Fiend at Court Unplugged
2021 was a frustrating year for pretty much everybody involved with tournament play in the USTA system. The organization simultaneously rolled out a unified National Tournament Framework as well as a new digital platform to plan, manage, and participate in tournaments. In isolation, both of those changes represent a significant transition. In combination, it was a massive undertaking.
It was not realistic to expect that there wouldn’t be some bumps in the road and growing pains along the way. Indeed, things have not gone smoothly. As 2021 comes to a close, player frustration over the new system is still very high. With NTRP National endorsements on the line, the Rankings Lists are drawing the majority of the ire at the moment.
Throughout the year, there has been inconsistency in communication from the USTA to the people impacted by the ongoing challenges with the new digital platform. There has been very little official statements issued by the USTA at the National level. Most of what is known about the status of the new system has come via filing complaints or answers to individual questions shared from player to player.
The only official communication that I have personally seen from the USTA on the new digital platform was summarized in “Harsh Realities Revealed in the USTA Digital Platform Update” back in March. That communication was buried in an article with a deceptive subject line that caused many players to miss the statement all together. The following excerpt is the entirety of official USTA communication on the topic.
However, as we introduced the new platform, the resulting functionality was not ready. We were not fully prepared for the challenges with the historical data housed in TennisLink, and that has led to complexities in the transfer and migration of information and data from the various events, formats, and regions into one centralized system. A number of issues resulted, and we recognize that this has adversely affected players, tournament directors and providers throughout the country.
Excerpt from USTA Update on the Competitive Pathway
In the intervening time, what is known about the current status of the digital platform comes from direct observation of the system itself augmented by questions and comments submitted through USTA Customer Care and the USTA Section Offices. Some players have shared screen shots of the communication informally with others and on social media. The result is fragmented and inconsistent messaging.
Throughout 2021, there has been one thing that has been constant throughout these informal communication channels. The message has been that the problems with the digital platform are almost completely resolved and that people just need to be patient. From what is externally observable on the system, there is skepticism of that claim.
In fact, these exhortations for positivity have been made throughout the year and the ones made early on were clearly demonstrably false. I don’t know why anyone should be expected to believe that digital platform is about to suddenly start working well, but once again that is what is being asked of the playing community.
Story Time
Many years ago when I was a very young first time Tech Lead at a large telecommunications company, I learned a harsh lesson of project management during an executive program review. It was a stroke of luck that I benefitted from the experience as a fly on the wall rather than directly in the crosshairs.
A project manager disclosed that his part of the program was running two months behind. Executive leadership eviscerated him. It wasn’t because his project was two months behind, but rather because at the previous monthly program review he had reported that his team’s work was on track. In other words the project had fallen two months behind in a single month. It defies the physics of time.
The questions posed to that project manager were an impossible dilemma: Were you lying last month when you provided status or are you incompetent? Why should we believe the status you are providing today?
It was brutal.
I have started flashing back to that episode every time someone tells me that the USTA digital platform is almost there. Especially when the evidence of the issues in the underlying data architecture are still externally apparent. The solution to the current problems with ranking point allocations and calculations is manual adjustment of the points rather than fixing the underlying system.
It is going to be a recurring problem until the foundational issues are repaired. Throughout the sparse, fragmented, and Pollyanna-like communications, it is hard to tell if the root cause of the problem is understood by the organization.
Communication is the Key
Solving technical problems in large scale information processing systems is hard. Since the USTA has outsourced development to a third party, that exacerbates the complexity of the solution. It is not realistic to demand or expect a quick fix. A long term recovery plan is still desperately needed and a this culture of positivity is detrimental to moving toward the ultimate solution.
The USTA can do something that would improve the situation quickly, however. It is completely within the USTA’s span of control to improve upon the frequency and transparency when communicating with the impacted population on these issues. It would be a quick win toward improving the player experience. To fully close the loop, the communication must necessarily be a two way street with a feedback mechanism. People need to feel like they are being heard.
The first high priority communication from the USTA should center around the decision that the Adult Competition Committee should be currently making over the Ranking Tables to be used in 2021. That decision needs to be clearly communicated to all players, organizers, and Section office officials. Additionally, the points need to be accurately reflected in alignment with that decision in the rankings tables. NTRP National Championship endorsements are on the line.
There is no quick fix, but communication is relatively easy in comparison. If the request to the impacted tournament community is to continue to be patient, then open and honest information on the actual status and decisions that are being made should be extended to those people. It is not only completely reasonable, but an organizational imperitive.
As an editorial aside, it may very well be the case that the ACC has already made a decision on how to proceed with the current ranking points debate. Judging from the results reflected in the updated rankings tables this week the solution taken was to depart from the 2021 rankings tables for some but not all of the situations where there are problems. If that is a reflection of an intentional decision, then it needs to be clearly and openly communicated to the tournament population.
