Work · PM · TPM
Vendor incentives
A well-connected vendor was missing commitments, and the internal escalation route ran through managers friendly with them. I went to their director with the evidence and changed what they were paid for.
- Result
- Per-site sign-off
- Role
- Technical Programme Manager, Vodafone (via Interactive Management Solutions)
- When
- 2019–present
The situation
A third-party vendor with a long history at Vodafone. They had delivered many of the legacy links, knew the network well, and were well connected with several of our managers. That meant the usual escalation route ran through people who were already on their side.
They started well. Then communication broke down and work came back incomplete, nowhere near what they’d committed to. Two formal warnings changed very little.
Going around, not up
Escalating internally would have been blunted, so I went to the vendor’s own director, the person who had joined for the initial project setup. Over coffee, I opened every email in front of him and went through the gaps and incomplete work one item at a time. Evidence, not impressions.
Changing what they were paid for
We restructured how the work was governed there and then:
- Mandatory templates completed for every site.
- Payment released only on successful completion.
- Each site linked to its agreed amount, paid only after validation.
Result
- Delivery improved immediately, because the money now depended on it.
- The relationship got better, not worse. Their director took the feedback seriously and valued the directness.
- It outlived the project. The templates are still in use, and validation before payment is now standard practice across the networks I work on.
Complaining harder would have run into the same friendly managers. Changing the incentive didn’t need anyone’s permission.