"When the integrator designs, builds, tests and reports on progress, the client only sees what it is shown. Gaps surface late, when they cost the most."
The issue: you don't grade your own paper
Seen from the other side. On the integrator side, under schedule pressure, internal testing covers the nominal cases first. Rarely the edge cases.
The 3 blind spots of a project: when the supplier checks its own work
Three drifts that turn a controlled budget into a string of change orders.
- Lenient testing. Tests validate the nominal scenarios. Edge cases are discovered in production.
- Optimistic reporting. Progress stays "green" until the day the schedule slips by several months.
- Scope creep. Defects requalified as "enhancements" and billed as change requests.
The method: two shields on the client side
Acceptance testing and PMO: two functions independent from the supplier, reporting to the client-side project owner.
Independent testing: tests designed by a third party
A test plan written from the business need, not from the supplier's specifications.
Qualification: defect or enhancement?
Every gap is qualified by an independent reviewer before anything is billed.
PMO · steering: independent reporting
Progress measured on accepted deliverables, not on person-days consumed.
PMO · arbitration: alerts before the drift
Shared budget and schedule alert thresholds, decisions recorded in the steering committee.
The decision-maker's reflex: control quality, protect the budget
Independent testing and an independent PMO cost a fraction of the project. A drift detected too late costs far more. Who in your organization can say "no" to the supplier?
Next episode: licenses & contracts.
The series "Selecting and choosing IT solutions"
Digital transformation: insights on selecting and choosing IT solutionsEpisode 1
Consulting vs integration: why handing governance to your integrator is a strategic mistakeEpisode 2
The art of the RFP: proof before promiseEpisode 3
Independent testing & PMO: the shields of your budgetEpisode 4
Licenses & contracts: the hidden price of Day 1
Large consortiums
Program Management & Recovery
Executive steering of complex programs, PMO, recovery of troubled IT projects and IS modernization.
Fakhri Essedik
Founder of EDX Advisory
For more than 25 years, Fakhri Essedik has helped executive teams and CIOs steer major Digital, Data & AI programs across Europe, Africa and the Middle East.