How To Fail at a Go-Live: 5 Things Not to Do
Stephanie Young
Go-lives are pretty common when you work in IT. There are a lot of moving parts associated, so sometimes they can be a mess. A friend told me about one that was so bad it was like they failed on purpose.
Those events inspired this list. So I present, 5 things NOT to do during a go-live.
1. Don’t make sure whatever application you’re rolling out has an assigned on-call.
On-calls are important. Even more so when an application has gone live. During this go-live, there were no on-call assignments. Significant delays resulted from there not being an on-call. During a high-level incident, there was no one to reach out to after hours.
Always make sure there is an on-call assigned for your shiny new application.
2. Don’t have a dedicated command center during the go-live.
First, let me explain what a command center is. A command center is a dedicated help desk that is set up for taking calls when there is a rollout for something new. A command center reduces the number of calls your service desk gets. Things would work right out of the gate. Reality doesn't agree with that.
During the events that inspired this list, there wasn't a command center. Well, there was at first. But they took it down shortly into the go-live.
Have a dedicated command center. Your help desk with thank you.
3. Don't train the team responsible for maintaining the application.
It’s necessary that the team responsible for whatever is going live needs to know how to fix it. In this instance, the team responsible did not have adequate training. This meant that once they could get in contact with someone to fix issues, that someone didn’t know how to help.
Adequate training is a must when you’re putting out something new.
4. Don’t provide adequate documentation to the help desk.
Whenever something new gets put on a large scale there are always issues. If you don’t have a command center (you should have a command center), the calls then go to the help desk. Or service desk, if that’s what your company calls it. The help desk needs quality documentation. If they don't have it, it makes things difficult and makes your company look bad.
The help desk, like whatever team is managing the app, needs adequate training. Even if it’s only well-written knowledgebase articles.
5. Don’t check beforehand how the rollout will affect other teams.
During large-scale projects, there should be a project manager. Project managers help make sure stakeholders know what's going on. I have experience go-lives where stakeholders weren't involved.
This resulted in scheduling issues, staffing issues, and issues with pay. Also, employees didn't know how to use new processes due to a lack of information.
Make sure all stakeholders are on board with what’s going on. Or at least make sure you understand how what you’re doing will affect their team.
Go-lives are a necessary part of any technology department. New applications come out that work better than previous ones. New equipment comes out that makes things easier. When that happens, it’s important to make sure everything is ready on the day of the go-live. There are a lot of issues that can come up when you’re not prepared.
Have you ever been part of a messy go-live? Let me know in the comments.
Cover image by Elisa VenturUnsplash
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Posted May 1, 2023
Some things I've learned about go-lives.
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