The Artful Design of Procurement (Part 2)

As noted in our last post, as I was writing up some notes from the Ivalua NOW 2019 conference, which it gave the theme “The Art of Procurement,” and which probably seemed more artistic when it was held at Le Carrousel Du Louvre, and not the Renaissance Chicago (but you’ll have to ask my colleagues Michael Lamoureux and Peter Smith, who attended the Paris event and posted their notes here, there and everywhere). But at the end of the day, since the better theme is not so much just about art (even though there is a definite craft/“art” to doing procurement transformation — and using digital as part of that transformation), but about the proper design of procurement and the procurement process, I decided to pen these pieces.

In Part 1 of this provocative PRO analysis, after setting the stage, I tried to really define what art vs. design was in a procurement context. Today, I’m going to try and build on that to describe:

* Design-centered procurement and platform design rather than just product design
* Platform enablement of the “participative art” of procurement
* A counter-intuitive palette: low code software platforms
* The procurement practitioner as artist

And I hope to inspire you to be a better artist, who paints a more impressive picture in your daily professional life.