Thanks to Jack Vinson for ponting me to Bill Brantley's post TOC Analysis of Technology where he crystalizes this very simple idea from Goldratt's "Beyond the Goal": "Technology is beneficial if and only if it diminishes a limitation."
Brantley says, "Sounds basic but it was a major epithany for me because this explains why the benefits from a new technology adoption are not usually realized. It is the old rules that limit the benefits because the organization still operates as if the limitation still exists. When you realize this, no wonder many technology solutions don't work."
Which got me to thinking, that I'm not sure it's the technology solution that doesn't work, but more the expectations or orientation of the users that doesn't work. I've been having a rant this week about the importance of strategic thinking. Of how important it is to keep the thinking aligned with your company's goals and to think beyond it to future outcomes and needs.
I think the diminishing limitations theory ought to become a standard for all technology projects. Many project teams think in terms of what they'll be able to do, but this statement made me think about the other side of that coin - In relation to what?
Applying this to implementing interactive marketing Web sites, for example, I thought about how technology advances have diminished limitations for both sides - company and user. Some of them are:
- The ability for business users to launch Web sites and create, manage and update content easily and quickly
- The ability to make valuable information quickly available to specific audiences and focus attention.
- The ability for site users to engage in authentic conversations and knowledge transfer about subjects important to them.
- The ability to pull mindshare instead of just push information people may not want.
- Collaboration with clients and partners and employees globally, in real time that delivers value to all participants.
The list can go on and on, but for each project, there should be specific limitations diminished that improve your company's abilty to meet its goals - faster, with more context, and less effort.
This example from Brantley's post is telling:
"Before MRP systems, companies would perform the calculations once-a-month because it could take two-to-three weeks to perform the calculations. Thanks to the MRP systems, calculations could be performed in a matter of days but organizations didn't realize the benefits BECAUSE THEY STILL ONLY RAN THE SYSTEM ONCE A MONTH. It was this adherence to a rule that no longer applied because the limitation was diminished that prevented companies from gaining benefits from the MRP systems."
What limitations have you not diminished because your processes haven't evolved along with your technology?
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