Digital Roadmap Series: Define Priorities

Let’s recap what steps we have completed to get to this point.  First, we defined the problem that we are trying to solve.  Then, we took the opportunity to document the actual process and where it was not working for us.  Third, we used that process to redefine the process through digital technologies and other investments. 

The fourth and final step of building your digital roadmap is to prioritize all of the opportunities identified.  There are several ways to do this, so let’s discuss a few options for you.  (Note:  I would assess these compared to your culture and need to determine best fit for you.  You might be able to use a combination of the below.)

Option #1:  The “30, 60, 90, 120” day approach

This technique focuses on how quickly you can accomplish the goals at hand.  Your “day” buckets might be different, depending on the need.  For instance, it might be 3 months, 6 months, 9 months, 1yr+ or 6 months, 1 year, 2 year, etc…  This technique is good if you what to focus on getting some quick wins for those easier opportunities and the more investment intensive ones you be later in the roadmap.

Option #2: Return Based

For this option, you write all of the opportunities in a list and you have two columns to the listing – amount of pain you have today if the option is not corrected (labeled “pain”) and the estimated amount of value that could be delivered when corrected (labeled “value”).  For the pain column, 1 is least amount of pain and 10 is the most.  For the value, please do not get overly scientific on this.  We usually just identify if it is over a certain dollar value of opportunity and place a check in the column. 

Go through the listing as a group to get consensus on the pain and value ratings.  Then, sort the “10s” for pain and those with the check to the top.  Those at the top are the biggest opportunities to get placed on your roadmap.  Then, discuss as a team where each one should be placed on the roadmap (ideally with the top opportunities first, then the lower ranking ones in the later years). 

Option #3:  Sequencing

This one is focused on instances where your opportunities might logically need certain investments to be made first before making other investments.  For instance, you might need to invest in a Contract Lifecycle system before you can do advanced analytics on your contracts.  Or, you might need a P2P system in place before you implement RPA on the P2P process.  This option can be used with option #2 above, to help you sequence the roadmap of top opportunities.

Option #4:  Heat Map

This option I find most used by consultants that I have worked with.  This is where you plot your projects on a heat map to drive prioritization.  The X axis is value and the Y axis is difficulty of implementation.  There are four quadrants made on the map.  Lower left – easy to implement, low value.  Upper left – hard to implement, low value.  Lower right – easy to implement, high value.  Upper right – hard to implement, high value.   Ideally, you would consider the lower right as your quick wins that you would implement first and your upper right those opportunities that would be placed in the future.  You can also look at the lower left as potential quick wins. 

These are the four options that I have used most successfully in the past and I think the most common ways to approach developing your roadmap.   Most recently, I used the sequencing and the return based option together to build a roadmap.  It seemed like a great balance between driving value and sequencing where it was needed.

With that said, that wraps up how to build your digital roadmap.  In the coming weeks, I will be covering what is next because there is still a lot to do!  Topics will include now that you have the roadmap, how do you gain approval for the investments and how to manage the changes with your teams. 

I would love to know your thoughts on the digital roadmap series and if there are any other suggestions that you might have to share with others.  Please feel free to comment and share. 

Have a great week and shine on!!

Digital Roadmap Series: Re-imagine the Process

Happy Kentucky Derby Day, everyone!!  Currently, I am sitting in the Las Vegas airport waiting for my extremely early flight to Nashville.   Why Nashville?  ISM 2018 is kicking off tomorrow.  Anyone else going?  If so, please connect with me.  Would love to catch up.

Ok, to onto step three.  Just to recap where we are.  In step 1, we created the problem statement and step 2, we created the actual process and identified opportunities with that process.  You should have the problem statement and the listing of opportunities up on the wall for the step 3. 

For this session, plan on another 4 hours and have the same group get back together.  This session is typically the most challenging one, as we are asking people to let go of the constraints we “have” today.  We are also going to ask them to let go of what has not worked in the past or the technology that they lack. 

To get started, place a big blank piece of paper on the wall.  It needs to be big enough to draw out your newly imagined process.  The idea here is that you, with this new process, fix the opportunities identified in the last step.  Therefore, draw the process which includes such things as:

• What if you could automate a process?
• Where could you have better data available?
• What process steps maybe are not needed anymore?
• What if you had workflow?
• What if you had a different organizational structure?
• What if you had different capabilities on the team?

Draw this wonderful process on the piece of paper on the wall.  This will take some time to do, and writing it like I did, makes it sound overly simple.  It will take a strong facilitator to keep the group unconstrained.     

Once you have it documented, jot down what investments are needed to make this happen.  For instance, it might be:

•      We need to invest in RPA.
•         We require better data visualization.
•         We need to reskill our organization with “X” skills.
•         We have to create “Y” team.
•         We need a chat bot.

The fantastic part about this approach is that you will know exactly where you would like to apply/implement these investments and the value they could deliver.

As an output of this session, have someone document the newly imagined process flow and the listing of investments that are needed for the process to work. 

And that is it for step 3.  The last step to developing your digital roadmap is to take the opportunities and investments needed and prioritize them.  There are several ways to do this so I will be giving you some options next week.

Go shine on this week and I hope to connect with you at ISM.