Trending

Projects are finite. Products represent value streams, and funding a product team makes them accountable for identifying opportunities to deliver the maximum value for the lowest estimated effort, risk and uncertainty. Stable funding enables the team to deliver ROI within their calculated capacity.

The traditional organisational silo structure, is rarely an effective way of organising a workforce. Neither is the command and control management style of order giving. A cross-functional set of empowered staff in self-directing teams who focus on delivering value to customers works much better.

David Seacombe and Javid Moosaji discuss the challenges of starting a digital transformation journey. The 22 minute conversation covers many topics that you'll see on your journey.

A true leader harnesses the abilities of others and inspires them to be their best working selves. This contrasts with the legacy management style of issuing instruction, an approach that erodes commitment, especially with those who seek deeper engagement and feel a need to offer ideas and be heard.

On the whole, Customer Service is reactive, and keeps customers satisfied by dealing with their query or problem. In contrast, Customer Success is a proactive approach that puts understanding and supporting customers’ desired business outcomes at the heart of operations. We discuss how to change.

Cultural change is the hardest part of digital transformation, but what do we mean when we talk about it? Many organisations try to create a working environment that reflects their values, which usually requires significant employee engagement to create an emotional commitment in them.

It is generally accepted that a company should invest time and money in its staff. The more effort a company puts into engagement and managing employee performance the better the performance. Increased performance leads to increased productivity, and that improves the bottom line.

Companies succeed by providing superior customer value. Value is the basic utility of the product or service, plus a customer surplus which results from the way that a company connects with its intended audience. We discuss how value is created and how it is perceived as relevant to a purchase.

Efficiency means doing the same with less, without sacrificing quality; productivity is about doing more with the same - greater output with maintained quality. For all our efforts on being efficient, it is a diminishing return. A focus on productivity results in happier staff and top-line growth.

A product-led organisation markets the benefit of its products to as many customers as possible. Customer-centricity flips the process around and aims to understand the needs of the customer, and then provide the best solution. The customer experience is what now delivers greatest business value.

Delivering value is central to the purpose of any company. Organisations which continue to deliver value to their customers beyond an initial sale find that those same customers tend to become product experts and loyal brand advocates.

Congratulations on your appointment. You've waited for this moment and have diligently performed your previous roles to the best of your ability. But do you know what to expect now you are at the top-table? You have been promoted based on ability, but are you prepared for what comes now?

A Servant leader shares power, puts employees first and helps people develop and perform as highly as possible. Servant leadership inverts the norm, and makes the teams nearest the customer the priority. Digital transformation requires leadership; servant leadership accelerates customer-centricity.

Your CxO can’t do everything themselves. There is so much noise in the world. They need someone to help manage strategy and innovation and to improve the signal-to-noise ratio. A Chief of Staff works alongside their Exec as a force multiplier.

Most workers today would agree that org charts cannot even remotely describe the reality of working life. Hierarchy works for setting up corporate contracts and paying taxes. Over-emphasis on formal structures reduces effectiveness and inhibits innovation. There are alternate structures.

Many organisational change initiatives fail. We discuss hostility and indifference, encumbrance by the past, making the true commitment, a failure to iterate, starting with technology first, and, biggest of all, strategy execution. Knowing the reasons for failure informs what to do to succeed.

Customers no longer line up meekly at our shop door, impatient to buy what you have to offer. You need a team who are constantly alert to discussions about your brand or products on third-party sites or social networks, and who build connections and understand what customers truly want to buy.

Knowledge must flow freely across and beyond an organisation to get the best value from people. Knowledge management has been too constrained by the pre-determined path of a hierarchical structure, and leaders' concerns with losing control. We set out the benefits of becoming a social business.

Product-led companies invite the buyer to use the product and help them experience a meaningful outcome whilst using the product. Once they’ve seen the benefit, paying for the service becomes a no-brainer.

When the autonomous delivery team work directly for the Product Owner – who is generally drawn from the business – what happens to the IT Director and the ‘Heads of’ the traditional IT functions?

A Cloud Transformation programme can reverse years of underinvestment, and turn technical debt into technical wealth. But it's not as simple as asking IT to sort out the technology. This is a whole company transformation that needs to embrace all parts of our message on Digital Transformation.

Every company will regularly reassess how its operations are performed, and by whom. The business world is always changing but Covid-19 has forced a response. Once you've evaluated what's needed, you may want to transition key activities to a new division or location. We set out how to do it.

With furlough ending, many organisations will make the difficult decision to make some of their workforce redundant. This is never easy, but by following best practice, the relevant laws and this playbook, the experience can turn out to be positive for all involved.

Digital disruption and the need to be wholly customer-centric is the new normal for many companies. Leaders must reimagine and reinvent the business itself. We discuss the challenges to operate, adapt and thrive in a rapidly evolving financial, political and social world.