I am always truly amazed at the extent of differences in a company’s culture from one client to the next.   Even within the same industry, some clients are very conservative and spreadsheet-driven while others are more free-wheeling, making critical decisions based on handshakes and hallway conversations.  
Each style has its pros and cons, and companies can be successful either way but occasionally I run into the worst of both worlds. This is a situation where in a mind-numbing amount of number-crunching and techno-speak occurs before making each small, incremental decision while the big decisions are made on little more than a whim!

I have run into this dichotomy several times when it comes to outsourcing. When a big decision is made quicker than it should be, the “penny wise and pound foolish” mentality sets in and the next level of management starts trying to maximize return in small, focused areas rather than across a broad spectrum of the affected scope.  

Many times I’ve also seen clients getting too focused on one specific area of the outsourcing deal, while not thinking at all about things with broader implications such as termination clauses, governance, ARC/RRCs, etc… Sometimes it’s a bit more subtle, with the client requiring project plans, status reports, executive updates, etc. at the same level for short projects as for large, multi-year transformational programs.

What drives this type of behavior?  How can we effectively scale decision making processes with the size and risk of the endeavor?  I’d love to hear your thoughts.