Musk's rocket and communicating digital transformation
Transformation is a response to changes in the world, and everyone needs to understand the why
Technology is changing the world at an accelerating rate, and organisations need to be able to adapt. But how should IT leaders communicate these changes to management, employees and customers? This was the topic of a panel discussion at the Computing IT Leaders Festival on Tuesday.
One of the big changes in internal IT in recent years has been the shift from Waterfall, with its big bang, feature-complete product launches, to the bare bones, MVP, iterative approach of Agile. The impact of these changes within IT needs to be carefully explained to the board.
"You're asking people to completely change the language", said Tom Geraghty, founder of Psychological Safety. "There used to be lots of build up, explanation, lots of effort to get it perfect first time. Now you're telling people that they need to get it out fast and, fail forward, fail fast."
The success metrics for IT have thus completely changed, and as Agile methodology beds in you may have a dip in performance, which must also be explained to the board. A useful metaphor is Elon Musk's rockets, which the world has watched exploding as they attempt to land.
"It looks like a massive failure, but in fact it's a huge success because he's learning from it. It's an education on how to do it better next time, it's continuous improvement."
Nick Hodder, associate director of transformation at the Imperial War Museum, is a fan of Simon Sinek's 'Start with Why'. Agile is a response to a changing world and that change is accelerating so a clear vision is essential, he said.
"The real digital transformation is becoming an adaptable organisation, that's the key."
As well as the usual quarterly, annual and five year forecasts, Hodder recommends that management and IT meet regularly to discuss the next 20 or 30 years. He offered an example of what happens if companies fail to align with external changes. Kodak failed to become adaptable because they were intent on maintaining film sales. Kodak went under, while rival FujiFilm was ready for the digital camera revolution.
Communicating to staff is another part of the equation, with lessons to be learned from the pandemic, said Jeremy Cooper, founder of Balanced Life. In the old days technological change were accompanied by a huge build up, and staff would sometimes get worried about having to change. Nowadays, it's often about IT setting the guardrails and letting staff learn how to use things their own way, as they do with apps on their phone.
Companies rolled out applications like Teams in a few days during Covid, when normally it would have taken months or years.
"It shocked the company that people would just adopt it; it shocked the end user, because they just picked up these things that IT had said were really hard, and it shocked IT that we can do something really well so quickly," said Cooper.
Finally, expectations must be communicated across the company and to its partners and customers. This means making sure everyone is involved in the innovation process and can take ownership of it, said Sam Woodcock, senior director of cloud strategy at 11:11 Systems.
"It's making them feel they own part of the process, and it's about enablement as well: enablement of our customers and partners and prospects so that they're ready for the change as well so that everyone understands the 'Why'".