Solve Business Problems, Don’t Implement Software

Whenever I read, I’m always trying to mine “knowledge nuggets” for additions into my collection of business transformation guiding principles. Recently, while re-reading Tim’s Ferriss’ Tribe of Mentors, I stumbled upon what is one of my new favorite business quotes. It is a seemingly innocuous comment by Temple Grandin during an interview for the book. It goes as follows:

To me, the underlying belief behind her statement is that the solution to a problem is optimal when it reaches its most simple expression. If you subscribe to this belief then there’s definitely a business transformation guiding principle to be taken away:

All things being equal, the simplest solution to a problem should always be privileged.

Moreover, it’s important to note that simple doesn’t mean easy. In the end, you have requirements to meet. There’s another great quote by Einstein that illustrates this:

In the digital enterprise context, this means that any business problem that can be solved durably by a sustainable management approach (simple paper dashboard, business rule, business process, hierarchical change, etc.) should not be resolved using a new IT system / software implementation unless there is a critical reason to do so (regulatory, competitive advantage, etc.).

If you think this guiding principle takes things too far, let me try to convince you otherwise...

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