Monthly Archives: June 2014

You’re Understaffed. And You’re Not Alone. Now What? Part III

Now that we’re in Part III, the doctor is going to tell you that even if you’re in the 2/3rds of Procurement Organizations that do not think you’re understaffed, you are. Even if you have enough headcount, chances are you do not have enough skills to tackle each category and project to the maximum potential as each staff member in your department is only human, and can only master a limited number of categories in a job where you are expected to be a jack-of-all-trades. The only question is are you slightly understaffed or significantly understaffed.

If you’re significantly understaffed, you’re going to have to augment externally as there’s no way you will be able to handle a large influx of internal staff, even if they are temporary and category/service experts, as they still have to be trained on your organizational procedures and policies, guided towards optimal outcomes for your organization, and managed.

If you’re moderately understaffed, it’s often a toss-up that comes down to your particular needs and the strength of the options provided to you.

If you’re slightly understaffed, you might just need one or two more resources internally to reach your potential, but you still might want to consider outsourcing if the appropriate talent is not available to you or it’s easier to get budget approval if you outsource a project to a services provider.

So, if you think outsourcing is a reasonable option, how do you make the decision?

First of all, you make sure that outsourcing is a viable option. The best way to start is to apply a sniff test and make sure that the proposed projects don’t suffer from the 10 ailments of outsourcing, as presented in a presentation by Andrew Downard (of AD Supply Chain Group) and Karl Manrodt (of Georgia Southern University) on Delivering Better Service, Lower Costs and Increasing Innovation Through Vested Outsourcing, and make sure there are no hidden gotchas waiting to jump out and bite you in the backside.

As per the presenters, and a co-author of Vested Outsourcing, you need to make sure that the proposed project is not:

  • Penny-Wise and Pound-Foolish

    and being considered for outsourcing just because outsourcing is expected to be cheaper

  • An Outsourcing Paradox waiting to happen

    because you expect that the provider will do what you tell them to which you incorrectly assume is the best thing to do

  • An Activity Trap
    where the provider is getting paid by the hour or transaction
  • The Next Junkyard Dog
    where you will assign the project to internal experts who will micro-manage the contract
  • The Result of The Honeymoon Effect
    where the provider is getting the work because they just went overboard on the last project
  • Sandbagging
    where the provider is penalized if they don’t deliver a contracted level of effort, but not incentivized for a better than average performance, so the provider will deliver minimalist results
  • a Zero-Sum Game
    where you don’t accept the provider’s preferred terms of engagement, assuming that what’s good for them is bad for you
  • Driving Blind
    as you don’t have any formal governance processes setup to monitor the performance of the relationship
  • the next instance of Measurement Minutiae
    where you over-measure and under-incentivize the provider
  • Measurement-Free
    although you shouldn’t over-measure, you should measure the results of each project

If it passes the sniff-test, then you can seriously consider the categories and projects for outsourcing, provided you have an appropriate provider with talented personnel. But is that enough to make a decision? We’ll address that in Part IV.

You’re Understaffed. And You’re Not Alone. Now What? Part II

In our last post, we noted that the findings of a recent Source One Management Services survey (summarized in Part I of a 4-part series on how Companies Face Limited Procurement Resources that is available on their website) indicate that 1 of 3 procurement departments is understaffed. Ouch!

We further noted that this had three definite repercussions.

  1. You’re not doing enough analysis.
  2. You’re not sourcing enough categories.
  3. You’re not finding new sources of value.

So what can you do?

At a high level, you can either do something or you can do nothing. Assuming you choose to do something, you can do it internally, or you can do it externally. If you do it internally, you can add staff or augment staff. If you do it externally, you can augment staff or outsource. If you can outsource, you can outsource projects or outsource categories / commodities to a GPO. In other words, your options are:

  • Do nothing.
  • Hire more staff.
  • Augment headcount with temporary staff.
  • Augment headcount with service/solution provider personnel.
  • Outsource project(s).
  • Outsource categories/commodities to a GPO.

Even though you might think your superiors want you to do nothing, as they give you nothing to work with, that’s not the answer. You’ll just get more budget and staff cuts. And even if you can get approval to hire more staff, that might not be the answer in the short term. It takes time to ramp a new hire up to speed, and what is given may be taken away even quicker if you don’t get results.

This says that, in the short term, your best option is typically to:

  • Augment headcount with temporary staff.
  • Augment headcount with service/solution provider personnel.
  • Outsource project(s).
  • Outsource categories/commodities to a GPO.

But the right answer is not always clear. For example, while you might be able to save an average of 10% off of your office suppliers by switching to a GPO, if you are including high cost / high volume items like printers, external storage tapes and drives, and office chairs in your office supplies, you might do better sourcing those separately. If this means that the remaining spend is not enough for the GPO, that might still be okay if you can save enough on the big spending items and just negotiate an x% off catalog pricing on the rest.

And when do you augment staff on your own versus flipping a project to a service provider’s staff? If it’s just muscle you need to get your spending in order and to run one-off analyses to find new options and to make sure spend is put through the system (to get maverick spend under control), then your best option might be to augment internally. But if you need someone to source medium- or high-dollar complex / strategic categories, you probably need some category expertise. Chances are that expertise will be hard to find, expensive, and only needed once every couple of years. Unless the candidate comes with some other useful skills, then you might want to temporarily augment your staff with expert service provider staff.

Tough questions, let’s see what we can make of them in Part III.

You’re Understaffed. And You’re Not Alone. Now What? Part I

First things first. The findings of a recent Source One Management Services survey (summarized in Part I of a 4-part series on how Companies Face Limited Procurement Resources, available on their website) indicate that 1 of 3 Procurement departments is understaffed. Ouch! With costs climbing and GDP growth (and, thus, consumer spending) flattening, this is not a good thing. For many companies, their only option for growth is cost control and value generation through Supply Management. (Note that we are claiming cost control and not cost savings because, now that inflation is back with a vengeance, with hyper-inflation lurking around the corner, there is no such thing as cost savings, just cost control.)

So what does this mean?

  1. You’re not doing enough analysis.
    Analysis takes time. More time than just dumping your AP and P-Card databases into a spend analysis tool and running the canned top-n spend reports by supplier, category, department, etc. As per our recent post on Spend Analysis – How Do You Get It Right, real savings comes from real insight which requires real analysis, which takes time, effort, and focus.
  2. You’re not sourcing enough categories.
    If you’re short-staffed, you’re going to focus on the top n suppliers, categories, departments, etc. spit out by the canned reports from your spend analysis reporting tool. Some of these will have opportunities, but since you’ll already know most of these opportunities, you’ll miss many of your biggest opportunities, which are typically found in the high-opportunity tier-2 categories that never get addressed due to lack of resources.
  3. You’re not finding new sources of value.
    The future of Supply Management, in an inflationary economy, is value-generation. Cost control is a good start, and in an organization overspending by 5% to 15%, it will make a big impact in the beginning. But once all of the fat is trimmed, the best you can do is reign in costs. This means that the next round of savings is going to come from identifying value-generation opportunities. Bundling and unbundling the right value added services for your organization; helping engineering identify more cost-effective alternate materials and production processes that are also more environmentally friendly, and may let you charge a sustainability premium; and identifying new market opportunities based on products and services your strategic suppliers could provide you with can all bring value to your organization.

Now what? We’ll address that in Part II.

Sourcing Innovation is Moving

Sourcing Innovation will be changing hosting services this week. You should notice little or no interruption to the blog*, although the historical archive of blog posts will temporarily be taken offline during the migration.


* Assuming you aren’t glued to your local broadcaster watching soccer matches …

The (Board) Gamer’s Guide to Supply Management Part XXX: At the Gates of Loyang: Part IV – Going Solo Again!

As per our second post, when you are At the Gates of Loyang, you can ply your trade solo. But, as we indicated in our last post, you will likely do better if you first analyze the situation so that you know your best courses of action with the opportunities presented to you. In this post, we are going to repeat the solo game we played in the second post, but use our newly gained knowledge to attempt to make better decisions and see how we fare. If prior analysis and analysis of the situations encountered against that prior analysis is worthwhile, we should fare better.

Again note that:
C.C. – Casual Customer
R.C. – Regular Customer
M.S. – Market Stall

 

Setup
0) Start with 10 Cash and a 9-plot home field.
1) Populate the Courtyard, and analyze our options before we
2) Buy a vegetable from our shop and sow it in our home field – Pumpkin for 4 Cash as the first casual customer wants it, so does the second regular customer, and it’s one of the two cheapest vegetables to trade.

Round 1:

Harvest Phase:
Harvest: 1 Pumpkin
Acquire: 5-plot Field
Prosperity: 1

Vegetables

  Wheat Pumpkin Turnip Cabbage Beans Leaks Cash
Store  3  1  2  2  2  2  
Storehouse              
Cart   1          6

Fields

Field Planted Remains
9 plots Pumpkin 8
5 plots   0

Helpers

Helper Ability
   

Market Stall

Stall Vegetable 1 Vegetable 2 Vegetable 3
       

Regular Customers

Customer Wants Buys Left Pays
       

Casual Customers

Customer Wants Pays
     
Hand:

  • C.C. 2*Pumpkin/Beans 9
  • Field 4 Lots
  • R.C. Wheat/Leeks 5/6/7/8
  • Helper Merchant

Courtyard:

Helper Saleswoman C.C. Pumpkin/Turnip/Leek 10 Helper Shopper
C.C. Wheat/Turnip/Beans 9 R.C. Beans/Leeks 7/8/9/10 M.S. Pumpkin/Beans/Leeks 1/2/2
Field 3 Lots C.C. Pumpkin/Cabbage/Beans 10 M.S. Wheat/Pumpkin/Leeks 1/1/1
Helper Squire Helper Plough-Man M.S. Turnip/Beans/Leeks 1/2/2

Card Phase:
1) Shopper Helper from Courtyard, to immediately buy one vegetable cheap
2) Merchant Helper from Hand, as we aren’t ready for customers or another field

Action Phase
1) Use Shopper to buy Cabbage from Supply for 3 Cash (as it’s the most valuable vegetable we can plant now and in relatively high demand based on our prior analysis)
2) Sow Cabbage in 5-plot field
3) Store 1 Pumpkin in Storehouse
4) Advance up the Path of Prosperity 1 space for 1 Cash, leaving us with 2 Cash

 

Round 2:

Harvest Phase:
Harvest: 1 Pumpkin, 1 Cabbage
Acquire: 6-plot Field
Prosperity: 2

Vegetables

  Wheat Pumpkin Turnip Cabbage Beans Leaks Cash
Store  3  1  2  1  2  2  
Storehouse   1           
Cart    1    1     2

Fields

Field Planted Remains
9 plots Pumpkin 7
5 plots Cabbage 4
6 plots   0

Helpers

Helper Ability
Merchant Buy for 1 Cash 1 of any vegetable to be delivered at least twice to regular customers this round.
   

Market Stall

Stall Vegetable 1 Vegetable 2 Vegetable 3
       

Regular Customers

Customer Wants Buys Left Pays
       

Casual Customers

Customer Wants Pays
     
Hand:

  • C.C. Wheat/2*Cabbage 9
  • R.C. Wheat/Pumpkin 4/5/5/6
  • Helper Tenant-Farmer
  • R.C. Pumpkin/Cabbage 5/6/6/7

Courtyard:

Helper Saleswoman C.C. Pumpkin/Turnip/Leek 10 M.S. Pumpkin/Beans/Leeks 1/2/2
C.C. Wheat/Turnip/Beans 9 R.C. Beans/Leeks 7/8/9/10 M.S. Wheat/Pumpkin/Leeks 1/1/1
Field 3 Lots C.C. Pumpkin/Cabbage/Beans 10 M.S. Turnip/Beans/Leeks 1/2/2
Helper Squire Helper Plough-Man C.C. Wheat/Cabbage/Leeks 10

Card Phase:
1) R.C. Pumpkin/Cabbage from Hand, since that’s what we have
2) C.C. Pumpkin/Turnip/Leeks from Courtyard, as that will be a valuable customer later

Action Phase:
1) Deliver Pumpkin/Cabbage to R.C. and gain 5 Cash (bringing us to 7 cash)
2) Sow Pumpkin in 6-Field (as we have it available)
3) Advance up the Path of Prosperity 1 space for 1 Cash (as we want to conserve more Cash for investing, in hopes of making even more later)

 

Round 3

Harvest Phase:
Harvest: 2 Pumpkin, 1 Cabbage
Acquire: 6-plot field
Prosperity: 3

Vegetables

  Wheat Pumpkin Turnip Cabbage Beans Leaks Cash
Store  3  1  2  1  2  2  
Storehouse              
Cart    2    1     6

Fields

Field Planted Remains
9 plots Pumpkin 6
5 plots Cabbage 3
6 plots Pumpkin 5
6 plots   0

Helpers

Helper Ability
Merchant Buy for 1 Cash 1 of any vegetable to be delivered at least twice to regular customers this round.
   

Market Stall

Stall Vegetable 1 Vegetable 2 Vegetable 3
       

Regular Customers

Customer Wants Buys Left Pays
1  Pumpkin/Cabbage  3 6/6/7
       

Casual Customers

Customer Wants Pays
1  Pumpkin/Turnip/Leeks  10 
     
Hand:

  • C.C. Turnip/Cabbage/Leeks 11
  • M.S. Turnip/Cabbage/Leeks 1/2/2
  • 5-Field
  • 5-Field

Courtyard:

Helper Saleswoman R.C. Beans/Leeks 7/8/9/10 M.S. Pumpkin/Beans/Leeks 1/2/2
C.C. Wheat/Turnip/Beans C.C. Pumpkin/Cabbage/Beans 10 M.S. Wheat/Pumpkin/Leeks 1/1/1
Field 3 Lots Helper Plough-Man M.S. Turnip/Beans/Leeks 1/2/2
Helper Squire 4-Field C.C. Wheat/Cabbage/Leeks 10

Card Phase:
1) Market Stall Turnip/Cabbage Leeks from Hand (as the 5-fields aren’t that useful and we’re not ready for the casual customer)
2) 3-Field from Courtyard for 3 Cash (1 Cash to buy, 2 Cash to play, leaving us 3 Cash)

Action Phase:
1) Deliver Pumpkin/Cabbage to R.C. and gain 6 Cash (which brings us to 9 Cash)
2) Buy Leeks from the Shop for 6 Cash (and go back down to 3 Cash)
3) Sow Leeks in 3-Field
4) Store 1 pumpkin in storehouse
5) Advance 1 space up Path of Prosperity for 1 Cash

 

Round 4:

Harvest Phase:
Harvest: 2 Pumpkin, 1 Cabbage, 1 Leek
Acquire: 4 plot field
Prosperity: 4

Vegetables

  Wheat Pumpkin Turnip Cabbage Beans Leaks Cash
Store  3  1  2  1  2  1  
Storehouse    1          
Cart    2    1    1 2

Fields

Field Planted Remains
9 plots Pumpkin 5
5 plots Cabbage 2
6 plots Pumpkin 4
6 plots   0
3 plots Leeks 2
4 plots   0

Helpers

Helper Ability
Merchant Buy for 1 Cash 1 of any vegetable to be delivered at least twice to regular customers this round.
   

Market Stall

Stall Vegetable 1 Vegetable 2 Vegetable 3
0  Turnip (1) Cabbage (2) Leeks (2)
       

Regular Customers

Customer Wants Buys Left Pays
1  Pumpkin/Cabbage  2 6/7
       

Casual Customers

Customer Wants Pays
1  Pumpkin/Turnip/Leeks  10 
     
Hand:

  • R.C. Turnip/Turnip 5/6/6/7
  • M.S. Pumpkin/Turnip/Beans 1/1/1
  • 3-Field
  • Helper Book-keeper

Courtyard:

Helper Saleswoman R.C. Beans/Leeks 7/8/9/10 M.S. Pumpkin/Beans/Leeks 1/2/2
C.C. Wheat/Turnip/Beans C.C. Pumpkin/Cabbage/Beans 10 M.S. Wheat/Pumpkin/Leeks 1/1/1
Helper Squire Helper Plough-Man M.S. Turnip/Beans/Leeks 1/2/2
M.S. Wheat/Beans/Leeks 1/1/2 4-plot Field C.C. Wheat/Cabbage/Leeks 10

Card Phase:
1) Helper Saleswoman from Courtyard (as this will definitely help us later)
2) M.S. Pumpkin/Turnip/Beans 1/1/1 from Hand (as this is one of the best stalls)

Action Phase:
1) Deliver Pumpkin/Cabbage to RC for 6 Cash (taking us to 8 cash)
2) Trade Pumpkin in Storehouse for Turnip
3) Deliver to C.C. Pumpkin/Turnip/Leeks for 10 Cash (taking us to 18 cash)
4) Buy Turnip from Store for 5 Cash (taking us down to 13 cash)
5) Sow Turnip in 6-Field (as it’s slightly more valuable than pumpkin and wheat)
6) Buy Wheat form Store for 3 Cash (taking us down to 10 Cash)
7) Sow Wheat in 4-Field (as we primarily plan to use it for trading when needed)
8) Move 2 spaces up the path of prosperity for 7 Cash

 

Round 5:

Harvest Phase:
Harvest: 2 Pumpkins, 1 Cabbage, 1 Leeks, 1 Turnips, 1 Wheat
Acquire: 4-plot Field
Prosperity: 6

Vegetables

  Wheat Pumpkin Turnip Cabbage Beans Leaks Cash
Store  2  1  1  1  2  1  
Storehouse   1           
Cart  1  2  1  1    1 3

Fields

Field Planted Remains
5 plots Cabbage 1
9 plots Pumpkin 4
6 plots Pumpkin 3
6 plots Turnip 5
4 plots Wheat 3
3 plots Leeks 1
4 plots   0
4 plots   0

Helpers

Helper Ability
Merchant Buy for 1 Cash 1 of any vegetable to be delivered at least twice to regular customers this round.
 Saleswoman  Casual Customers Pay a +2 Bonus during one action phase. (Or all satisfaction markers are turned to blue.)
   

Market Stall

Stall Vegetable 1 Vegetable 2 Vegetable 3
0  Turnip (1) Cabbage (2) Leeks (2)
1  Pumpkin (1)   Beans (1)
       

Regular Customers

Customer Wants Buys Left Pays
1  Pumpkin/Cabbage  1 7
       

Casual Customers

Customer Wants Pays
     
Hand:

  • R.C. Pumpkin/Turnip 4/5/6/7
  • C.C. Pumpkin/Turnip/Cabbage 9
  • M.S. Pumpkin/Turnip/Cabbage 1/1/1
  • M.S. Pumpkin/Cabbage/Beans 1/1/1

Courtyard:

C.C. Wheat/Turnip/Beans 9 R.C. Beans/Leeks 7/8/9/10 M.S. Pumpkin/Beans/Leeks 1/2/2
Helper Squire C.C. Pumpkin/Cabbage/Beans 10 M.S. Wheat/Pumpkin/Leeks 1/1/1
M.S. Wheat/Beans/Leeks 1/1/2 Helper Plough-Man M.S. Turnip/Beans/Leeks 1/2/2
M.S. Wheat/Cabbage/Beans 1/1/1 4-field C.C. Wheat/Cabbage/Leeks 10

Card Phase:
1) R.C. Beans/Leeks 7/8/9/10 from Courtyard (as that’s where the money is and we can plant beans)
2) R.C. Pumpkin/Turnip 4/5/6/7 from Hand (as we have lots!)

Action Phase:
1) Deliver Pumpkin/Cabbage to R.C. 1 for 7 Cash (taking us to 10 Cash)
2) Deliver Pumpkin/Turnip to new R.C. for 4 Cash (taking us to 14 Cash)
3) Trade Wheat for Beans with M.S. 1
4) Deliver Beans/Leeks to new R.C. for 7 Cash (taking us to 21 Cash)
5) Buy Beans from Shop for 6 (knocking us down to 15 Cash)
6) Sow Beans in 4-Field (as we now need them)
7) Advance up the Path of Prosperity 2 spaces for 9 Cash

 

Round 6

Harvest Phase:
Harvest: 2 Pumpkins, 1 Cabbage, 1 Turnip, 1 Leeks, 1 Wheat, 1 Beans
Acquire: 3-plot field
Prosperity: 8

Vegetables

  Wheat Pumpkin Turnip Cabbage Beans Leaks Cash
Store  2  1  1  1  1  1  
Storehouse   1           
Cart  1  2  1  1  1  1 6

Fields

Field Planted Remains
9 plots Pumpkin 3
6 plots Pumpkin 2
6 plots Turnip 4
4 plots Wheat 2
4 plots Beans 3
3 plots   0

Helpers

Helper Ability
Merchant Buy for 1 Cash 1 of any vegetable to be delivered at least twice to regular customers this round.
 Saleswoman  Casual Customers Pay a +2 Bonus during one action phase. (Or all satisfaction markers are turned to blue.)
   

Market Stall

Stall Vegetable 1 Vegetable 2 Vegetable 3
0  Turnip (1) Cabbage (2) Leeks (2)
1  Pumpkin (1)    
       

Regular Customers

Customer Wants Buys Left Pays
1  Pumpkin/Turnip  3  5/6/7 
2  Beans/Leeks  3  8/9/10 
       

Casual Customers

Customer Wants Pays
     
Hand:

  • R.C. Wheat/Cabbage 4/5/6/7
  • C.C. Turnip/Cabbage/Leeks 11
  • M.S. Wheat/Cabbage/Leeks 1/1/1
  • Helper Messenger-Boy

Courtyard:

C.C. Wheat/Turnip/Beans 9 C.C. Pumpkin/Cabbage/Beans 10 M.S. Pumpkin/Beans/Leeks 1/2/2
Helper Squire Helper Plough-Man M.S. Wheat/Pumpkin/Leeks 1/1/1
M.S. Wheat/Beans/Leeks 1/1/2 4-Field M.S. Turnip/Beans/Leeks 1/2/2
M.S. Wheat/Cabbage/Beans 1/1/1 Helper Market Crier C.C. Wheat/Cabbage/Leeks 10

Card Phase:
1) Helper Messenger-Boy From Hand as he will let us earn extra cash this round
2) M.S. Turnip/Beans/Leeks 1/2/2 from Courtyard for 2 Cash as we need more turnip to use the Messenger Boy and may need more beans and leaks later

Action Phase:
1) Trade Wheat for Turnip with M.S. Turnip/Beans/Leeks
2) Use Messenger Boy to Deliver Pumpkin/Turnip twice to to R.C. 1 for 5 + 6 Cash (bringing us to 15 Cash)
3) Deliver Beans/Leeks to R.C. 2 for 8 Cash (bringing us to 23 Cash)
4) Buy Leeks from Shop for 6 Cash (taking us down to 17 Cash) as we are out
5) Sow Leeks in 3-Field
6) Store 1 Cabbage
7) Advance up the Path of Prosperity Twice for 11 Cash

 

Round 7

Harvest Phase:
Harvest: 2 Pumpkins, 1 Turnip, 1 Wheat, 1 Beans, 1 Leeks
Acquire: 3-plot field
Prosperity: 10

Vegetables

  Wheat Pumpkin Turnip Cabbage Beans Leaks Cash
Store  2  1  1  1  1  0  
Storehouse       1       
Cart  1  2  1    1  1 6

Fields

Field Planted Remains
9 plots Pumpkin 2
6 plots Pumpkin 1
6 plots Turnip 3
4 plots Wheat 1
4 plots Beans 2
3 plots Leeks 2
3 plots   0

Helpers

Helper Ability
Merchant Buy for 1 Cash 1 of any vegetable to be delivered at least twice to regular customers this round.
 Saleswoman  Casual Customers Pay a +2 Bonus during one action phase. (Or all satisfaction markers are turned to blue.)
   

Market Stall

Stall Vegetable 1 Vegetable 2 Vegetable 3
0  Turnip (1) Cabbage (2) Leeks (2)
1  Pumpkin (1)    
2    Beans (2) Leeks (2)
       

Regular Customers

Customer Wants Buys Left Pays
1  Pumpkin/Turnip  1  7 
2  Beans/Leeks  2  9/10 
       

Casual Customers

Customer Wants Pays
     
Hand:

  • R.C. Wheat/Wheat 4/5/5/6
  • R.C. Cabbage/Leeks 7/8/8/9
  • C.C. Pumpkin/Beans/Leeks 11
  • Helper Harvest Helper

Courtyard:

C.C. Wheat/Turnip/Beans 9 C.C. Pumpkin/Cabbage/Beans 10 M.S. Pumpkin/Beans/Leeks 1/2/2
Helper Squire Helper Plough-Man M.S. Wheat/Pumpkin/Leeks 1/1/1
M.S. Wheat/Beans/Leeks 1/1/2 4-Field C.C. Wheat/Cabbage/Leeks 10
M.S. Wheat/Cabbage/Beans 1/1/1 Helper Market Crier Helper Tenant Farmer

Card Phase:
1) C.C. Wheat/Turnip/Beans from Courtyard (as we believe we will be able to serve this CC in this round or a later round)
2) C.C. Pumpkin/Bean/Leeks from Hand (again, we believe we will be able to serve this CC)

Action Phase:
1) Trade 1 Pumpkin for 1 Turnip with Stall 0
2) Trade 1 Wheat and 1 Cabbage for 1 Beans with Stall 2
3) Buy 1 Wheat from Market for 3 (taking us down to 3 Cash)
4) Deliver Wheat/Turnip/Beans to CC for 9 Cash 9 (taking us up to 12 Cash)
5) Deliver Pumpkin/Turnip to R.C. for 7 Cash (and up to 19 Cash)
6) Deliver Beans/Leeks to R.C. for 9 Cash (and up to 28 Cash)
7) Buy Beans from Shop for 6 Cash (and back down to 22 Cash)
8) Sow Beans in 3-Field
9) Advance 2 Spaces along the Path of Prosperity for 13

 

Round 8

Harvest Phase:
Harvest: 2 Pumpkins, 1 Turnip, 1 Wheat, 2 Beans, 1 Leeks
Acquire: 5-plot Field
Prosperity: 12

Vegetables

  Wheat Pumpkin Turnip Cabbage Beans Leaks Cash
Store  1  1  1  1  0  0  
Storehouse              
Cart  1  2  1    2  1 9

Fields

Field Planted Remains
9 plots Pumpkin 1
6 plots Turnip 2
4 plots Beans 1
3 plots Leeks 1
3 plots Beans 2
5 plots   0

Helpers

Helper Ability
Merchant Buy for 1 Cash 1 of any vegetable to be delivered at least twice to regular customers this round.
 Saleswoman  Casual Customers Pay a +2 Bonus during one action phase. (Or all satisfaction markers are turned to blue.)
   

Market Stall

Stall Vegetable 1 Vegetable 2 Vegetable 3
0    Cabbage (2) Leeks (2)
1  Pumpkin (1)    
2      Leeks (2)
       

Regular Customers

Customer Wants Buys Left Pays
2  Beans/Leeks  1  10 
       

Casual Customers

Customer Wants Pays
2  Pumpkin/Beans/Leeks  11 
     
Hand:

  • R.C. Pumpkin/Leeks 6/7/7/8
  • C.C. Wheat/Cabbage/Cabbage 9
  • 5-Field
  • Helper Official

Courtyard:

Helper Squire C.C. Pumpkin/Cabbage/Beans 10 M.S. Pumpkin/Beans/Leeks 1/2/2
M.S. Wheat/Beans/Leeks 1/1/2 Helper Plough-Man M.S. Wheat/Pumpkin/Leeks 1/1/1
M.S. Wheat/Cabbage/Beans 1/1/1 4-Field C.C. Wheat/Cabbage/Leeks 10
R.C. Pumpkin/Beans 5/6/7/8 Helper Market Crier Helper Tenant Farmer

Card Phase:
1) R.C. Pumpkin/Leeks 6/7/7/8 from Hand (as it is a valuable R.C. for us)
2) M.S. Wheat/Pumpkin/Leeks from Courtyard for 1 Cash (as we will need Leeks and this gives us cheap Leeks)

Action Phase:
1) Use Saleswoman and Deliver to
C.C. Pumpkin/Beans/Leeks for 11 Cash and gain a bonus of 2 Cash (taking us up to 21 Cash)
2) Trade Turnip for Leeks with Stall 3
3) Deliver to R.C. Beans/Leeks for 10 Cash (and now up to 31 Cash)
4) Use Merchant to Buy Leeks from Supply for 1 Cash (and back down to 30 Cash)
5) Deliver to new R.C. Pumpkin/Leeks for 6 Cash (and climb up to 36 Cash)
6) Store 1 wheat in the storehouse
7) Advance 3 Spaces along the Path of Prosperity for 30 Cash

 

Round 9

Harvest Phase:
Harvest: 1 Pumpkin, 1 Turnip, 2 Beans, 1 Leeks
Prosperity: 15

Vegetables

  Wheat Pumpkin Turnip Cabbage Beans Leaks Cash
Store  1  1  1  1  0  0  
Storehouse 1             
Cart  0  1  1    2  1 6

Fields

Field Planted Remains
9 plots Pumpkin 1
6 plots Turnip 1
3 plots Beans 1
5 plots   0

Helpers

Helper Ability
   

Market Stall

Stall Vegetable 1 Vegetable 2 Vegetable 3
0    Cabbage (2) Leeks (2)
1  Pumpkin (1)    
2      Leeks (2)
3  Wheat (1) Pumpkin (1)  
       

Regular Customers

Customer Wants Buys Left Pays
3  Pumpkins/Leeks  3  7/7/8 
       

Casual Customers

Customer Wants Pays
     
Hand:

  • C.C. Wheat/Pumpkin/Turnip 7
  • Helper Book-Keeper
  • M.S. Pumpkin/Cabbage/Leeks 1/1/2
  • R.C. Wheat/Pumpkin 4/5/5/6

Courtyard:

Helper Squire C.C. Pumpkin/Cabbage/Beans 10 M.S. Pumpkin/Beans/Leeks 1/2/2
M.S. Wheat/Beans/Leeks 1/1/2 Helper Plough-Man C.C. Wheat/Cabbage/Leeks 10
M.S. Wheat/Cabbage/Beans 1/1/1 4-Field Helper Tenant Farmer
R.C. Pumpkin/Beans 5/6/7/8 Helper Market Crier Helper Shopper

Card Phase:
1) R.C. Wheat/Pumpkin 4/5/5/6 from Hand, as we believe we can fill it
2) C.C. Pumpkin/Cabbage/Beans 10 from Courtyard, as we believe we can fill it

Action Phase
1) Trade Turnip for Pumpkin with Stall 3
2) Trade Beans for Pumpkin with Stall 1
3) Buy Cabbage from Shop for 5 Cash (and go down to 1 Cash)
4) Deliver to CC Pumpkin/Cabbage/Beans for 10 Cash + 2 Cash Bonus (and go up to 13 Cash)
5) Deliver Wheat/Pumpkin to new R.C. (4) and gain 4 Cash (and go up to 17 Cash)
6) Deliver Pumpkin/Leeks to R.C. 3 and gain 6 Cash (and increase to 23 Cash)
7) Advance 2 Spaces along the Path of Prosperity for 18 Cash, and
    end the game with 5 Cash.

Game End:
1) End up on jade stone 17.
This is a “Good” Performance for a Solo Game, especially our second, and considerably better than our first — proving that analysis, and appropriate planning, works!

Verdict? Our analysis, which told us certain vegetables were more profitable relative to their cost, and which told us that certain market stalls and helpers were more valuable than others, especially when used at the most opportune time, paid off and we progressed two stones further on only our second try. Given that these stones cost 33 Cash, which requires satisfying at least 3 more casual customers or (almost) fully satisfying 2 regular customers over multiple rounds, we know we did significantly better. Analysis works. And, moreover, as we stated in the preamble post to this series, sharpening our analytical skills will help us in our jobs (and in our life). So mastering some of these Euro worker placement / pickup-and-delivery / tile placement etc. games is not a waste of time. (Especially the worker placement / agriculture / pickup-and delivery / tile placement / trading games of Uwe Rosenberg or Stefan Feld. Trust the doctor on this one!)

For those of you who want more proof that our better performance isn’t a fluke, at a later time we’ll post the run through of the next solo game the doctor ran through using the results of this analysis and the lessons learned in the first two games. We again reach stone 17 – which is quite good as the solo game severely limits the number of cards you will encounter (as only 20 will rotate through the courtyard and only 36 through your hand) and prevents you from seeing any card more than twice (compared to a regular game where discarded cards get reshuffled into the deck after every round). However, for our purposes, this is good as you will often only get one crack at a specific opportunity or resource in the market, as each vendor or partner will typically be unique.

In our next series, after a bit of a break, we’ll run through the solo-version of Agricola (with the Farmers on the Moor expansion) and then, after another much-needed break, demonstrate how your analysis and strategy changes when a second player is thrown into the mix (which is a good simulation of what happens in the real world when you are trying to acquire materials in a seller’s market where demand equals, or exceeds, supply and you are going head to head with your competitors).


I want to plant
I want to trade
I want to walk down the path
That’s covered in jade
I want to go out
And trade the grain
At the Gates of Loyang