The Practical Guide to Digital Transformation, Quickly master the essentials with tips, case studies and actionable advice, by Antonio Weiss, Kogan Page 2022

I was prepared to hate this book.  The term "digital transformation" has become almost as common and as ill-defined and highjacked as the "l" word (lean).  Concepts and business selling principles are fine - and they might even make a few bucks for recently retired consultant wannabes, but what I needed to engage were pages and pages of case examples, named companies that somehow took IT into their own hands and brought in what they needed, prepared their organizations for a no-deviation, no violations approach to implementation, and went on to win their market through their counter-offensive "smartness."  No vague consulting terms would sell me, a manufacturing consultant who learned FORTRAN too long ago to remember.  What we  must have now, I told myself, is examples - named detailed examples of corporate efforts that worked.  A tough demand, you might say, but so were ENIAC and Grace Hopper's work that we desperately needed completed yesterday.  It's that serious.

But readers will be relieved to know that Weiss' Digital Transformation not only passed The Mill Girl's cranky bitch demands, but managed to engage her vision walking faster and faster into real digital transformation.  This is a book any less than digitally savvy corporate or government exec can carefully hide in the bottom drawer, to be pulled out and read when no one is around.  Or you can take it on a business trip when nobody will observe you trying to catch up!  Because digital transformation has such a long history, it's easy to be waylaid and stuck in the current platform wars.  But we urge you to stick with Weiss' recommendations and try to make the right systems choices.  Don't for instance, 100% outsource your digital conversion based on one simple sell-job pitch (as one company did, per Weiss, with Accenture$$$).  

Instead, read the book, map out your desired goals, talk with or maybe even visit a couple good, successful implementation examples, and let a trusted friend into your plans.  Although we may have gotten by in the early adoption days with the going-it-alone approach, at this point in digital power and speed, that's just too dangerous.  Remember, with digital transformation we're not looking for heroes - we simply need to quickly build and adopt integrated systems that 100% work.  And, as the Cranky Bitch reminds us, we want to win.

Pay attention to author Weiss positive examples taken from recent real-world wins.  You'll find them at the end of each chapter under "Bringing the Principle to Life," including examples from Ford, the UK Government Digital Service, the Thomas Clipper company, Buurtzorg, a Dutch care home chain with 10,000 employees, Amazon, Shopify (Snowdevil), Hertz and Accenture, Target, X (Moonshot Factory), Chase Bank and others, good and bad.

And let me know how it goes.  No one said this would be easy, but with the right preparation your transformation process could actually be fast and exciting.  Yes.

Patricia E. Moody

FORTUNE magazine  "Pioneering Woman in Mfg" 

IndustryWeek IdeaXchange Xpert

A Mill Girl at Blue Heron Journal, on-line resource for business thought-leaders and decision-makers,  patriciaemoody@gmail.com