70% of digital transformation projects fail.
...At least this is what McKinsey say.
Here’s a quick guide to make sure that your next tech initiative ends up in the bin.
That your users / customers carry on doing whatever they were beforehand.
That their enthusiasm for future tech projects wanes even more.
This is the best chance to guarantee failure, so do put the effort in here.
Try getting people to focus on the easiest issue to solve, or one tied to the latest tech fad.
Obviously make sure you steer clear of speaking to users, as they might let slip the real gnarly problems holding the business back.
Don’t panic if you fail at stage 1. There’s still plenty of time to go.
Designing the wrong thing is easy if you follow these steps.
Don’t let the team talk to users.
Use lines like "users don’t know what they need" and "they’ll only come up with something impossible to achieve’"
If you are forced to speak to users…Write down everything the users want and implement as specified.
Avoid critical thought.
You’re aiming for a true Frankenstein product jam-packed with every feature under the sun.
Get developers to do the design. Convince IT management that the developers can research, design and test - as well as build.
Say things like “we don’t need the bells and whistles anyway” and “budgets are tight.. we need everyone releasing code”
From our experience, you’ll be pushing on an open door.
If the project is still on track, you’re now in deep trouble. But you still have a few aces up your sleeve.
Bring in an army of developers. The more the better.
Produce a chart showing how much cheaper offshore development is.
Ensure that all meetings have at least 12 people in to minimise productive conversations.
And try to hone in on what the loudest person in the room wants to talk about.
Use technology that you are familiar with, even if it’s entirely wrong for the job.
If some bright sparks suggest prototyping technical alternatives, again point to the tight budget and time deadlines.
Go for a big-bang release.
If people suggest small iterations, try saying “our users won’t adopt this until we deliver everything, so early releases are pointless”.
Also point to how painful it is do releases to help put people off.
This is last chance saloon to grab defeat from the jaws of victory.
Fortunately, despite have the perfect product, you can still oversee a political car-crash by keeping the key stakeholders in the dark.
Try to foster a culture of fear which will scare your team from demoing / asking for input in the interim.
You have to make sure that the most important people in the organisation feel no sense of ownership for the initiative.
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You only have to be successful at one of these 4 points to bring down the initiative.
And remember: you’re not alone.. there are many saboteurs out there.
Let us know if we’ve forgotten anything.
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By Jonny, who spends most of his time battling against the saboteurs
If you want to hear how we can help you to deliver game-changing digital product based on user research rather than just guessing, get in touch.
