Vai al contenuto

The Xion method

First you look, then you decide, then you do it - and what gets done stays written down. It holds for a support contract as much as for a project.

In breve

Xion always works in the same order, whatever the size of the job: first the existing situation gets recorded without touching anything, then the priorities are set with the costs in front of you, then the work runs in blocks with a useful result at the end of each. Whoever designs it stays and maintains it, and the documentation of your systems is yours from day one rather than at the end of the relationship.

First you take the picture

A quotation produced without knowing which dependencies exist is an estimate, and estimates go wrong at the worst possible point.

The work runs in blocks

A useful result at the end of each step, with a way back. No project that asks for months of faith.

Whoever designs it stays

The same team builds, documents and maintains. It is the difference between advising and answering for the advice.

The same order, from a workstation to a project

The method does not change with the size of the job. It holds for replacing a computer as much as for rebuilding a plant’s network, and it has four moments.

1. First you take the picture, without touching anything

The first step is not taking control: it is understanding what is there. Servers, workstations, network, access, backups, contracts in force and renewal dates — and above all how things depend on each other.

It looks like a bureaucratic step and it is the one that avoids the most expensive mistake in this trade: discovering a dependency on the day something gets switched off. In most companies nobody can say precisely what stops if a particular server is turned off, and that knowledge does not come out of a sales conversation.

What comes out of it is a document that is yours from day one, even if you then decide not to go ahead.

2. Then you decide with the numbers in front of you

Priorities, costs, timescales and an order of execution. The number everything depends on is almost always the same and almost nobody has calculated it: what an hour of downtime costs your company. From there come the two parameters that guide every infrastructure decision — how much work you can afford to redo, and how many hours you can be down.

Without that number, every proposal is a matter of taste: usually oversized where it does not matter and insufficient where it does.

At this stage we sometimes conclude that nothing needs doing, or that far less needs doing than had been proposed. We say so.

3. Then the work runs in blocks

Never everything at once. Each block has a useful result at the end, an agreed window and a way back if something does not go as expected.

In companies with production or shift work this is not an organisational nicety: it is the only way of working without stopping anything. A project that asks the company to stand still in order to be delivered is a badly designed project.

The same principle applies when changing supplier, in layers: first monitoring and helpdesk, which sit alongside without switching anything off; then security and backups; last the systems that, if handled badly, stop the company.

4. Then it stays written down, and it stays yours

Every piece of work leaves a trace you can consult: what happened, what was done, how long it took. Configurations, diagrams and credentials are documented and can be handed over at the end of the relationship too.

This is not a courtesy: it is your company’s technical asset. A supplier who keeps the map of your systems to themselves is not protecting you, they are tying you in — and that sentence applies when the supplier is us.

The three questions we suggest asking anyone

We put them in writing because they hold up when aimed at us too.

How many people actually answer the phone? Not how many appear on the website. The answer comes in two seconds or it does not come.

What happens when my contact is away? If it is “I will get them to call you back”, there is no cover. If it is “anyone picks it up, because your configuration is documented”, there is.

Is the documentation of my systems mine? A vague answer is already an answer.

The first step

An assessment visit: a consultant looks at the state of the infrastructure, says what makes sense to do, and leaves a written picture with the priorities. Free and without obligation, even if you then decide to change nothing.

Frequently asked questions

Why do you insist so much on the initial assessment?

Because it is the step that avoids the most expensive mistake in this trade, namely discovering a dependency on the day something gets switched off. In most companies nobody can say precisely what stops if a particular server is turned off, and that knowledge does not come out of a sales conversation. It costs a few days and almost always produces the first real map the company has ever had.

What do you mean by the documentation being ours from day one?

That network diagrams, equipment configurations, credentials and the history of work carried out are available to you while the relationship is running, not handed over at the end as a courtesy. It is your company's technical asset: a supplier who keeps it is not protecting you, they are tying you in - and that applies to us too.

Why work in blocks rather than as one project?

Because it reduces the risk for both sides. If the value is not visible after the first block, you stop having spent little rather than discovering it once the project is finished. And because in real companies, particularly where there is production, there is no moment when everything can stop for weeks.

Do you ever advise doing nothing?

Yes, and more often than it might seem. In an assessment visit the conclusion may be that the infrastructure is holding up, that the current supplier is doing a good job, or that the spending somebody else has proposed is oversized. We say so, because the relationship we want lasts years and does not survive a sale made by pushing.

What happens when something goes wrong?

Every block of work has a way back defined beforehand, so you go back without improvising. And every piece of work stays written down, which means the analysis of what happened is done on facts rather than on recollections. We do not promise it never happens: we promise it is provided for.

Looking for a partner to manage your IT?

Tell us what you need: a Xion consultant will get back to you quickly, and the initial assessment visit is free of charge.

Contact us+39 02 40709414