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Hertz paid Accenture $32M for a website that never went live (2019)

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Re: Hertz paid Accenture $32M for a website that never went live (2019)

#341

Post by p_l »

cratermoon wrote: post #180
zdragnar wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually having a usable product is missing from most government specs. Individual components get built by different teams, and nobody is responsible for making sure that they are built such that they work together. At least, that's the theory of why the insurance marketplace failed so spectacularly. Once you get to an organization of a certain size- private or public- the people with purchasing power are never the o…

> Actually having a usable product is missing from most government specs. Individual components get built by different teams, and nobody is responsible for making sure that they are built such that they work together. That sounds like a certain "mega moon rocket" that's been under construction for some time.

That one got the added "benefit" of Congress and POTUS directly meddling. So you get to restart parts with new contractors, changes in direction just as you got the last 20% of bugs fixed etc and that's assuming you work with honest suppliers

Re: Hertz paid Accenture $32M for a website that never went live (2019)

#342

Post by solarkraft »

_tik_ wrote: post #285
rozenmd wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

24 year olds? Since when are they sending the senior consultants out on engagements like this! I lasted not even 6 months working in professional services, really woke me up to what "prestigious careers" really are.

Andersen Consulting/Accenture is my first job. Accenture directly sends me to the client after finishing my orientation program and 2-3 days of training. On my first day arrived at the client side for some initial discussion. I saw everyone standing with anxious faces and suddenly everyone spontaneously laughing. On lunch time, the client told me this was their first time engaging a big consultant firm and they did n…

kid/no kid is one thing, but were you able to deliver the insights they expected? I know I'd be pissed if I paid a high rate expecting an expert and then got a guy who doesn't know either.

Re: Hertz paid Accenture $32M for a website that never went live (2019)

#343

Post by achenet »

illuminati1911 wrote: post #319
kumarvvr wrote: post #245

IT Companies, especially ones that outsource have had it coming for years. I am an Indian (though I only worked for a year in IT before leaving for actual work), and let me tell you, we Indian IT developers are a complex bunch. 3 out of 100 know the actual work, actual technology, impact of choices, etc. 80 out of 100 just get by, as in, do the bare minimum required to get by the day and the task assigned to them. Th…

The global economy and free market will always make sure that the talented people will receive higher compensation. It doesn't matter if someone outsources to India or not, but if you are getting something for really cheap you are buying shit and being scammed. There are obviously good high quality Indian developers too, but they are not going to be working for these low cost sweatshops that get contracts from Fortun…

> The global economy and free market will always make sure that the talented people will receive higher compensation.

Any proof of that statement? Or are you one of those people who believes in the invisible hand of providence the way religious people believe in God?

Hey, remember back in the good old days of cotton plantations, when the African slaves were well compensated for their extreme talent in picking cotton under inhuman conditions? They were obviously receiving higher compensation than whites, who would have died under the same conditions.

Man, that good ol' magic of the market huh? Never fails.

I mean, if you pay 32million for a website, it's obviously going to be good, right? Or at least, it'll go live, right?

sorry if that was a bit mean, but honestly you seem to be naively believing in something that does not actually exist, and then assuming people who are unlucky are in fact untalented <3

Re: Hertz paid Accenture $32M for a website that never went live (2019)

#344

Post by AndrewThrowaway »

jrvarela56 wrote: post #210
vsareto wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The more stories I hear about this, the more I'm inclined to be an executive-asleep-at-the-wheel because apparently they get paid a lot, do a terrible job, and nothing happens to them.

It's nice if you only consider the end state. Since it's such a good deal, a lot of employees want it. The price execs paid to get there was to play corporate politics for 20 years. I'll take an uncertain payoff as an entrepreneur or job as a developer over that - thanks for reminding me.

Exactly this. It requires a special kind of personality + special kind of liver and stamina. All the parties and events and "all nighters" to attend while juggling all the political stuff is no easy thing to do. All of this also requires a lot of sacrifices - forget family time, personal hobbies (nobody became C level executive while fishing alone on weekends) and etc.

Re: Hertz paid Accenture $32M for a website that never went live (2019)

#345

Post by rawoke083600 »

lowercased wrote: post #99
UltimateFloofy wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was being billed at > $300/hr when I first got out of school at 21 as consultant. 24 would make someone a senior consultant!

My first 'agency' gig was late 90s - I was making $21/hr, and being billed out at .. $175/hr I think. Varied a bit, but most billing was $150-$180 when I started, and I think most new projects were $180-$200/hr by the time I left (20 months later) 1998 - walking around you saw dozens of copies of "ASP for Dummies" on various desks. I started at $21/hr, then found out later some other folks hired after me came in even…

speaking of agencies and horrors ! I too did a 6 months stint at a "digital agency". To be fair I still think they were one of the better ones. But it was just not for me:

1) EXCESSIVE Timekeeping (I had to log every hour basically I was at work, felt like an inmate). Sure that is there business I get it. But it's not for me.

2) Many projects(Same-Same): I also learn that for my personality (and sanity) i work better if I can focus on one or two long term projects. Doing 5 little projects different days of the week, was horrible. To rephrase, dealing with 5 different clients a week was horrible, 7/10 times you basically just undid half the work you did previous week. Since you know, "requirements change" or it took them two weeks to let me know "oh it has to work like this not that, I thought you will know this" type convos.

Anywhoo programming can be wonderful or it can be awful !

Re: Hertz paid Accenture $32M for a website that never went live (2019)

#346

Post by mrweasel »

rich_sasha wrote: post #3

My main question is: who hires Accenture for this kind of job, for no less than $32m??? They would be my last point of call, literally after my mum, and maybe even after my dog. At least he's cheap.

I wonder the same thing. The article has the section: "How Hertz Could Have Done Things Differently". I think the obvious answer is: Hire an in-house development team that has some sense of responsibility and attachment to the company.

If you're Hertz, your website is central to what you do, it's how most people will rent a car. It's something you should do in-house.

Re: Hertz paid Accenture $32M for a website that never went live (2019)

#347

Post by ThePadawan »

InefficientRed wrote: post #241
sytelus wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The entire business idea of these "services" is to get cheap labor, pay them $30/hr and charge clients $300/hr. Why companies go for this? Because they can't build their own IT, they have failed all the times and their CTO loves golf.

Because they have no idea how to hire and manage teams that build software. It's a lot harder than it sounds if you have no personal experience delivering software (read: most legacy corp CTOs).

> Because they have no idea how to hire and manage teams that build software. It's a lot harder than it sounds if you have no personal experience delivering software (read: most legacy corp CTOs).

I just want to point out that this isn't just legacy corps - I previously worked for a manager who went straight from a theory heavy CS degree to a theory heavy PhD to consultancy to management.

You still get companies like this where some middle manager with 0 years of SWE experience has to hire Software Engineers with 5+.

Re: Hertz paid Accenture $32M for a website that never went live (2019)

#348

Post by Nextgrid »

sytelus wrote: post #320
InefficientRed wrote: post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because they have no idea how to hire and manage teams that build software. It's a lot harder than it sounds if you have no personal experience delivering software (read: most legacy corp CTOs).

I'd say this is rather distribution at work. To build software competitively you need fairly good people and not a lot them would want to end up at Hertz. Places like Hertz are not tech companies which also often makes them very low margine, capital deprived and of limited scalability. Therefore, they cannot offer the compensation like top 20% of the players. The difference of compensation between top 20% and rest of…

However, Hertz did end up spending $32M, so it turns out they can offer compensation like the top 20% if they wanted to.

Re: Hertz paid Accenture $32M for a website that never went live (2019)

#349

Post by ThePadawan »

throckmortra wrote: post #59
rozenmd wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

24 year olds? Since when are they sending the senior consultants out on engagements like this! I lasted not even 6 months working in professional services, really woke me up to what "prestigious careers" really are.

The only consulting firm I've ever heard spoken of somewhat favorably is McKinsey (and then only by ex-McKinsey people)

I unfortunately cannot second this - I went to college with a colleague who went on to work at McKinsey, and who I worked with on a project after he left them.

At this point in his career, 3 years after his PhD, he was unable to do anything except put on cufflinks and produce 120-slide Powerpoint presentations that went 30min overtime like he was working for the DoD.

It was an incredibly saddening sight. I talked to him about this and he was 100% convinced that he was doing his absolute top work by having pointless meeting after pointless meeting talking about nothing at all at great length.

The mindset of charging the maximum number of hours for minimal output is really hard to break out of. You can take the man out of McKinsey, but you can't take McKinsey out of the man.

Re: Hertz paid Accenture $32M for a website that never went live (2019)

#350

Post by RamblingCTO »

I'll never understand how you can be blind to the fact that most of these "consultancies" can't consult properly because they are hired fresh from uni and never have gotten any real experience and learn on the job. Almost all of them. What's the average number of years a consultant stays in such a company? From my social network I'd say it's around 2-3 years.
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