The No.1 thing STILL missing in digital transformations

The first change I ever worked on RUINED me. It was a new product development with a major insurance company and it was developed from the ground up using Human-Centred Design. The program included a multi-disciplinary high-performing team consisting of experts in:

• Customer Experience

• Marketing & Branding

• Product

• Legal

• Compliance

• Business Analysis

• User Experience

• Lean Process Specialist

• Test Lead

• Trainers experienced in facilitation and learning and development

• Technology Development

• And of course, Change Management (that’s me!) to cover change impacts, stakeholder mapping, communications, training needs analysis, training schedule, launch and business handover

The problem with this being my first change is that it was so well-funded, and so well-resourced, and so well-timelined, and so well-managed, that I assumed every project would run as smoothly and inspiringly as this.

How wrong I was!

Over the past 10 years of my Change Management career from employee to day rate contractor to now award-winning independent consultant I’ve worked on many a digital transformation project that is under-funded, under-resourced, and over-ambitious on its delivery schedule, scope, and dependencies. I’ve seen missing Project Managers, I’ve seen non-existent Program Governance, I’ve worked with medium-sized consulting clients who don’t even have an internal Marketing team let alone an Internal Communications or Corporate Affairs team, huge national companies that have never heard of or hired CX or UX or Lean, other projects that are attempting to run Agile with no rhyme or reason, or do UAT with no actual users from the business. They’ll often have a Business Analyst or three plodding away at spreadsheets somewhere, and of course there’s always a Technical team (whether internal IT or technology partner/vendor) to design and develop, test and cutover the digital solution to Production.

In all these digital transformations, there is one thing that makes or breaks the success of the technology project. 

And ironically, it’s not Change Management (but I bet you thought I’d say that was the missing puzzle right haha!). 

No: it’s process mapping. 

Detailed, end-to-end, business-focused process mapping. 

Time and again, it’s the reason why a digital transformation fails. Because mapping the Current State and Future State isn’t just a nice, frilly activity. It’s what drives your Business Requirements, which is then what should drive your solution/vendor selection, design decisions, technical development, UAT test scripts, and roll out. 

Let’s see what happens when it’s missed

I’ve worked with a giant corporation on a rostering automation project and they had dived into design and development without mapping processes. I did some quick high-level process mapping to showcase the need for this expertise, and once the Program Director and Program Manager saw the value they hired a Process Specialist in and wow was she busy not just mapping the processes, but designing UAT and managing all aspects end-to-end. 

A medium-sized consulting client had the wool pulled over their eyes when their global technology vendor said they’d manage the project. Turns out they would absolutely be managing the technical side of the project but the business engagement side - completely missing. You can’t figure out the customisations for an off-the-shelf solution or how different roles and workflows and approvals will function if you haven’t done the business process mapping to work out the requirements. 

Another client was in the same bucket, and every person who joined the project, be it Change Management Consultant (me), Business Analysts, Test Leads, Trainers and more, asked within their first week: where are the Current and Future State processes and Business Requirements? The project was so far in, with so much time spent and money invested, that understandably the client didn’t want to stop and do process mapping and business requirements. Projects like this usually spin their wheels for a couple of years before realising they need to start looking at alternative solutions and often, sadly and frustratingly and wastefully, start from scratch.

And still other clients have decided they’ll do the Current and Future State process maps after go live because they don’t want to have to keep them updated - a completely ludicrous approach that led to much confusion, late design decisions, and a very messy test period, go live and hypercare. If it hadn’t been for me running process workshops to understand the change impacts and engage the business teams, who knows how much worse that implementation could have been.

Current and Future State process mapping with key business stakeholders and Subject Matter Experts (maybe even customers, clients, community and government if need be) is NOT a waste of time. 

It is not a nice-to-have.

And while it’s obviously best done at the very beginning, it is NEVER too late to stop the project and spend time on process mapping to get business requirements if your technology development wheels are spinning (a common symptom when process maps missing!). 

It forms the very foundation of a digital transformation because the people who know how things are happening today are best placed to flush all the issues and risks, bug bears and workarounds, changes and challenges, requirements and desires. 

You cannot look at internal policies and procedures.

You cannot look at training materials and user guides. 

You cannot look at forms and spreadsheets 

Because how things actually happen in an organisation exists outside of documentation that is too often outdated and restrictive. Real world processes are experienced by real world people, so running process workshops with them is the only way to truly surface what you need to know.

You’ll make the change so much easier

And yes, I have an ulterior motive and it is selfish for me to pray and hope that business-focused process mapping has been completed. From a Change perspective, we need these process maps to understand what’s changing, the impacts different teams and stakeholders will face, the best approaches for implementation and launch, and ironing out resistance and issues. But what I’d also say is that upfront business-focused Current and Future State process mapping is PART of the engagement. It’s actually such a key activity in building trust, creating collaboration, getting buy in, and helping the business become advocates and own the change. And start the business understanding that the technology can’t do all the heavy lifting - they’ll need to come to the party and change their processes, ways of working and even operating model sometimes to get the transformational outcome they say they want rather than a lift-and-shift from one system to another. After I’ve done Inspirational Change Vision Setting (the high-level “what”) with my projects and clients, it’s the perfect time to then do Process Mapping and Requirements Gathering (the detailed “how” we’ll achieve the vision). Then go to tender and find your technology solution that best meets the business’ needs.

So that’s the truth of it. I shouldn’t even have to write an article like this but process mapping and the corresponding business requirements is so often missing from digital transformations these days that I feel like if I can share this one single, simple tip, I’d save many projects from disappointment and disaster.

All the best,

Lata xx

P.S. My Change Management Consulting services and workshops are tailored and fit-for-purpose. When you're about to start a transformation or project, you might feel stressed or anxious about how you'll bring the leaders, teams and business on board so you can truly realise the benefits, embed the change, and pave the way for future changes. That's when you get in touch with me for a complimentary Change Clarity Call so I can help you unpack the challenges and opportunities of your change and discuss how I might help. DM me on LinkedIn here or contact me via my Passion Pioneers website here.

I'm Lata Hamilton - the Founder & CEO of Passion Pioneers, a Change Management consultancy specialising in digital transformation, operating model changes, and new ways of working and leadership.

Grab my free Creative Launch Ideas Guide with 53 ways to bring your next Change and Transformation to life - download it here.

And if you'd like my help with your next change or building leadership capability for your team, get in touch with me here.