Stop Letting Technology Lead the Dance: Strategy First!

Today, everything is digital, or can be digitized. Technical experts are highly sought after, and we need their expertise in large numbers to complete all projects. Stronger, faster, further! 💪

However, projects are often approached from a technical perspective: what architecture? Which cloud provider? What product to use? What are the best practices currently? Whereas for successful projects, the technical aspect should be secondary.

Anecdote: When I used to ride motorcycles on the track, I spent time searching for the best tires available. But in reality, with my level of riding, I was far from reaching the limits; any tire would have sufficed!

There are so many technical solutions on the market, all more flexible and agile than the others, that there are often plenty of possibilities to address a problem. Most of the time, there won’t be any real blocking points in this regard.

And more importantly, we must not forget that a technical team, no matter how sharp, needs a clear vision, to know the strategic objectives, to understand the business challenges, and the problems to be solved. Technical implementation is there to bring value to the business and support the company’s strategy; it is not an end in itself.

Without a clear starting framework, the project could become a technological showcase without a real guiding thread. Beyond not being a profitable investment, it could even end up undermining the company’s strategy. Most of the time, much more value can be obtained with a first version that is technically basic but more aligned with business needs.

So why this lack of strategic vision in projects?

There often seems to be a missing transmission belt between executives and projects. We lack visionaries, leaders with strong convictions, managers ready to take risks and make decisions quickly. The layering of hierarchical levels often contributes to diluting responsibilities and, ultimately, the capacity for action. Unfortunately, a weak consensus is not enough to effectively guide a project.

Technical expertise is necessary to carry out quality projects and be able to sustain them over time; this is indisputable. But we must not underestimate the value that a profile that is less technical but more strategic can bring. A profile that can collect strategic objectives, understand daily business operations, identify obstacles or pain points, and transform them into a clear and pragmatic vision that can then be shared.

If the technical strength is then well utilized, in alignment with this type of vision, the difference in value creation will be considerable! 🚀

Initialement publié sur Medium.