- [Instructor] Another place where digital transformation
often runs into problems is that
there's an insufficient understanding
going into it about size and scope of the job.
Now, in my career, I've seen an awful lot of enthusiasm.
I like enthusiasm.
I've even been enthusiastic myself once or twice,
but enthusiasm isn't enough.
Transformation is a process, and the
process needs time and effort.
The more things you want to change,
the longer it will take, and the more work it will require.
So, you should really be spending
a little time up front deciding
just how much work you can bite off at this time.
Keep in mind that all current systems
need to remain available, not only
until the new systems are ready,
but also until the new users have
had a chance to get used to them.
Cut it off too soon, and you'll
have a noticeable dip in productivity.
Running parallel for awhile will be more expensive,
but it will lessen the impact.
You'll need manpower to do the work,
and you can't pull everyone off current work,
so you'll either be hiring, with all
the concurrent expenses of that,
or you'll be bringing in contract help,
which also costs money, and we haven't
even talked about the technology yet.
Even with cloud solutions, there's an expense there.
Even if you were to only go with open source tools,
the chance that you'll be able to use them out of the box
without any development or configuration
is, more or less, zero.
So, start adding stuff up, and
I recommend being conservative.
If you underestimate and need to come back to the table
asking for more, you may not get it, and that could
torpedo all the work you've done up to that point.
Also, make sure you're allowing sufficient time
for this work to happen.
Once again, you can't drop everything to focus on it.
Business still needs to run, bills still need to get paid.
You need to think about how much there is and how long
the project workforce will take to accomplish it.
Being overly optimistic about the amount of work
is going to result in unreasonable timelines.
When you start missing deadlines,
it's going to hurt your credibility,
and it's going to hurt the morale of the people on the working
team who probably could have told you better.
Make sure you're talking to your experts
and getting their input, and how much
sticking power does your organization have?
If you're talking about a multiyear effort,
which I believe you are, is your company
going to stay the course?
Does your company experience a lot of movement
in the leadership ranks?
Can you state with confidence that leadership
will continue to support your program
even if the players change?
These are real questions and real considerations.
I've seen projects go south when they took too long,
and leadership got distracted by a new shiny bubble,
even though the time was within schedule.
Before you embark on a multiyear effort,
you need to make sure you have firm commitments
that your company will see it through.
Otherwise, I suggest you scale down
and take it a bit at a time.
It will take longer, but there will be
less opportunity for total catastrophe.