Are you designing your Enterprise or just copying someone else’s wiring plan?

Last week a former executive client of mine and I discussed his latest initiative: “Digital Transformation”. He was all excited about moving to the cloud, AI, and a host of other hype cycle buzzwords. After attending an analyst firm’s briefing about the latest and greatest technology trends. With his CIO in tow he was ready to invest in moving applications from his on-premise infrastructure to the cloud and magically have his business transformed.

Now my former client is also a friend so I can speak candidly to him. I asked one simple questions of him. “Aside from changing the technology you’re using, what are you going to do differently that would make you say you’ve transformed your business?”   “Well were scalable now and….” “Oh, so adding another server in your on-premise infrastructure is not scalable also?”. I could see he was getting very uncomfortable about my questions.

Next came the flash of insight I hoped would occur. “Are you trying to tell be all this doesn’t matter?” My response “Does it?” After a few awkward moments “It does but I’m not sure why”. “Tell me. You have a really nice house. Would you be willing to rip out all the wiring, replace the receptacles and switches because some new wiring technology has come to market?” A puzzled look for a moment, then a “That’s crazy, I’d only do that if it enabled me to do a lot more or something different with my house…” Then a pause and a second flash of insight. “I get it! You’re not say don’t go to the cloud. You’re saying ask what I’m going to do differently that the cloud will enable me to do”. Then a friendly dig back at me. “Just like a consultant always giving a depends answer and telling me what I already know”. “Maybe so, but would you have asked yourself those questions before coming to me. Clearly there was a reason you called me up after a couple of years have passed since our last set of discussions”.   “Brian, you’re sounding more and more each time we talk like a psychoanalyst”

“So, Doctor Brian, what should I do?”. “First off, lay here on the couch…. Seriously, the question you should be asking yourself is; am I repeating someone else’s wiring plan in my house (a pattern) and do I expect to get a competitive advantage from doing what others are already doing?”

I’m a great believer in patterns. Patterns in whatever shape and form they are: frameworks, templates, etc. help you organize information so you can focus on the innovation potential locked away in it. Implementing patterns also mean you have to focus less on routine activities that are necessary but don’t provide differentiation and advantage.   Also, examining patterns can give you insight into opportunities or threats and weaknesses. That is by examining patterns you can learn on another person’s dime.

With this little vignette and hopefully passing some insight to you, I’ll ask: Are you designing your Enterprise or just copying someone else’s wiring plan?