Today I met with a senior director who has just been tasked with driving through his company's next major IT project. We spoke about how most of the gain will come about through the "soft skills" necessary to get his people to grasp the importance of the system, and how it can be used to make their life easier and simpler, as well as more cost-effective for the business. By comparison, the technical software and infrastructure elements are trivial and quick to get right.
When people are involved we can't ever guarantee success, but it will be important to get a core team together, from across the business, and to take time to plan. Why? Because a vision for change needs to be communicated from a leader, and bought into, and shaped, by those who will be affected and who can bring it into being. If we are all to work together towards a common goal, we first have to understand and agree what that goal is; otherwise we'll all aim at something slightly different, and friction will either pull us apart, or risk us getting nowhere.
