My Favourite Cartoons About Digital Transformation

If cartoons are just for kids then maybe I’m a child at heart.

I love how cartoons communicate complex ideas in a simple way and poke some fun at what we take so seriously.

Over the years I’ve saved a few which I believe capture the main challenges of digital transformation in a funny and insightful way, and in this post I wanted to share my favourites, with a little commentary, of course!

WE WILL NEVER CHANGE (UNTIL WE HAVE TO)

This first one shows us how the COVID-19 pandemic changed everything in an instant. The restrictions of the pandemic forced us to change, and all the digital initiatives that were seen as ‘too hard’ or not a priority suddenly became essential.

Working remotely went from an occasional luxury to an accepted norm of the modern workplace. The importance of digital documentation became much clearer when there were limitations on physical movement.

It’s funny how fast we can change when we have to! But what happens when the wrecking ball of change isn’t crashing through the walls?

DO WE REALLY HAVE TO CHANGE?

Resistance to change is one of the biggest hurdles of digital transformation. In fact, it’s not just in digitalisation, we humans always tend to be resistant to change.

The funny thing about change is how once we have accepted change, we wonder how we ever did without it!

For example, I remember the resistance when direct lines and mobile phones started to replace fixed lines and switchboards. What is so normal now met a lot of resistance at the time.

And the same is true for every new technology. The process repeats over and over again.

We resist and resist until we eventually accept the change and get used to this new normal. But the difference nowadays is that change is happening faster than ever. This means more change, more often, and this can be a hard dynamic to deal with. But if we’re going to keep up, we don’t really have a choice!

“WE’RE GOING AGILE!”

I love this one! Agile is a great methodology, but it needs the right strategy and structure to support it. The risk of going agile is that you prioritise flexibility over a clear strategy, and can end up not accomplishing what you set out to achieve.

Doing agile well takes a balance of building and planning to ensure you’re still on track.

The challenge is that with digital, it’s never a straight line to success. You start out to do one thing and uncover many dependencies because everything is connected.?

For example, you may set out to digitalise the ordering process, and in doing so, realise you have to redesign how customer data is captured and organised, which may mean a complete reengineering of an organisational structure.

It’s tempting to just solve the one problem, but if you do you can end up with half a solution no-one is happy about. You set out to build a house and end up with a houseboat.

WE’RE ALWAYS FINISHING BUT NEVER FINISHED

Transformation takes time, planning and coordination. Although more resources always help, unfortunately it’s not as simple as just throwing more people at the problem.

Why? Because digital transformation is always evolving.

In the past, you could set a three year time horizon for a project, resource it effectively, and accomplish it pretty much as planned. There was a clear beginning, middle and end. But nowadays it’s much more dynamic.?

What you set out to achieve can change and evolve in a matter of months. Every new sprint leads to new ideas, new dependencies, and new complexities. This can be a challenge, because you know you’re making progress, but you’re never quite at the end result.

It’s like we’re always in the last stretch of a race that never ends.

This dynamic is a reality of digital transformation. As long as we balance planning and building and keep an eye on the long-term goals, we’ll get there! The complexities are something we need to accept with a smile. We’re making progress, it’s just not always linear.

While it can be a challenging journey, it’s important to celebrate the milestones along the way (like the increasing uptake of the eBL!) and of course, enjoy the process!

So, there you have it, a few of my favourite cartoons on digital transformation.

Which is your favourite? Do you have any other cartoons you love?

Let me know in the comments below!