Tre situationer där en roadmap skapar stort värde

There are three questions that need to be answered when faced with a change that you want to implement in a controlled way: where are we, where do we want to go and what is the journey in between. It is no more difficult than that, and yet this can become almost infinitely complex when you try to do it in reality. But what makes it so difficult to plan a move in, say, a digital context, and how can AddPro make it easier?

Our experience tells us that what needs to be done must be present, and even visible, in a context, given a "why". It is therefore necessary, at least initially, to let go of the focus on the technology and the solution, and instead start with the "pains" and needs of the business. That is, more what and why instead of how. Everything exists in a context, and it is the context that messes things up.

The answer to the two questions what and when can be visualised in a roadmap, and detailed in an action plan that answers the question how. The action plan is then used to support the implementation of the change. Of course, different organisations have their own inputs here, and in this text we will describe three different scenarios, all based on real-world references.

Situation 1: You (think you) know where you are, but not where you want to go

Here we have a company that wants to achieve greater consistency and common tools throughout its organisation, which consists of a large number of relatively independent companies, in a chain. This type of corporate governance means that you cannot dictate terms from the centre anyway, but everything has to be sold in. So how do you set the common plan? And how do you define the minimum common base?

Situation 2: You know where you are and where you want to go, but not how to get there

In this situation we find a client who is facing an international expansion with major recruitment needs, start-up of new operations and a lot of regulatory requirements that need to be met. The company has an interim CIO, experienced and knowledgeable in the industry, who has done his analysis and already knows what both the current and desired situation looks like. The only question is how to make the change happen? All at once or step by step? What order is smart, what are the dependencies? And how consistent do we need to be across countries?

Situation 3: You know where you want to go, but you don't know where you are or how to get there

Here we have the municipal company that has a clearly stated vision of where it wants to be in its digitalisation in a few years. It's a vision that fits well with both the municipality's and the government's digitisation goals, but it's not so easy to break down into a concrete action plan. Here, the current situation needs to be captured in a common picture, and the target picture needs to be made concrete and broken down into sub-targets. Only then is it possible to start looking at how business change will happen.

Although the situations of these three clients are very different, we have seen how they all felt the value of having a roadmap in place. In the next blog post, we'll tell you more about how AddPro helps our customers create roadmaps.

AddPro has helped a large number of our customers to develop roadmaps for their IT changes. Customers appreciate that we link the whole chain from business goals to concrete IT initiatives. Want to know more about how AddPro can help you create a roadmap for your IT change journey? Contact us at marknad@addpro.se and we'll tell you more!