How to get peace of mind with your digital tools
A typical pattern we see with new clients, is the opposite of peace of mind. They come to us worrying about:
How many digital apps they’ve got
Whether they’ve got the right one’s
Why they can’t find the information they need and how much time they’re spending looking for it.
How much they should be spending on their tools
How many errors are being created due to manual data transfer / lack of automation.
A general sense of not being in control of their tools
It’s not a simple job to resolve this state of affairs, often there’s an intermingled cross over of different challenges in different aspects of the organisation which you might miss if you start with what you think the solution is (a digital tool).
eg. Is it a culture issue? Or a process issue? Or actually a system issue? If you’ve got a culture challenge, introducing a new tool isn’t going to do what you want it to. And if you hire a digital tool expert who doesn’t appreciate the importance of culture, you could end up down an expensive rabbit hole and still have the culture challenges.
Fortunately, there are some simple processes to get the ball rolling which don’t require you to have it perfectly worked out at the start and don’t require engaging an expert to help. And, if you’re a “humans first” type of organisation, then you’ll be ok with putting a project plan aside and allowing for a more “emergent” process.
First, document the problems you’re having in a spreadsheet, ideally adding a description in real time, and come back to it as a group to analyse and categorise.
Use some columns to organise it and spot patterns. eg. dates. categories. status.
The more data you capture the more insight you’ll be able to gain.
Channel a lean six sigma mindset and create a column for root cause and ask the 5 whys of each item. You don’t need to have a black belt in LSS to boil things down to some common patterns. Five why's might not always be necessary but it’ll help you to use a different part of your brain and think deeper about the problem.
Book in a standing meeting with the people these challenges impact, the best way to empower people is to include them (here’s some tips for empowering people with digital tools) review the list and make slow but steady progress.
First, get a better understanding of what the root causes are. Fill out those categories and root causes as a group.
Then, progressing to suggesting some minimum experiments to improve. We suggest a separate sheet for each experiment. Keep track of them and note any conclusions. Bake in this continuous improvement approach BEFORE you start making broader changes to your tools.
Bite off small chunks at a time, don’t try to solve everything. Bonus points if you can experiment without introducing new tools!
(The natural tendency is to want to implement that shiny new tool you’ve been checking out but... trust us when we say that no tool is going to solve everything, especially if you haven’t first discovered what the actual root cause of the problem is)