Project names
By Jake Kanter
Over the course of the year SM has encountered some brilliant and baffling names for procurement projects. There is a superb example in Paul's web story today, where the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority labelled its purchasing process for an exam-marking contractor "Project Tornado".
There are others as well. The US Department of Defense and the General Services Administration's programme to set up 12 purchase agreements for IT security products was branded “Data At Rest Tiger Team”. And in Australia the group of MPs charged with cutting inefficiency in government spending are called the "Razor Gang".
All these puzzling metaphors got us thinking about other procurement project names that might be out there.
Do you give your procurement projects names?
If so, can you share a few examples with us and explain the thought process behind them?
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The nursing agency projects for NHS PASA used to have regional titles at the start which led to SWAP (South West) and LAP (London). Some comments from suppliers suggested they could have “fun” with these. But I’ve never worked on a Tornado or a Razor Gang or a Whirlpool, etc type of project. I think naming things after natural disasters or street gangs might give the wrong impression.
The idea of a Physical Assault for a charity project or a School Understanding Spends Project English National Division doesn’t really appeal. Why not call it what it is? Making daft project names to help form a handy abbreviation or trying to make a procurement sound sexy and exciting is likely to help promote the work and more likely to make it a target of humour.
I’ve never called a project anything other than what it is. I would however question both the level of performance and professionalism of those that do spend time thinking up names such as those mentioned. Trying to make procurement both interesting and appealing in my opinion is a lost cause anyway… We’re anoraks guys, live with it…
Most of the made up project names (or names not related to the project being worked on) that I have worked under have been during quotation or start up phase, and have been so named due to their confidentiality or customer’s need for secrecy. While internally it doesn’t affect anything one name is as good as any other when talking the same history and shared knowledge. But from the outside talking to suppliers it does lead to a crediability issue for the buyer, in hiding or not revealing information to the vendor regarding the nature of the purchase. For buyers aiming for honest vendor relationships it does pose a dilemma.