Highly skilled teams will repeatedly fail if the surrounding organizational structure—decision-making, governance, silos—is dysfunctional. The root cause of failure is often not the team's ability but systemic issues that must be addressed at a leadership level for anyone to succeed.
A product is a distinct 'thing' a customer uses, often with a clear boundary. A service is the complete, end-to-end relationship that helps a customer achieve a goal, encompassing all the technology, people, and processes involved. A service can contain multiple products.
Leaders often see transformation as risky while viewing current operations as a safe baseline. However, the status quo carries hidden costs and unaddressed risks. Acknowledging this is the first step toward meaningful change, as the perceived safe space is often an illusion.
To manage the constant stream of requests from the business, set up a formal triage function. This gatekeeper forces requesters to articulate the problem and desired outcome before work is considered, enabling more intelligent conversations about trade-offs and team capacity.
To cut through internal complexity, define what your company does as a simple verb from the customer's perspective (e.g., "getting support," "claiming an item"). This provides a clear, measurable, and customer-centric framework for evaluating all internal activities and investments.
Transformation doesn't always need a new business case. Large organizations already invest heavily in ongoing projects. The key is to analyze this existing portfolio, measure success differently, and steer current spending toward more impactful outcomes, starting with the cost of the status quo.
Instead of attempting a risky, organization-wide change, begin by focusing on one service area that cuts across multiple functions like tech, operations, and legal. This focused effort allows the organization to learn about its unique cultural barriers before scaling the transformation.
To rationalize a project portfolio, first define your organization's core services from a customer's viewpoint. Then, map every ongoing project and team to these services. This visual exercise immediately reveals where investment is clustered, where it's missing, and where efforts are being duplicated.