Time is the key to your transformation

We almost always face the same challenges

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1. Players with very different profiles, cultures and project maturities

"I can't find my actions to be carried out in your overall planning, in the structure of your deliverables!"

2. Each perimeter is specific

"Ah yes, but with us it's really specific, we can't simplify it like that!"

3. Communication difficulties between central management and the operational teams.

"In any case they manage their program from their helicopter and do not understand anything of our stakes".

4. Difficulty obtaining and maintaining Momentum around the initiative

("I'll get back to you as soon as I can, but right now it's a race, so I can't promise anything")

5. An often complex, matrix-based organization

("I don't understand the impact of this program and all your projects on my department and my teams")

6. Fragmented management data in different files (Excel and Powerpoint) or Agile, budgetary / time tracking management tools.

"Ah yes I remember, we had updated the milestone dates in the stream A project committee slides".

7. A long and tedious process to produce control dashboards

"Yes, I know, the schedule we presented to the executive board is not up to date, but we're basing it on the photo validated 3 weeks ago to give us time to consolidate everything".

8. Dashboards that are too simple (pretty green lights), or too complex

"What does the variation in this indicator mean since the last steering committee meeting?

9. Varied management methodologies between agility on the IT side and V-cycle on the business side

"Your Agile sprints and storytelling are great, but I need to write my expression of need by what date?"

10. Multi-annual transformation plans disconnected from IT teams' Agile mode operational management.

"You're asking me to come up with a 3-year plan, while advocating the implementation of agility and PI plannings within 3 months...".

11. Adherence between the many initiatives launched in parallel

"I've just learned from the 'new ERP' steering committee that it will only be available in S2 2023 on this customer segment ... not very consistent with our priorities".  

... and many more!

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The utopian program

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To ensure the success of a program, the ideal solution is :

• Strong sponsorship: your sponsor is a member of the Executive Committee, so everyone involved in your transformation sees your requests as a priority.
• The unique program: you are, and remain for the entire duration, the unique program for your structure
• A single methodology and tool: all players work with the same methodology and update their progress, risks, etc. on a daily basis in the same management tool.

Unfortunately, these conditions are never all achievable, and vary greatly over the duration of your program. For example, we often observe a strong Momentum at the program scoping stage, which is gradually lost during execution, leading to an ever-greater distortion of the initial roadmap.

What can be done to counter the difficulties created by non-ideal conditions?

Various solutions have been implemented by external or in-house consulting firms involved in these programs: the importance of the program structuring phase to create a Momentum (matrix streams X organization, communication efforts e.g. events, newsletters...), standardized Excel and Powerpoint files to collect information... These actions are often key success factors, but they are not always well implemented and can sometimes produce a counterproductive effect, as they are too complex and time-consuming to implement, or quickly fade over time.

In this context, we note a strong temporal duality in transformation programs: the need to move fast while maintaining a long-term trajectory and human investment.

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Time as the main challenge

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Of all the issues and challenges, we decided to focus on time.

For us, time is the key factor in the success of your transformation.

It will enable you to :

• Build and maintain Momentum.
• Align the 3-5 year time horizon of general management (and its shareholders) with the 2-3 month operational time scale of Agile management.
• Shorten decision-making times.
• Adapt by taking into account the different events that will occur over the course of the program.

We are convinced that good management should be based on the following principles:

1. Quick wins: rapidly obtain an initial steering process (simple and pragmatic) to reassure the sponsor and give the players involved a sense of direction and visibility over the steering implemented. By reassuring your sponsor, he'll feel more comfortable supporting you and guaranteeing strong sponsorship.

2. Simple, integrated management: don't try to manage everything in detail, and make a clear distinction between strategic management (consolidated and over fairly long timescales) and operational management (detailed and day-to-day). However, these 2 bubbles must communicate in real time to guarantee short decision-making cycles.

3. Continuous improvement : this is often implemented in development or production processes (in lean or agile methodologies), but very rarely in program management. Yet it is a real challenge for transformation programs involving many players over many months: just like complex production processes.

So we've identified five key stages to get all the players involved in your transformation on board, and maximize your projects' chances of success.

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Structure, reassure, measure, qualify and adapt

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These 5 main phases, even if they are launched sequentially, then loop back and forth between each other during the duration of the program according to the various events or decisions taken:

1. Structure and integrate: Our advice is to think simply in a complex environment, to guarantee near-real-time integration of the entire control chain.  

2. Reassure & align: Converging very quickly on the first shared elements and the first steering Dashboards (quick wins) helps to reassure and align all the players involved.

3. Measure: This involves setting up tangible indicators at global level, which can then be broken down to the level of each stream/project making up the program.

4. Qualify: Implementing information quality & freshness controls is essential to enable management to make the right decisions.

5. Adjust: It is important to use quality indicators to adjust the steering system and simplify the indicators if necessary, for example, or to carry out new communication/onboarding actions. Poor quality can result from a lack of involvement or training of the players involved, or, conversely, from steering indicators that are too complex or inappropriate.

In conclusion, our experience as a control solution editor, confronted with customer use cases, has validated our methodological approach, while demonstrating the need to adapt.

An obligation to adapt, not just to customers or to the specific features of each program, but over time, in the face of events, in the face of the right choices but also the wrong choices that will be made.

We have implemented this integrated methodology at Tabsters on the basis of our successes and failures over the last few years, always with the aim of improving efficiency and shortening transformation cycles.