard work of thought, analysis, selling new solutions and the change management that goes with it.
Every consultant or analyst is guilty of embracing complexity over simplicity at least a few times. Recently I implemented some awful expatriate payroll processes because we didn’t have time to simplify them - for some projects, implementation dates trump other goals. Sometimes I haven’t been able to convince my customer that it will benefit them to simplify; sometimes the various stakeholders don’t really care about the benefits because it means they have to change. No consultant, no business or technical analyst, wins them all. But, if we never try then we will never succeed (or as I told my sons when playing lacrosse - if you never shoot you never score).
This ability to propose simpler HCM solutions depends on people who can integrate the technical system’s capabilities with the true business process requirements. For example, a customer was always scurrying to complete some payroll processes before month-end – so we proposed they establish a standing accounting accrual for that payroll so that they can process the it according to a more normal and comfortable timeline at month-end. We didn’t change anything technically – though they had tried technical adjustments in the past. By understanding payroll and accounting we could propose a simpler solution.
This is what customers need when implementing their HCM and Payroll systems, regardless of the technology: people who know the business processes as well as they know the technical processes. So ask your consultants about their experience in that. If they can’t point to a failure or two then they haven’t really been trying very hard to simplify. And when interviewing new employees, ask the same things. And when managing your projects consider making simplicity one of your touchstones.