Our Execute Stage comes to life in a “scenario-based” guided tour that provides a contextual framework for DX Plan Execution. Ushering a fictional company through the process will help CXOs visualize steps in the process and identify potential challenges and opportunities on their way to plan launch.
Table of Contents
- Chapter 1: Launching Project Pulsar: Dreams, Doubts, and Digital Transformation
- Chapter 2: Investigating Team Dynamics: Uncovering Insights for Developing an OCM Plan
- Chapter 3: Mobilizing Change Agents: A Digital Transformation’s Secret Weapon
- Chapter 4: Assessing As-Is Processes: A Critical Step in Building Requirements
- Chapter 5: Pursuing Approval for Requirements: A Battle Not Easily Won
Introduction
Galactic Gravity Inc. (GGI) recently kicked off Project Pulsar, its digital transformation journey to modernize their forecasting, production, and delivery solution. Jesse, the Solution Architect, and Barry, the Business Analyst, have just met with all teams and gained approval for all the business requirements. A high-level solution design was presented during a recent Steering Committee meeting, but faced some backlash from VP of Account Management, Jane Maxwell, who called into question the solution’s ability to solve current business problems.
In this article, Project Pulsar’s PM Jared Spinner faces the potentially disastrous effects that Jane’s outspoken negativity could have on the rest of the organization’s teams. Read on to find out how Jared handles this challenge and maintains the project’s momentum.
Watch this short video with Camilla Richter and Rob Maeyaert as they talk about the challenges that come from stakeholders who are not favorable to the transformational initiative, and strategies for flipping them to become powerful change agents.
A Tipping Point: Addressing Pessimism Before It Escalates
Jared Spinner, Project Manager at Galactic Gravity Inc, stared at his meeting notes from the Steering Committee meeting that went down yesterday. The outcome of the meeting had been suboptimal, to say the least.
“I’ve seen this happen before,” Jane Maxwell’s voice echoed through his memory, “And it’s never been pretty. There’s no way you can make sure this Project Pulsar initiative will accomplish what you’re promising it will.”
The VP of Account Management’s pessimism had infected the entire steering committee, and a few other members nodded in agreement. Even Marcus, notoriously positive and a significant champion for this project, had been subdued.
Just then, Barry, the Business Analyst (BA) sent a group message to him and Jesse, the Solution Architect (SA). “What are we going to do about Jane? If the rest of the teams catch wind of her negativity, it could tank all the momentum we’ve built.”
Barry’s message triggered a connection in Jared’s mind. It was just like making waffles, he thought. Just like improper separation of the egg yolks and whites, failing to resolve Jane’s concerns and pessimism could result in the initiative falling flat.
Every Saturday, he and his daughter woke up early to make homemade waffles for his wife. His daughter loved to measure the ingredients and mix them in the giant, stainless steel bowl. The one step she wasn’t allowed to do just yet, was to separate the egg yolks.
“Why not, daddy?” her little 4-year-old voice whined as she watched him carefully pass the yolk back and forth between the halved shell.
“Because, sweetie,” he explained. “If we get even a little bit of this yellow yolk mixed in with the egg whites, they won’t fluff properly and we’ll have to eat dense, hard waffles instead of light, fluffy ones.”
Although Jane’s concerns weren’t entirely unfounded – she did have experience with these types of projects before – her outspoken pessimism could be detrimental to the entire project if left unresolved, just like a drop of yolk in a bowl of egg whites.
“Set up a meeting for us and Jane,” Jared typed back to Barry. “We need to let her know we take her concerns seriously and show that we are doing what’s necessary to make this project a success.”
Perhaps they could catch this negativity early enough before it infected the entire project. Besides, if they could win Jane over, she could be a powerful advocate for the transformation.
Transformation is not easy, but it doesn’t have to be impossible. Take control of your project’s success today and schedule a free 30-minute consultation to find out how Victoria Fide can equip you for transformational success.
The Critical Role of Acknowledging Stakeholder Feedback
“Thanks so much for meeting with us today, Jane,” Jared began warmly. He shook hands with the petite woman in her 60s, noting that her robin’s egg blue nails perfectly matched her immaculate pantsuit. “We want to spend some time making sure we fully understand the concerns you raised at the Steering Committee meeting so we can address them effectively. Jesse and Barry,” Jared gestured to the two men joining them at the table, “have been meeting with the different teams to understand their concerns and make sure that we have a solid grasp of the processes and what will be required to make the solution effective for everyone.”
Barry, an earnest young man with immaculately styled red hair, piped up, “It’s very important to us that we understand the challenges each team is facing so we know how best to build the solution to support them.”
Jane cocked an eyebrow. “I appreciate your good intentions, but in my experience, good intentions don’t always translate to effective outcomes.”
“You’re absolutely right,” Jesse began, but Jane wasn’t finished.
“I receive near continuous complaints from distributors and resellers because we can’t accurately provide production completion and delivery dates,” she continued. “The account management team is bearing the brunt of others’ mistakes and we’re powerless to do anything but apologize and offer financial reimbursements where we can. We’re bleeding money, and it won’t be long before we’re losing loyal customers because of it.”
“You and your team have built significant trust with some major accounts,” Jared said carefully. “You’re in a really difficult position, and it’s completely understandable that you’re worried about losing those relationships and accounts. What we hope to accomplish today is to show you exactly how we’re going to help you keep those accounts and not lose trust with your clients.”
Jane pursed her lips. “Forgive me if I’m a little apprehensive about all the amazing things ‘Project Pulsar’ is going to do for this company. I’ve seen multiple projects like this fail to deliver, or even fail completely. It’s always the same: big talk followed by a big flop.”
“I know what you mean,” Jesse commiserated, nodding his graying head. “I’ve been part of a number of projects with other companies that have missed the mark entirely. That’s why Barry and I have been digging deeper and looking for the root causes. I think you might be interested in what we’ve found.”
Jane seemed to settle into her seat a little more, allowing the solution architect to take the floor.
Achieving Buy-In Through Transparent Communication
“There are three critical breakdowns we’ve discovered throughout our investigation at GGI: First, Demand Planning is being done in an overly complex spreadsheet that can’t account for all the variables that need to be considered. That results in critical breakdown number two: there is consistently not enough inventory of components for headset production. Add to this the challenges that come with the rapid growth GGI has experienced, and we arrive at critical breakdown number three: inventory is being promised to multiple distributors and resellers and not reserved appropriately.”
Jane nodded. “I agree, those are critical issues, and it looks to me like the responsibility falls within the production and order entry management personnel. If people like Jonathon would be willing to take a good hard look at how they’re managing their division, these problems might not be as severe as they are today.”
Jared exchanged a look with Barry at the woman’s accusations. The redhead raised his eyebrows and quietly jotted down a note.
“Aside from all that,” Jane continued, “While we’re selling some of the most advanced technology in the gaming industry, our internal operations have yet to reach the same level of innovation. Tell me how that makes sense!”
As Jesse hesitated, Jared stepped in. “I think it would be beneficial to see the solution you are proposing, Jesse. Would you mind walking us through your recommended solution based on your research?” The solution architect nodded and began to bring up a presentation.
“Part of Project Pulsar is to modernize our systems,” Jared responded to Jane as they waited for the presentation to come online. “As Jesse pointed out, demand planning is taking place in a spreadsheet. That manual process served us well when we were smaller and couldn’t justify the cost of a demand forecasting system. However, you make a good point. We need to catch up with the times and update our systems.”
“I’ve looked at a few different forecasting approaches,” Jesse began. “I looked at ARIMA — Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average — LSTM — Long Short-Term Memory — and Prophet for accurate demand forecasting. But what I’ve landed on given the rapid growth of GGI and our need for analytical trends to predict future demand are the principles from ARIMA. The spreadsheet will go away, and we will be developing a system that enables modeling directly within the demand planning tool itself.”
As they listened, Jesse went on to discuss what that meant specifically for the order entry team and them delivering higher confidence production and delivery timelines to distributors and resellers. With assistance from Barry, Jesse then walked Jane through what he saw as the future processes, placing an emphasis on where efficiencies would be gained.
Throughout the presentation, Jared watched Jane’s posture relax. Gradually, the VP of Account Management began to nod.
“Well,” she said with a sigh when Jesse and Barry had finished. “I must say, I’m very impressed with what you’ve put together and the thorough investigation you’ve conducted to identify the root cause of the issues.”
Jared noticed a smile hovering around the corners of Jesse’s mouth as Jane went on.
“I know there’s more to be done here, but I don’t feel the need to get into all the details right now. I’ve seen enough. I will leave it to the BPO’s to address the specifics. Based on what you’ve presented today, I feel like you’re on the right track to build out an effective solution.”
Something like relief mixed with pride swelled inside Jared as he heard Jane’s response. Perhaps they had balanced the eggshells just right, preventing the negativity from spilling into the rest of the project team and causing the project to fall flat. Perhaps all their work preparing for these situations would pay off.
Navigating Towards a Sustainable and Effective Future
When it comes to gaining buy-in for solution design, it’s important to involve stakeholders in the process and address their concerns head on. By doing thorough research and presenting a clear plan, Jesse and Barry were able to gain Jane’s trust and demonstrate that they had a solid understanding of the root causes for the project challenges. As a result, Jane was more willing to support their solution and help move the project forward. Jared was confident that Jane would no longer be an obstacle when it came to securing team buy-in for the solution.
After their meeting with Jane, Jesse and Barry met with all the teams to review the high-level solution design, explaining their vision for addressing the pain points that had been discussed. These meetings with BPOs and SMEs continued to surface minor disconnects and a few missed business requirements with a few process exceptions, but overall was a productive way to give the teams a high-level understanding of where the project was and the direction they were moving.
As Project Pulsar marches through its digital transformation execution, subscribe to stay informed and receive latest articles that demonstrate how to tackle challenges such as stakeholder resistance, iterative solution design, and more with the help of a proven Process for Transformational Change.
Subscribe to our weekly LinkedIn Digital Transformation Success newsletter and get notified of each new edition.