PART THREE: Getting Practical with Digital Transformation:
In the final part of this series of articles on digital transformation (DX) we’ll be taking a look at how you might structure your team to deliver on the DX action plan, and some thoughts on the practical considerations of delivering a transformation process in the real world.
Check back on part one, where I sought to explain what digital transformation is, and part two, where we deep dived into a case study of how a DX discovery process was delivered for a small but rapidly growing nonprofit organisation based in the Global South.
Moving Beyond the DX Discovery Phase:
When I first conceptualised the digital transformation project for my non-profit partner, I designed a structure for the core team that anticipated we would be getting hands-on with technology delivery pretty early on in the process, but that was misguided - or at least over ambitious! As you’ve seen from part two of this series there is a great deal of idea development and planning to do before the practical work of transformation can begin.
It will depend on your organisation’s starting point in terms of digital maturity and technology strategy, but you should anticipate 6 months or more within the “discovery” stage before you have an actionable plan.
Nevertheless, once your DX action plan is starting to crystallise and you’re feeling like it will soon be time to roll-up your sleeves and get started with the implementation, and in particular developing your software ecosystem, then it’s time to start re-orienting the core team for this next phase.
Defining a Delivery Team
To break it down by role and function, an ideal core team for the delivery phase of a digital transformation project would look something like this:
Be Pragmatic About Ongoing Projects
Does the extended DX discovery phase mean that you need to press pause on technology delivery for months on end while this planning and conceptualisation process is happening?
In a word - no!
While it’s true that in a perfect, logically sequential world, the DX discovery and planning would happen before any major technology delivery, the fact is we live in the real world, where change is constantly unfolding and projects have a momentum of their own.
It would be impractical and potentially demoralising and counterproductive to stand down active teams working on important projects. The key here is to be pragmatic. If you have an ongoing implementation that answers an obvious business need with a great product (and after a proper procurement process has been run), then you should trust that this will fit in with your DX plans as they develop. In fact, that product may end up coming online at just the right moment, with all the hard yards of supplier contracting, business process analysis, data migration and so on nicely dealt with, making it ready to play an active role in delivering your DX strategy - not to mention those resources that were locked-in to the project becoming available again!
Just be sure that you’ve obeyed the key principles of product selection, and that you’re not duplicating existing functionality within the business, and you should have a reasonable level of confidence that everything will come together nicely in the end.
With your DX team in place, engaged staff who are bought-in to the change process, a solid understanding at senior leadership level of what digital transformation means and what it can achieve for your organisation, and a well-considered action plan, you have everything in place to be successful. Just be aware that it will still take time for your plans to start to bear fruit, and always remember that change is never-ending, so keep an agile mindset and be ready to adapt your ideas as and when needed.
Just get Started!
Finally, don’t get caught up in trying to make the perfect plan. Don’t try to solve everything on paper before you begin. Find a place to start, create a team, give them permission to take action, and begin experimenting. The agile mindset is all about test and learn loops, trying things, getting it wrong, and iterating for the next cycle.
If you’re interested in discussing digital transformation at your organisation, D1VERG3NT Consulting and Digital Leadership Ltd are working together in this area and we’d be happy to have a conversation with you. Just get in touch!
Cover images courtesy of Gratisography
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