“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain
Category Archives: Thinking
People, Process, Technology…where do most of the ALIM implementation challenges come from?
Implementing an ALIM system brings change that impacts people, process and technology. It’s understandable that technology vendors represent their products as THE solution to all of you’re problems. I’ve seen a lot of awesome demos and it’s easy to get excited about the possibilities that today’s software tools bring.
But most will ignore the challenges in getting to the benefits the software can provide. That’s understandable right? No vendor wants a prospective customer getting nervous about the implementation challenges, so it’s not in their best interest to bring this up in the sales process.
Full disclosure/reminder…I’m a VP at Bentley Systems, Inc.But another thing that vendors have in common is that they want their software to be used. You might assume that they’re only really interested in the sale, but they know that “shelfware” is a very bad thing. Especially today as the software business is moving rapidly to a subscription model. Years ago…ALIM system cost was very front loaded. So if a system didn’t “take” the vendor would miss out on some recurring maintenance / support revenue, but they’d banked most of the revenue from the relationship on the front end.
Not so much today…and moving quickly to a low-cost of entry and a consumption pricing model that spreads the bulk of the revenue from the relationship over a much longer time horizon. Subscription models have been around for a while, but you can thank the Cloud / SaaS for the recent acceleration that’s occurred in the past couple of years.
So it’s become even more important to vendors that the system be successful both in capability and be widely adoption. If you’re working with a vendor that’s selling a subscription, but isn’t talking about change issues…they don’t get it. And I’d question their long-term viability if they don’t begin to demonstrate quickly that they want to assist with your success by helping you overcome what might be your own internal issues.
So the question…
[polldaddy poll=6787930]
“Simple” can be Hard
During 2012 my organization was challenged to “simplify”. One example I looked to was tablet apps which tend to be simple and limited…yet effective. Yeah…people involved in technology can over think and make our processes (not to mention our products) more complex than they need to be.
With an engineering background and working in a company that has hundreds of engineering apps I sometimes struggling to get started (knowing that I’m starting down a long road), then end up creating something very complex over more time than I expected. I sometimes find myself hindered in making progress in areas where complexity seems (to my mind) to be necessary. I’ll admit that I’ve found myself working through a myriad of details and options in trying to craft the best (multiple choice…process, system, proposal, report…even email)…while taking a looong time to “ship” it. Stepping back to look at this now, much of the issue is due to starting to craft the work too soon; without the benefit of creative thinking. Sure…I can plow through a complex topic to an extreme level of detail but, in reality, that’s easy work…it just takes a long time. And, that sort of creative process can produce something unwieldy and difficult to maintain.
Now…creating something simple, yet worthwhile, isn’t easy. (Have you tried to convey a thought via Twitter?) And it might just take as much time as it’s uber-complex counterpart. But which is more effective?
“Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.” – Steve Jobs
Reason
A friend sent me the BB&T Philosopy Statement and I ran across some interesting comments on thinking in a section named “Reason”…
Clear thinking is not automatic. It requires intellectual discipline and begins with sound premises based on observed facts. You must be able to draw general conclusions in a rational manner from specific examples (induction) and be able to apply general principles to the solution of specific problems (deduction). You must be able to think in an integrated way, thereby avoiding logical contradictions. We cannot all be geniuses, but each of us can develop the mental habits which ensure that when making decisions we carefully examine the facts and think logically without contradiction in deriving a conclusion. We must learn to think in terms of what is essential, i.e., about what is important. Our goal is to objectively make the best decision to accomplish our purpose. Rational thinking is a learned skill which requires mental focus and a fundamental commitment to consistently improving the clarity of our mental processes.