Thriving. How to stay relevant in a rapidly changing world

“The last thing a fish notices is the water it swims in” ~ Ralph Linton I love this quote. Every time I read it I have a little internal giggle. Water has a massive influence on the fish. Here are some reasons why: Evolution: During hundreds of millions of years of evolution, so much of it was likely focused on how to thrive in water. Water quality: Many parts of the world have modern-day issues with water pollution. If a fish lives in polluted water, its "quality of life" is significantly reduced. At its worst, the polluted water will kill the fish. While the fish doesn't notice the water, it sets the context for what makes a fish a fish. When Linton wrote this quote, he was using the relationship between the fish and the water as a metaphor for the unseen influence of institutions on citizens and society. To change society or how citizens think and act (positive or negative), change the institutions as they set the context in which society exists. The metaphor also w...

 This blog is where I get to write about project failure.  I have written and spoken about project failure a lot over the years and my first instinct was to simply trot out all the same research here.  Then I paused and thought.  In a world that is changing rapidly as ours is, is it wise to rely on research that in many cases is 5 + years old?  Probably not and to do so would perhaps be some what hypocritical.  So the last few weeks I have done a lot of searching and reading to ensure I have up to date information to share here.  I needn't have bothered, nothing much has changed in the research around project failures.  The Standish Groups Chaos report still says that around 70% of software development projects fail and that large projects fail at a much greater rate than small projects McKinsey still reports 70% of change initiative fail and on it goes.  Because nothing has changed I am in fact just going to trot out the evidence, evidence t...

 Here I am writing, or at least I'm meant to be, but for whatever reason it isn't flowing I'm making no progress.  I try several different angles but none seem to help.  Frustrated by the lack of progress I decide to go for a walk on the beach, one of my favorite things.  I do this partly for the pure joy it  brings me and partly because of the expectation that while I am walking on the beach I will get the idea, the insight that I need to make progress.  It surprises me how often I do get the idea I need, I capture the essence of it on my phone, ponder on it for the rest of the walk and when I get back and start writing progress flows. I reckon we all have some version of this. For you it might be while they are in the shower maybe it's doing housework. Perhaps switching to do some thing completely different or doing absolutely nothing at all. It could be almost anything but most us have had the experience of this moment of insight.  "Eureka" The e...

 Our world is changing and changing fast.  Despite this the way we deliver change assumes that they environment is stable and knowable in detail to enable accurate planning.  Most organisations, particularly "analogue" organisations deliver change through traditional waterfall methods (eg  PMI or Prince 2), led through a central PMO or perhaps a "transformation team" and require an upfront approval in the form of a business case that specifies scope, task, resources, cost and sometimes benefits.   I define an analogue organisation as one that was established and matured it's business model before the internet was a significant commercial reality aka early 1990's or before. The core assumption of waterfall methodologies is that the project is knowable and can be planned in detail and with certainty.  If this assumption is correct then once approved all we have to do is complete the tasks as planned and project success is more or less guaranteed.  T...

I know it's obvious but that's the point of this observation and those to follow.  They are designed to be things that 90% of us can readily agree on because we have observed them personally or intuitively know them to be true.  The real questions will come later when we ask if we know these to be true why do we ignore them in the way we manage change? and how do we need to change change to improve our effectiveness?  Let's start breaking this observation down.  First an acknowledgement.   Pretty much everything changes.  Continents move, species evolve, landscapes erode and rebuild and what's acceptable in society evolves over time.  This change is omnipresent and likely the type of thing Heraclitus was referring to when he said "change is the only constant in life" in 585 BC.  This change however is relatively slow and fairly constant (perhaps excepting our current climate change issues).  As a general rule what is causing the pace of ...

  Change! It's everywhere and omni present. In our personal lives, at work, the expectations of our customers and the market offerings of our competitors. Not only is change omni present we all believe that change is happening at a faster pace today than it ever has before (more on this later). "change is the only constant in life." Heraclitus, (a Greek philosopher) approximately 535 BC For something that has been around "forever" we are notoriously bad at managing change. I have written about this is various forms over the years. Consider this extract from my Value Led Change White Paper. Mckinsey report that 70 % of change programmes fail to deliver. The Standish Group, in their aptly named Chaos report, state that only 29% of software development projects are successful.  The remaining 71% being troubled or considered an outright failure.  To make matters worse, the larger and presumably more important a project the lower the chances that it will succe...