Executing Projects in an Uncertain World

On my learning journey around digital business transformation, I spent another session at IMD Business School in Lausanne in September, focusing this time on Digital Execution. This program "not only covers the successful integration of digital tools and technologies, it also explores the complementary changes that need to occur with business transformation, such as organizational structure, products, channels, customer and employee engagement, incentives, and most importantly, company culture".

This module was very important for me to attend, as this is my main area of expertise and actions at the moment. My personal objectives around this course were:

• to be empowered to rightfully choose methodologies (e.g. agile) used in digital transformation initiatives - even though my profession is to know and use many project management methods and frameworks, I have to keep track of them and of what the market is actually expecting ;
• to learn about real examples and cases of successful transformation (i.e. transforming the company culture toward an agile way of working and of thinking), and related pitfalls, therefore to be able to use an Agile Mindset for implementation ;
• to better understand what the typical and best organizational structures for a digital world are, in order to execute and deliver a transformation strategy ;
• to become aware of how important the ecosystem (partners, suppliers, market, technology development, etc.) is to succeed in executing digital transformation, that is to say which technologies are worth considering, how to balance make-or-buy approaches, etc.

The initial statement in the course was rather disturbing: 95% of digital transformations fail to meet the expected benefits. So why bothering executing one?

How the session was built

The course is built on the direct use of the learnings into the current (or upcoming) challenges of digital transformation in our own organization. It was actually the perfect timing for me as I was confronted with those exact challenges: how not to lose the momentum from the project initiation and from the vision shared by the sponsor, and how to deliver efficiently and effectively.

We had first a recap on the topics of digital transformation, that is to say the complexity and fast-pacing characteristics of digital disruption, the new business models, the definition of a vision (strategy).

Once a common ground of understanding was achieved, we could dig into how execution of a digital strategy would look like, with the need to be agile (from an organizational standpoint) and to orchestrate the whole transformation (instead of "simply" managing it and using older methods of management of change). While they are necessary conditions, they are not sufficient: once you have set up an agile and well-orchestrated execution, you are confronted with the biggest challenge of all - scaling up this approach to fully embrace the new ways of working.

"It's the same mistake you make with technology: focusing on the tool, the methodology. It's not agile that you need, it's empowerment." Prof. Mike Wade

Each topic was backed up with real cases, in a bootcamp manner, covering both B2C and B2B situations, with examples of digital transformation at Rabobank, GE, Richemont, ING, and many more.

We were 30 participants with, surprisingly, a high percentage of first-timers at IMD, whereas this course is expected to be a deepening follow-up of a foundation module, such as Leading Digital Business Transformation (LDBT) or the online one, Digital Disruption. Again, a broad mix of industry and culture background helped enriching the discussions and bringing other perspectives on challenges and responses.

Learnings & take-aways

The main learning for me is that we are now expecting to manage uncertainties, not to manage risks anymore: a digital transformation initiative cannot follow the good "old" phased approach of change, where risk management plays a major role to control progress and anticipate possible (mostly negative) effects as causes would have been identified; nowadays, effects can only be understood in full in retrospect. The fact that indirect interactions that can control entire ecosystems is well demonstrated by the Trophic Cascade theory (see video example).

One typical example is the introduction of the automated vending machines in McDonalds restaurants: it produced more revenues (+15/20%) but also more varieties of ordered food (due to customization, longer time to order, etc.), and therefore more pressure on the chain of production. Instead of bringing a reduction in employees number, it actually produced a shift in the employees' tasks and responsibilities, which was not anticipated at all.

Impacts of digital transformation are indeed highly unpredictable (even if prototyped, scaling up can have unexpected or unintended consequences). Hence, we have to embrace uncertainty instead of fearing it; organizations must embed agility and adaptability, at both organizational and leadership levels. This is actually echoed by September editorial in PMI Today "Managing Major Uncertainty":

"The only certainty about project uncertainty is that it will always be a factor that project leaders must prepare for. By not limiting their risk identification and mitigation practices to one approach, all project leaders can bring more to the table - and the team". LuAnn Piccard, PMI Today

In no particular order, other take-aways are:

• The human is at the center of the agile transformation
• An hybrid approach agile/traditional is a necessity
• The lifecycle/long-term ownership in an agile project framework is still an unresolved topic
• Start small/easy and balance acts
• New incentive models (incl. for failures as learning effects) must be created
• Risk taking in an uncertain world (and the resulting failures) has to be tolerated
• Be bold and radical on choices and decisions

"Try fast, Fail fast, Learn fast, Succeed Faster"

Personal thoughts & moving forward

A successful digital transformation must consider and on-board people (organization, structure, mindset, way of working), processes (digitization & automation, customer centricity, systems & tools) and business models (products and services, incentives, revenues, partners...). Bringing awareness in an organization through courses, roundtables, workshops, etc. is a very good thing, but people tend to participate to conferences around their own domain of expertise and functions only, which reinforces the functional silos and does not create the necessary broadened competences and knowledge.

My approach to digital transformation is a holistic one, hence I try to take part at conferences on the future of organizational models and the resilience of organizations, at roadshows presenting new technologies, such as 5G and Cloud-based toolsets, at product launch events in startup incubators, and at seminars dealing with strategies driving business transformations. I am convinced that this broad view not only supports my understanding of the stakes at play in a digital transformation, but also prepares myself in the best possible way to deliver it.

There is clearly a gap between designing a strategy, a change, a transformation, and executing it. An army of consultants will provide the best Powerpoint slides, align them with the industry's best practices, and even come up a with a reasonable plan. Once the consultants are gone, the internal politics are kicking in, the focus and the rigor are lost, and the partially implemented actions result in missed objectives and benefits (reflected by the opening statement of the Digital Execution program...).

To successfully bridge this expensive and unproductive gap between strategy design and strategy delivery, the Project Management Institute (PMI) has launched an initiative called Brightline, which mission is to develop and provide a knowledge and networking platform that delivers solutions and insights to executives, and empower them to transform their organization’s vision into reality. The Brightline Initiative came up with an online course, available on the Coursera platform (and currently provided for free), that I strongly recommend to take: during 10 to 15 hours of studying, you learn 10 Guiding Principles to help you getting things done.

Again for a course at IMD, the content, format, and environment of the course were spot on: great and motivational insights from professors and fellow participants, high relevance of the use cases presented, and a lot of food for thoughts - all worked out to make the Digital Execution program a huge inspirational event for me. I reflected prior to the course whether to continue next year with other programs, but this half-week convinced me to go on and seek the Digital Excellence diploma in the coming years :)

All pictures by myself

Also published on www.coyote-agile.net/executing-projects-in-an-uncertain-world/