Owner decision
Is the vendor failing, or is the buying and ownership system repeating the failure?
The vendor is not the only failed layer when different providers hit the same unclear scope, missing internal owner, slow decisions, bad inputs, or unaccepted handoff. Compare the repeated failure pattern before buying the next replacement.
Use this now: Trace the last three vendor failures across scope, internal owner, inputs, decisions, handoff, and acceptance.
Owner worksheet
Repeated vendor-failure trace
| Check | Write down |
|---|---|
| Provider-specific failure | State what the current vendor uniquely failed to deliver, the agreed acceptance standard, dated evidence, and whether another provider faced the same issue. |
| Scope recurrence | Compare the last three engagements for unclear outputs, exclusions, dependencies, or change control; mark the earliest scope ambiguity shared across vendors. |
| Internal ownership | Name who supplied inputs, made decisions, removed blockers, and accepted the handoff; record each missing owner or late internal action. |
| Decision and change delay | Measure how long approvals, feedback, access, and change requests waited inside the business and the cost or rework created. |
| Handoff acceptance | Record the deliverable, receiving owner, test, documentation, and signoff that should have closed each engagement but did not. |
Close the decision: Replace the vendor only for a provider-specific evidenced failure; repair a repeated internal scope, ownership, decision, or acceptance failure before buying again.
01Unclear scope02Missing internal owner03Unaccepted handoff