How to tackle intimidating digitalisation projects

We get it. Digitalisation projects are daunting. To the uninitiated it may seem simple - ‘just digitalise your process or operation’. Easy. But we all know it is not. That is mostly down to two reasons:

1. Digitalisation projects can be rather large in scope - or the scope is not even clear to begin with
2. Digitalisation projects often require resources and skills that are not currently available in-house

We could nestle a few other reasons underneath the above two, for example:

1. Digitalisation projects are susceptible to scope creep
2. Digital talent is difficult to find and retain

But despite these challenges, there is a fairly straightforward way to tackle these projects: one step at a time. In fact, here at Lola Tech, we like to remind ourselves of the elephant analogy. Some say Francis Assisi coined the saying, others attribute it to Desmond Tutu. Whoever came up with it, it is useful advice. 

There is only one way to eat an elephant: one bite at a time.

A successful digitalisation project needs to be broken down into manageable steps. Whatever the scope of these steps, they make each phase of the project more attainable and help identify realistic resources. Some organisations have Project Managers to lead this effort. At Lola Tech, our teams follow the Scrum framework, and so the individuals responsible for managing the delivery processes and helping product owners manage their stakeholders are the Scrum Masters. 

A good Scrum Master will help you do these things - and credit goes to the good folks at scrum.org who created this list, which we have reproduced here in part:

• Coach team members in self-management and cross-functionality
• Remove impediments to the team’s progress
• Ensure all project meetings and milestones take place 
• Help manage the product backlog (i.e. the prioritised list of deliverables)
• Help establish data-based product planning
• Help employees understand and enact an empirical approach for complex work
• Facilitate stakeholder collaboration as requested or needed

In a nutshell, the Scrum Master will help you manage a project by setting in place efficient processes and building an effective team to deliver sprint by sprint. Their responsibility lies not only with the team working on the deliverables but also with the wider organisation - that means working with and within your team structure but also laying down some hard truths when necessary.

So, to take it back to the original analogy - while we do not advocate actually eating an endangered species, we do support tackling any big challenge one bite at a time. And that is more easily done when you have a Scrum Master by your side.