Empowering your Digital Transformation Teams
"The new normal" they say. As much as I hate to say it, it seems to be the overture to every published article since the new year. It's a bunch of marketing fluff, to avoid saying "our current situation". But, with the introduction of this pandemic, long lockdowns and work from home policies, it's hard to imagine that our current situation has become anything other than a new norm after nine or so months.
This new situation pushed companies to become more digital than ever, in a dire need to survive a time when downtime and economic strains reigned supreme.
So how do companies, who have not taken advantage of digital transformation help nurture and encourage good habits across their teams to conceptualize, strategize and implement these types of projects successfully?
Although this is not an extensive list, these are some traits or attitudes to promote throughout teams to help make better and more sound decisions.
Agile is not just a buzzword
Agile, it's one of those buzzwords that if you define it and study it, it will make sense. You can jump into SCRUM as well and about 50 other sub-frameworks. Sure, each one has it's benefits but they all share the ideology of incorporating incremental development. The best thing you can do as a transformational actor is to support the idea of being Agile. Transformation should be progressive, where all the sum of their parts, creates a whole. What you'll find is that if you break every part of a transformation's development; that the sprints of a feature-driven mentality help build a better customer experience than the previous waterfall methods. This helps with quality control and time to market and leads us to our next point.
Advancement is greater than ideal
Ever heard of the saying that no one is perfect? The same applies to transformation, be it the strategy, roadmap or the development. The key here is to make progress and then iteratively improve on that progress. If you chase perfection and an "ideal" end result, you'll never make it to that finish line. The function is more important than form.
Data, data, data
With digital transformation, one of the most important aspects is data. Be sure to understand two things when it comes to data. What data are we basing our transformation strategy on and how will we structure it? Then secondly, you'll need to know what data is being captured and how it will be useful to derive insights from it. If you are not a data-driven company in 2020, I am afraid you're less likely to see the end of the decade, and that's if you're lucky. Data is the most powerful tool in today's world, and if you don't believe me; ask Cambridge Analytica.
Transparency
When it comes to transformation projects, the team behind it can make or break the project. Especially when building the strategy and concept of the transformation project. Transparency and communication are key. All stakeholders involved will have key experience and knowledge on processes, policies, and roadblocks of the operations that the transformation project will tackle. When all of these parties communicate clearly and transparently, it is more likely they will conceptualize and strategize something that is more useful to the end-user. It is also important that during the process of a transformation project, especially development; all stakeholders can communicate clearly and without fear of consequence. You don't want to be halfway through a project and suddenly find out that desired roadmaps and features cannot be met on time because the business strain of things took precedence on the development of things. I've seen way too many projects where developers have been pushed into extremely unrealistic timelines and requests, only to be faced with angry emails and finger-pointing.
Do not "people please"
This also relates to the previous point, but I'd like to extend this trait a little further. We live in a society of what I like to call "people-pleasers". It is not "lazy" or "rude" to say no if you see something you disagree with, as long as you can openly discuss and extend your thoughts on why "no" is a fair answer.
Security & Governance
With more data coming into play, we need to make sure this data is secure. With a more digital footprint, we need to know that these systems are safe and secure. It is always smart to have someone on any transformation project with a security background. It is also important that we have data-governance. Bad data, is even more harmful than no data. So let's make sure we have accurate business data in both our decision-making process for the strategy and roadmap of our transformation projects and that we are collecting the right data for our project needs. All transformation projects need to ensure that it's methods and leadership responsibilities with regards to data and security are aligned.
There is no "I" in transform
It is important as a team member to have a team mentality. There should not be one single department who fully manages or full employs a team for digital transformation. If this is a case, then diversity should be requested from management. Transformation projects require diversity in both thinking and expertise. No one stakeholder is more important than the other. Each should bring in with them the key expertise to represent their stakeholders and communicate this clearly with all team members.
The customer is always right
There is a truth behind the old adage has never been more accurate. The customer is always right, and that customer is the end-user. All end-users should be represented in teams and listened to very carefully. We need to start looking at the transformation from the eyes of the end-user and not what the company values as ideal. Incorporate your end-users into every step of the way, and make sure that the transformation caters to making their lives easier, more efficient and better. Look at the KPIs of the end-user and see how you can help improve them through the transformation. An important KPI I always love to look at is time to completion. Another old adage that is true is "time is money" and if I can make the end-users' journey faster and more efficient, then I've saved money and given these end-users more time in their day where they can be useful elsewhere. That is not the only KPI to look at, but it surely tends to be one of my favourites.
These are not the only ways to empower your digital transformation teams, but they are what I believe to be some of the most important. If you have any more to share, I'd love to hear them.
