The new role of IT Leaders
When the autonomous delivery team work directly for the Product Owner – who is generally drawn from the business – what happens to the IT Director and the ‘Heads of’ the traditional IT functions?
Insights
Digital transformation is a combination of organisational, behavioural and technical transformation. It's not just about buying digital tools, although they have their place; the main determinant of success is leadership. Some thinking on succeeding with transformation is set out in these articles. You should find these insights thought provoking.
Change and Transformation
The terms change and transformation are used interchangably by many, but there is a difference. If Change is about improving an aspect of a business, then Transformation is about renewing the whole company. Change initiatives tend to focus on people, Transformation is about delivery of value.
Five domains of corporate strategy that the digital world is changing
Embarking on any strategic journey is an enormously complex challenge. There are five domains of corporate strategy that the digital world is changing, each of which you must understand, embrace and show leadership in.
Who are your Customers?
A truly customer-centric organisation knows their customer segments. Some organisations are service-oriented rather than sales-led, or have a variety of customers, but nevertheless each needs to understand its customers’ personas and clearly communicate the Why, and the value it gives each group.
What are your Product Benefits?
It is a fundamental rule of marketing and sales that customers are typically more interested in benefits as opposed to the technical details or features of your product. You need to understand the benefits of your products.
The Product-Aware Business
Product-aware companies invite the buyer to use the product and help them experience a meaningful outcome before committing.
Once they’ve seen the benefit, paying for the service becomes a no-brainer.
Social Knowledge Management
Knowledge must flow freely across and beyond an organisation to get the best value from people. Knowledge management has been too constrained by the pre-determined path of a hierarchical structure, and leaders' concerns with losing control. We set out the benefits of becoming a social business.
A Product-Aware Organisational Structure
We believe that time-honoured organisational structures and funding methods are no longer relevant. In order to create a customer-centric business it's time to pivot the organisation and place Enterprise Architecture, Product Management and Engineering at the heart of the company.
Enterprise Architecture
Companies undergoing digital transformations will continue to build new systems. The whole approach should be architected to provide a clear view of strategic intent, future operational efficiencies and cost-effective IT, avoiding loss of control, excessive complexity or unchecked cost.
Product Management
Product Management is an function that guides every step of a product’s lifecycle, from proposal, to positioning and pricing - focusing on customers, what attracts them to the product, and how value will be generated.
Engineering
The term ‘engineering’ may describe our understanding of the world and ability to invent, design, and build things to solve problems and achieve practical goals. In our world we use engineering teams to create products, built within an enterprise architecture.
Products, Architecture & Value
Driven by innovation, competition and/or acquisition, the design of products has become more complicated and they are introduced to the market at a quicker pace. We need to ensure that our products are properly architected and we need to stay focused on the value that they deliver to our customers.