On being a CIO ... part 12 - marathons

We are just getting crunchy at the moment in our digital transformation journey, and, as tech folks know, it's just when the finish line gets close that it can then seems very far away.

You know that time, when the last minute technical glitches rear their heads and the business suddenly realise the enormity of the change they're undertaking and that last mile seems the hardest!

My point is that I feel it is very easy to forget when we are in the middle of so much change, that what we are doing is huge and exciting, when rather it can feel hard, challenging and sometimes not much fun. However, to keep with my running analogy (sorry), we must remember that change is a bit like a marathon: we will face many obstacles along the way, so we are in it for the long haul and certain miles will seem quite daunting and we may feel overwhelmed.

Building trust in what we are doing

What we are doing is critical to meeting our NHS Resolution strategic priorities. Modernising our technology and data estate is vital for being able to use insights as a catalyst for improvement. If we cannot get our data into a better and more useable place, then we cannot provide insights to the business and they cannot use the data to drive improvement for members and patients and the wider NHS. We must remember this, as I think it is the ultimate motivation.

True partnership working is vital

Whether you are part of DDaT, the wider business, an external supplier, or a contractor, we are all working together towards the same goal. Multidisciplinary teams, where technology and the business are working collaboratively, as we are for CSP, is crucial.

Nevertheless, we also know that achieving this in practice, while managing BAU, is not always easy. It is completely natural that tension can arise between BAU and transformation. It is very demanding on all of our colleagues’ teams, not least our own in DDaT. We are pulling people in lots of different directions, learning new processes and that can be very difficult to manage.

It is okay to say no, question and challenge

It is important in DDaT, as we get excited about innovation, not to throw out all of our principles around service introduction. We are right to protect our live service and ensure that we get new processes correct to improve. We also need to get better at managing the workload of our teams and make sure we do not overload them. It is very easy to ask for more but it is okay to say no, question and challenge the priorities as you see them.

Small wins still reap big gains

While I mentioned earlier that a lot of our core infrastructure work flies under the radar of users, everything we are doing will ultimately reduce friction for our colleague’s ways of working into the future. Reducing these small pain points, one at a time, like single sign on for example, is actually quite a big gain. Yet the journey to get there, with legacy systems like ours, can be complex and often overshadow them.

Continuous improvement

With complex systems, transformation is never going to be a quick win. Change is not a destination, but a journey that never ends. Remember our goal isn't to be the best but to be the best at getting better. So, as we build our capability for change, improvement will be incremental and continuous.

A no-blame culture

Last and most importantly, and I hope you already know this, as it is very important to me, but if something goes wrong, it is never about blaming an individual(s). I realise that things can and will go wrong, and I take accountability for everything we do in DDaT and whilst I will want to have the open conversations behind-the-scenes to discuss the lessons learned, I don’t want ever to single out an individual or individual actions. We work as a team and we win or lose as a team – and any bumps along the road will help us learn and make us stronger. 

Suddenly that finish line seems a bit nearer ....