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I have recently come off a 6 month consulting gig at a major Australian bank. One of which is discussed in the article. Having come from working within well res

I have recently come off a 6 month consulting gig at a major Australian bank. One of which is discussed in the article. Having come from working within well respected technology companies I have been stunned by the complete lack of skill in their technology work force. Even the most basic of tasks couldn't be automated due to overly locked down workstations used by staff, those tasks that could be automated are outsourced to organisations that do not automate either. Conservatively I would suggest that over 50% of the full time direct technology employees do nothing on a weekly basis. I regularly came into the office and discovered staff sitting around chatting or browsing the internet, watching Youtube. I actually worked in a hot desk environment for a few weeks around various teams and the situation was no better across large sections of the organisation. At a guess in the 6 months gig I probably spent time with around 1000 staff, of which probably under 50 could actually competently do their job and that does not even touch on the outsourcing agreements. Multiple network agreements with various outsourcing providers, no clear ownership, vendors haggling over details, no clear escalation process, ridiculously crazy per-job pricing models where the job was never actually completed correctly and would often be charged multiple times to fix it, these multi-charges then had to be challenged by teams of people. The whole situation made me realise that it was time for me to head back to well respected technology companies. The entire industry is ripe for a complete disruption. The in efficiencies, useless staff, incompetence, crazy contract terms would mean there is no way for these cumbersome oafs to complete with an even remotely agile organisation.

Terr_ 9y ago
While not at a bank, this part sounds very familiar: > ridiculously crazy per-job pricing models where the job was never actually completed correctly and would often be charged multiple times to fix it IMO it indicates something about power and incentives, where somebody in the company -- possibly in sales -- benefits from being able to arbitrary rewrite or ignore rules. They have enough political clout that supposedly standardized systems must accommodate their fundamentally unpredictable exceptions, leading to software that is fragile or insane.
toomuchtodo 9y ago
> The entire industry is ripe for a complete disruption. The in efficiencies, useless staff, incompetence, crazy contract terms would mean there is no way for these cumbersome oafs to complete with an even remotely agile organisation. SimpleBank tried to do this in the US, and ended up with a lackluster acquisition by BBVA [1]. Standard Treasury also tried this at the institution level, and also ended up with a poor acqui-hire outcome [2]. Without being able to be a technology company first, and a financial institution second, these efforts are doomed to fail. I hate to say it, but the best companies to attack this are Amazon, Google, and Walmart (companies that are either Agile or ruthlessly efficient). With that said, I feel your pain. I work in security for a financial utility in the US, and some days, its impossible to get anything done. Use opportunities like this to sharpen your bureaucracy hacking skills (and the money isn't bad either). Failures are only lessons you don't learn from. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simple_(bank) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simple_(bank) [2] https://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/blog/techflash/2015/08/silicon-valley-bank-acqui-hires-y-combinator.html https://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/blog/techflash/2015/08/s...
- jamy015 9y ago
  It seems like Bunq [1] is having some success in this space in Europe. Revolut [2], while not a bank in the traditional sense, also seems to be doing well. [1] https://www.bunq.com/ https://www.bunq.com/ [2] https://www.revolut.com/ https://www.revolut.com/

Terr_ 9y ago

While not at a bank, this part sounds very familiar: > ridiculously crazy per-job pricing models where the job was never actually completed correctly and would often be charged multiple times to fix it IMO it indicates something about power and incentives, where somebody in the company -- possibly in sales -- benefits from being able to arbitrary rewrite or ignore rules. They have enough political clout that supposedly standardized systems must accommodate their fundamentally unpredictable exceptions, leading to software that is fragile or insane.

toomuchtodo 9y ago

> The entire industry is ripe for a complete disruption. The in efficiencies, useless staff, incompetence, crazy contract terms would mean there is no way for these cumbersome oafs to complete with an even remotely agile organisation. SimpleBank tried to do this in the US, and ended up with a lackluster acquisition by BBVA [1]. Standard Treasury also tried this at the institution level, and also ended up with a poor acqui-hire outcome [2]. Without being able to be a technology company first, and a financial institution second, these efforts are doomed to fail. I hate to say it, but the best companies to attack this are Amazon, Google, and Walmart (companies that are either Agile or ruthlessly efficient). With that said, I feel your pain. I work in security for a financial utility in the US, and some days, its impossible to get anything done. Use opportunities like this to sharpen your bureaucracy hacking skills (and the money isn't bad either). Failures are only lessons you don't learn from. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simple_(bank) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simple_(bank) [2] https://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/blog/techflash/2015/08/silicon-valley-bank-acqui-hires-y-combinator.html https://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/blog/techflash/2015/08/s...

jamy015 9y ago
It seems like Bunq [1] is having some success in this space in Europe. Revolut [2], while not a bank in the traditional sense, also seems to be doing well. [1] https://www.bunq.com/ https://www.bunq.com/ [2] https://www.revolut.com/ https://www.revolut.com/