Continuous Development in the Context of HR Technology

A sad thing about this business that never occurred to me until recently is that most consulting firms (and their customers) talk about all of their work as projects.

By definition, this means there is an absolute start and an end to their work. As if in some way the business stops changing and new requirements cease to be created. Which we know is not the case, it usually means that when the project is over, the resources that were used to implement these changes have moved on to the next project leaving users and HR business partners with limited support to continuously adapt and improve their systems over time.

To be clear, project work is necessary when a major shift in thinking, technology and or process needs to occur and “business as usual” resources are not enough to get the job done. But what about those incremental changes that seep into our businesses every week and every month? The ones that are beyond the capacity and skillsets of a “business as usual team”, but not quite big enough for a project. The same changes that, if not taken care of, date your systems and render them obsolete much faster than you expected.

We have found our customers are maximizing their investments in new HR systems by adopting a continuous development mindset. Meaning that customers are:

1. establishing long term product governance

2. establishing product ownership

3. deliberately managing a backlog of products, features, and enhancements

All of which are aligned to an overarching HR technology strategy. Some of our customers are building this capability internally, and others are looking to The Anti to provide this service on a subscription basis. Providing continuous development services has been some of the most rewarding work for me and other team members at The Anti because we are able to build long term business relationships with customers and help them achieve goals beyond a project.

I am excited about the future of Continuous Development!