Digital Transformation at Scale

While the digital team is there to act as an agent of change for the organisation, that does not mean it has carte blanche to be ignorant of the current rules, much less rip up or ignore them all. If you go back to first principles, many of the most frustrating aspects of working in a bureaucracy –the paperwork, the delays, the acronyms and language –are grounded in perfectly reasonable intent. Often there are very good legal, security or moral reasons lying behind the way things are. The problem arises when wise intent is smothered by many layers of abstraction. As experienced hands within the organisation, the job of the bureaucratic hackers is to the get to the bottom of the intent behind the rules, explain this to the digital incomers, and ensure that the new teams follow them to everyone’s satisfaction. Over time, the hackers can steadily push for replacing the rules and processes for alternatives, on the basis that the digital institution has now proven (rather than just claimed) that they are simpler, clearer and faster at meeting the original intent.