Software is the easy part of Digitalization

As someone who currently works in IT, it may be sacrilege to say that software tools are not that important. If that’s true, perhaps I’m putting myself out of a job. And I certainly don’t mean to diminish the countless hours of hard work that people put into keeping IT infrastructure running, or to launch new apps that do new things, or update existing apps, or etc. That work keeps companies running - particularly in this era of virtual work. Though we could probably do with fewer “apps”...

I work with many teams trying to improve their processes or ‘digitalize’ their key workflows. Frequently the attention is on what new tool will save the day. They’re like me when I’m ‘hangry’ at the supermarket: I urgently focus only on the next thing that looks tasty, ignoring how bad the stomach ache might be later (ex. like…I really NEED those Pop Tarts right now…brown sugar of course).

Projects and breakthrough targets often focus on “this tool launch” or “that app getting rolled out." This tool-focus is acute in the realm of “digitalization” or “digital transformation.” Often the discussion and attention around digitalization collapses into discussions about tool options. Just like our misplaced obsession with finding “new normals,” companies see new tools, dashboards, or apps as the saviors that will guide them to glory. Sometimes this works, frequently it doesn’t.

A tool-focus overlooks one crucial topic that is way more difficult than building the tool: people and their behavior.

IT Tools are only enablers

In human organizations, things are always really about people and behavior. At best, IT tools are enablers or dis-enablers of behavior. At worst, they become scapegoats or distractions from addressing root issues (which are assuredly behavior or communication related). When we think about digital transformation, we should think about people first, not tools.?

But many organizations still obsess over software and tools rather than on people. Why?

It is difficult to measure or quantify humans and behavior. Numbers seem simple; they seem clear and definitive. Corporate Earth loves clarity and the illusion of efficiency above all else. So Corporate Earth narrows its decision-making and operating psychology around making things quantifiable. Numbers become the warm blanket to cover our eyes and hide our organizations from the terrors of ambiguity or responsibility to society and the planet.?

People are hard to quantify. Software is easier to quantify. So we focus on tracking cascades of mildly useful KPIs and vanity metrics. “What gets measured, gets managed,” we cry, like scared children afraid to face problems that are not immediately extractable into numbers.?

In digitalization, attention tends to be on heatmaps, roadmap milestones, numbers of new bots launched, automation workflows initiated, apps created, and the list goes on.

Some of that is really good! Measuring things is good! Tracking KPIs is good! Building dashboards of numbers to monitor status is good! It is super important! It is a valuable source of information to guide decision-making! But there is WAY more to organizations and digitalization than “measurable” figures or systems.

And there is a slippery slope in Corporate Earth that nudges people from viewing KPIs & tools as “a good source of insight” toward seeing KPIs & tools as “THE ONLY source of all insight.”?

The only reason we have IT Tools in the first place is to help us, human beings, do our activities better; or do new activities. It’s easy to get lost in the intangible web of “app world,” a place where the solution to everything is to just build an app for it. Because, if there is an app for it, then I, the human, don’t have to take as much ownership for my behavior… I just use the app and it (theoretically) gets me to do the thing I need to do (if it is well-designed) or it doesn’t (if it is not well designed).

Maybe eventually someone will make a dystopian film called “App World'' starring Kevin Kostner’s great-great-grandchild, where all the land is gone and people only float around on apps all day… wait, that sounds eerily like today’s smartphone-based reality…??

Leaving App World for a second, we return to the age old problem of humans managing their own behavior. Software is there to help us do things better, but it is not “necessary.” We survived, albeit poorly at times, for thousands of years without IT tools or software. Hell, we shot people into space and cured polio without modern software tools or even a single Excel table. The core of any change or transformation is always human needs and behavior.

Yet another pyramid diagram…

So what should we focus on as we seek to enhance our organizations with digital tools or solutions? Let’s take a quick float past the digitalization iceberg (the countless other pyramid diagrams groan in fatigue as Brad trots out a new iteration):

As we strive to upgrade our organizations digitally, we must remember that mindset and behavior trumps all. Software developers will wisely concur that no great piece of code survives the first user encounter. But that’s not the code or the users’ fault. The fact is that you can NEVER really predict how well software will enable (or hinder) a user until you learn about it in the real world.

The IT tool is the easy part. It’s relatively predictable - unlike humans. Many engineers and digitalization experts appreciate the rigor and predictability of code (compared to us predictably irrational humans). Our natural lean toward quantitative data and tangible tools means that we do a poor job accounting for human idiosyncrasies and capriciousness. But that’s just as illogical as the users we complain about! Moaning about the irrationality of users is like moaning about the fact that gravity exists or that rain happens!

This iceberg diagram asks us to take time to understand mindset, values, and the structures and incentives that shape behavior as we try to “digitalize.” Let that become the core focus, and let things evolve from there.

Focus on learning, not planning

Rather than putting all of our energy and planning on meeting roadmaps or launching tools, we should focus on establishing systems for learning more about the human behavior at the heart of those strategies.?

It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t plan. It means that you should focus first on understanding behavior and learning, and second on planning. Smart organizations will focus on establishing feedback loops for learning about “user” needs, and ensuring that those loops are embedded within the culture & systems.?

It’s like the way a smart athlete will focus on developing their core muscles and technique first, and then later spend hours watching themselves do bicep curls. IT tools are the bicep curls of digital transformation ??.

Building up “muscles” for human-centered digital transformation could look like:

• Leaders protecting time & resources to spend on understanding users and problems upfront, before throwing solutions at a wall
• Creating gates in PM processes to empathize and define user needs at the beginning of any project?
• Increasing agile communication norms & behaviors that incentivize iteration & feedback loops (fail → learn → iterate; rather than striving for perfection and penalizing mistakes)
• Training employees to communicate their topics, problems, & ideas through visual techniques and collaborative workshopping?
• And of course, to embed the mindset and methods of design thinking and structured problem-solving into company DNA

If we focus mainly on launching new tools in our journeys to digitalize, we’re ignoring the most important part of change. Sure, it will let our project managers alleviate their existential anxiety by marking “complete” on launch milestones. But it misses what really matters. Our focus must be on the people wielding the tools and what would really enable the behavior we want.

Software and technology change constantly; human nature hasn’t changed in thousands of years. But like distracted puppies, we focus on the bright shiny (software) balls that keep bouncing, and not on the most fundamental lever: ourselves.?

Software is the easy part. People and their behavior are the real challenge… but also the lever to do something truly spectacular.