Pellham Transport: exit notes
By Ana Ruiz · created 27 Jul 2026, 13:10 UTC · last updated 25 Aug 2026, 09:30 UTC · version 6
pellham-transportchurnlessons
Written with David Kim after the exit call on 27 July. Pellham leaves on 31 July for a competitor.
Why they left
In their words, from the operations director's email: "We need the depot to approve the depot's people. And we need to be able to take our data with us next time."
- Approvals only at head office. Three administrators approved every request for 15 depots. Depot managers could see nothing. In busy weeks a driver waited three days to get the yard gate.
- No data export. To move, they needed their people, depots and history. We had no export, and the competitor made a point of having one.
Price was not the reason. David checked: the competitor costs about the same.
The export we made by hand
- Asked on 8 July (SUP-1011).
- Piet de Vries and Marek Nowak wrote a one-off export from identity-service: people, depots, roles, every access request since 2024 with its decision. CSV files, one per table.
- Delivered on 24 July through a link that expired after seven days. Pellham's IT manager confirmed it opened.
- It took about four engineering days. We can't do that for every leaving customer.
What we change
| Lesson | What we do | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Depot managers must be able to approve | Kelderby asks the same; this is now the first thing we plan for them | Became ACM-231, then ACM-247 |
| A leaving customer takes their data | A full export a customer can take away | "Data export for leaving customers", live 24 August |
| We knew from May: their tickets, Noor's wait figures (31 hours, six times everyone else's) and Quinn's warning on 1 June. Nothing in the product could answer, and nobody watched their waits and falling request count week by week | Each customer's waits and request count, week by week ("Customer health signals for CS") | Being shaped, since August |
Change history
| Version | Date | Who | What |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 27 Jul | Ana | First notes after the exit call |
| 4 | 31 Jul | Ana | Access ended; export confirmed |
| 5 | 4 Aug | Ana | What we change |
| 6 | 25 Aug | Ana | Data export shipped |