Avoiding the Next Digital Transformation Death March

Professor Alan Brown writes a weekly newsletter called Digital Economy Dispatch which focuses on the intersection of technology, strategy, and organisational change.

His latest Dispatch entitled Avoiding the Next Digital Transformation Death March critically examines the challenges and failures of large-scale digital transformation projects, using the Post Office Horizon scandal as a case study to highlight key issues such as procurement pitfalls, requirements management dilemmas, and legacy systems integration challenges.

It highlights how these projects, often termed as “death marches,” can spiral into failure due to a multitude of factors, including flawed procurement processes, mismanagement of requirements, challenges in integrating legacy systems, inadequate training and change management, and maintenance oversights. The article emphasizes the importance of learning from these failures, advocating for a more strategic and mindful approach in undertaking such massive IT endeavours. This includes addressing key issues at each stage of the project to avoid the common traps that lead to the breakdown of large-scale digital transformations, ultimately aiming to transform these ambitious projects from burdensome endeavours into successful, value-driven initiatives.

I highly recommend reading the full article and attending this upcoming live stream “AI’s Data Dilemma” on Jan 26th to explore quality data in AI.

Click here to register for the live stream and learn more.