The first thing business users want is to avoid any mention of the legacy system. "Can't we just work around it?" they ask at the start of every project. There is a perception that legacy systems somehow prevent innovation by standing in the way of rapid product development or quick fixes to address customer requests.
The question; "What keeps you up at night?" is a commonly used executive thinking exercise that is revered and reviled in equal measure. Sure, it's a good way to focus attention and conversation on the things that are most mission critical. It's also a demotivating assumption that there are elements of your business that should give you stressful sleeplessness! This question can feel like an attack on our management skills. Perhaps even more frustrating is that for most of us, those stressful projects are real - and really do keep us up at night.
Knowing how much technology drives business performance and customer engagement today, wouldn't it be nice to say YES more often to business growth ideas? Unfortunately, too many pushes for traditional digital transformation fail to account (and budget) for the very real impact on developer resources, harmonization and application portfolio management.
With every innovation in application development, there is skepticism around the value and outcomes. Low-code, popularized in North America three years ago, is emerging as a powerful new platform for IT departments around the globe who embrace agile methods and want to rapidly create, test and iterate new applications.
There is almost no company where digital transformation is not a top strategic priority in 2017. On the agenda of most business units, you’ll find digital initiatives for new ways to interact with the market or to work more efficiently. The specifications are seldom very exact, but what’s clear is that the development needs to happen quickly if not to lag the market. Business teams are clamouring for quick releases, and IT teams are overwhelmed.
Software development success has always been a function of getting the right people in the right roles with a viable design and investment. That certainly seems a recipe for effective collaboration!
Most IT projects fail. A study by Standish Group across 50,000 software projects found that only 29% of projects were successful, defined by on time, on budget, within scope and of value to the end user. Another 52% had major challenges. And 19% failed completely.
