People often seem to wish that technology could be an afterthought. Isn’t there a pill they can take so the headache goes away? Or a consultant who can just take care of it? Can’t someone just give me a treasure map with an "X" showing where I should dig?

But in reality you don’t want a treasure map. You want your own team of ace treasure hunters.

Why? Because a treasure map assumes that the treasure will remain in a specific place, and the path to get there will look the same tomorrow as it does today. That may be the case for buried treasure. But in the case of technology, neither of those assumptions are true. Your treasure is constantly moving, and the landscape around it is constantly changing. So the treasure map you create today is almost guaranteed to miss the mark within even a few months. And if the map is all you've got, then you're stuck.

What you actually need is your own team of treasure hunters, strategic and skilled enough to assess and reassess the terrain as your journey evolves. A leader who can take in the landscape, your team's skills and supplies, your organization's restrictions and priorities along the way, and adjust those priorities and destinations appropriately. A skilled team that can communicate and manage and execute and delegate. That's how you'll reach your next destination safely, and the destination after that, and the one after that.

An over-simplified treasure map handed to you may seem like an attractive option, especially since the investment to get there is relatively limited. But in reality it's a cheap shortcut to the real work of building internal capacity and self reliance. And it's wildly inadequate insurance against the changes guaranteed to come. The only reliable insurance is skilled guidance and stewardship that you're confident can adjust to the ever-changing road ahead.