Roadmap to a Better Technology Tomorrow
Digital Transformation that Actually Works
Photo by Karsten Würth
Far too often, technology dysfunction is the norm rather than the exception. Efforts to harness the power and potential of technology often come up short at best, and at worst they end in utter debacle.
This is not inevitable. It should not happen.
But it’s the predictable result of common gaps and misalignments that tie the organization’s shoelaces together and set everyone up to fail.
The good news is, these gaps are correctable.
So let’s say you’re ready to take your organization to a new level of proficiency with your technology. You’re ready for your technology to be a turbocharger rather than a constant anchor. You’re ready to make your staff’s efforts more efficient, harnessing talent rather than continuously wasting time. You’re ready to tap into the potential of your staff, your funders, and your constituents, and to break the cycle of constant technology debacles and disappointments.
Video: Overview in 2 minutes
The path to this new level of function is via an internal team of people whose mandate is to steward high impact, high quality, high leverage technology, all day, every day. It will start with one internal hire, and will eventually lead to a team of super-charging make-it-better-ers that we call a Digital Product Team or “Technology Accelerator Team”. When done right it is truly transformative.
More 2-min videos for each section below
So how do you get from here to there? We’ve pulled together this Roadmap to a Better Technology Tomorrow to walk you through exactly that, organized into 6 key steps. (Also, feel free to get in touch, we can help.)
THE 6 STEPS TO GREAT TECHNOLOGY:
1) You Must Be Willing to Invest
Photo by Nick Hillier
It takes money and brains to do technology well. Just like anything else that matters. It’s not cheap, and it’s not simple.
We’ve reached an era where high-quality technology offers unprecedented ability to superpower work and increase overall effectiveness.
Video: “You Must be Willing to Invest” in 2 Minutes
But if you think you can just hand it to the IT department, or hire a junior level person and throw them to the wolves, or make it half of someone’s job who has other things to focus on, or outsource everything while barely paying attention -- while cutting budgets, limiting staff time, or rushing things that deserve careful attention -- you. are. inviting. disaster. That’s not an exaggeration. These disasters are everywhere, ubiquitous and predictable. Ask around. Perhaps even look around within your own organization.
If you’re ready to get real about what it takes to get out of the ditch, and embrace the opportunity of making everything everyone in your organization does easier and better, a bit at a time, all the time, forevermore... then you can get on the road to an unimaginably better future.
2) Differentiate 3 Key Areas of Technology
Photo by Simon Abrams
Nowadays, for most organizations, there are three distinct areas of technology which are critical to distinguish from each other. They are:
Video: “Differentiate 3 Key Areas of Technology” in 2 Minutes
Traditional I.T.
Digital “content-side” work
“Product” or platform development
Our focus is on the last item in that list. But each of these areas requires consistent focus and distinct expertise, and attract different types of talent and personality. If you try to assign all “technology” to one team or person, you will end up with huge, damaging holes in one or more of these areas. That is exactly what happens in many organizations, and may be the root of many problems at your organization as well. We’ll briefly cover each of these three areas:
Traditional I.T.
Most everyone understands the needs behind traditional IT. You need computers that work, functioning internet, updated software, security from online threats, and more. This work is clearly important, but it is not the same as product development of platforms such as websites and CRMs. Put your Traditional IT staff in charge of your platforms at your own peril. It rarely, if ever, works.
“Content”
Great technology work doesn’t happen without "subject matter experts” being fully engaged. The best work happens when people are present who are experts in their “content-side” domain and who can help steward the vision for what the technology can accomplish in their work. That doesn’t mean being present just for the kickoff meeting, that means a meaningful, ongoing partnership.
Meanwhile, for organizations with a conglomerate “Digital” department, pervasive problems arise when multiple disparate functions are mashed together into a single “Digital” home that strains to support them all. You wouldn’t have a “Department of Paper” and insist that all work involving paper go through that single department. Neither should you clump numerous different types of “digital” work together, from communications and marketing to fundraising, constituent engagement, social media, IT, and platform development. These are entirely different areas of expertise. Whether they use technology or not in service of their work is a leftover distinction from the past. Every department must become highly competent with the digital tools of their trade.
Product / Platforms
With Traditional I.T. covered and “Digital” distributed appropriately throughout the organization, one key gap remains, which is the critical work of managing your core digital platforms, commonly including websites, CRMs, and other ever-evolving platforms.
This is the mandate of the technology accelerator team (a.k.a product team or platforms team), which is far and away the most common missing piece for organizations who struggle with their technology.
This is our key focus, the key transformation we help organizations through. Read on for more….
3) Build a Technology Accelerator Team
Photo by Yeshi Kangrang
In contrast to “traditional IT” which ensures the infrastructure you rely on is trustworthy and fixed when it breaks, your products and platforms are always expanding, always improving, and never “finished”.
Your CRM and your website are the two clearest examples of this. They are force multipliers, helping everything done across the organization to reduce friction and superpower your best ideas. And for them to function and to thrive, the work of improving them must never stop.
That might make it sound like a “nice-to-have” rather than a necessity. But without it, you’re not only deprived of superpowers — your inability to adjust to your reliably ever-evolving needs will soon have you stuck and sinking in quicksand. The only way for your digital products to thrive is with a specialized, holistic and ongoing focus from a skilled and dedicated team.
Video: “Build a Technology Accelerator Team” in 2 Minutes
That means admitting that it simply doesn’t work to ask other staff to manage sophisticated platform technology off the sides of their desks. Nor does it work to just "outsource these duties or ignore them altogether because everyone is too busy trying to do their “other” jobs.
You need to ensure your products are fully aligned with what you’re trying to accomplish, and to deliver a seamless, high quality experience to staff and constituents. This starts with a single focused hire, and eventually leads to a dedicated team of problem-solvers and opportunity-graspers that you can’t imagine you ever survived without.
Your Technology Accelerator Team — which we also refer to as a digital product team — should be an independent stripe in your org chart rather than owned by another department such as Operations, Development, or Communications. This can represent a complex transition and has to be done with care and diplomacy, according to rapidly emerging best practices.
It’s true, hiring technology leadership is expensive. But so is fundraising or communications or program leadership. You wouldn't dream of trying to reach your fundraising goals without an ace development director — you know that having a great person in that role is critical. In today's world, having strong technology leadership is just as much of a requirement.
With the right kind of team and talent in place, your entire organization will start to function at an entirely different level, from top to bottom.
4) Hire the Right Kinds of People
Photo by Andrew Neel
When it comes time to hire your first technology accelerator teamer (and every subsequent hire), you must hold out for the right kind of person. Everything rides on this.
You’ll find that some people are wired to find solutions.
Can you imagine a better investment than a team of people who constantly improve the way everything in your organization works? The most effective problem solvers, the careful, thoughtful, humble ones, the good listeners. The people who develop healthy and trusted interpersonal relationships, who deliver on deadlines and promises, who are able to facilitate the best collaborative output from the collective team.
Video: “Hire the Right Kinds of People” in 2 Minutes:
Notice that we didn’t say: the best developers or the tech whizzes. Those people are important but not what you need on your internal team (as explained in the next section).
The people you need are force multipliers. Build a smart team of these kinds of people, invest in them and their ability to improve the engines of your organization’s work. You’ll wonder how you ever got by without them.
5) Insource and Outsource the Right Things
Photo by Logan Weaver
When it comes to hiring, many organizations instinctively get the balance exactly wrong, thinking they need to hire highly technical or specialized skillsets like developers or designers. It’s a bad idea. It’s hard to do well. And these are the most straightforward skillsets — and wisest over the long term — to outsource.
This Section in 2 Minutes:
Video: “Insource and Outsource the Right Things” in 2 Minutes
Meanwhile the skillsets of strategic leadership, communication, and human support are the real keys to the kingdom, and by their very nature are impossible to effectively outsource. Getting clear on this common misconception is one of the most important things your organization can do to turn around its technology fortunes.
6) Make Magic with External Partners
Photo by Marvin Meyer
You’re going to need external help to do excellent quality technology work. And long term, you’ll be better served by having certain highly specialized skillsets provided by external firms who specialize in developing and managing them all day every day.
Video: “Make magic with External Partners” in 2 Minutes
But if you’re hoping to issue an RFP, hire a firm for a single project, and have them handle everything while you pay little attention, everyone is in for an unpleasant ride. Finding the right partners and developing healthy, active, productive relationships takes ongoing focus and active partnership. And when done right it can result in game changing results.
Is all of that invigorating or overwhelming?
If it’s overwhelming, we understand. If you were hoping for something easier, cheaper, or more outsourceable, we completely understand.
It just doesn’t exist.
The six key areas above boil down to putting smart, capable people on your technology with strategic, clearly-defined remits. It’s about assembling the right team of the right people with the right boundaries, helping them identify the right north star, and giving them the mandate, time, and space they need to do the job well.
Video: Wrapping Up in 2 Minutes
These areas are not to be underestimated — each has its complexities, and changing your organizational structure and function is no small undertaking even in the best of circumstances.
But it can be done! We’ve helped organizations do it many times, and they never look back.
And at the end of the day nothing of importance, in any realm, truly excels without talented people steering it. Technology is no different. Your technology needs to support your specific operation beautifully, within a world of boundless options and intense complexity. That requires a capable and sophisticated team of this kind, inside your walls. The future winners of your sector are already headed this way, and organizations who continue to fight it will continue to suffer continuous technology pain and immeasurable missed opportunity.
This is a defining moment in your organization’s battle for effectiveness and relevance. It’s time to head — full bore, guns blazing, with real money and focus behind the effort — towards a genuine transformation into an organization that includes strategic, ever-improving technology as part of its very DNA.
Get in Touch
Please feel free to get in touch. We’re happy to hear about your situation and give you our best sense of the road ahead. Send an email to hello [at] thebuildtank.com. And sign up for our list, above, to stay in the loop as we send out more helpful resources in the future.