Customization: The Real Resistance to Change

What? Customization and configurability are a resistance to change? Surely Stacey has finally lost his mind……or has he??

For years we have had to put up with an out of date enterprise that resisted change and was difficult to achieve the organization success required to drive into the future. From the multitude of systems, to the tight coupling, to the legacy code and the millions of band-aid work processes we have been hog tied from success.

We craved a new way, we yearned for some light at the end of this 20-year tunnel – the answer – to have truly customizable systems, systems that can be changed with ease that can grow with the organization and breath life back into the enterprise. The technology was here, the vendors had listened and all of a sudden the shining light was there – many scoffed that they would not hold up to the old systems in terms of power or ability but the test seemed to show otherwise. The new, bright and shiny systems with their orchestrations and configurations were just – well – shiny – too shiny to ignore…

….and rightly so. The newer breed of technology and vendor has finally given us an out, all we needed to do was embrace them.

So what did we do? We did what anyone does with a perceived set of lego blocks, we threw the user manual away and said “Let’s build this! Something I know and love, something I know how to build” – before we knew it, Carriers were embarking on a journey of taking the shiny new system and re-creating the wheel. When asked “Why does it need to be that way?” the answer would be “That is how we do it” – Then comes the worst part of it……no one could say no.

Carrier hired vendor, vendor said “Try the base”, Carrier said “No, we want it to look like this” – a small scuffle ensued and the Vendor realized the Carrier has the last word and they need to ensure the sale… Where was realistic voice? The “Hey, I have been down that road and you are wasting your money” voice? Well it was here but no one wanted to listen… THEN.

So here we are 2018 and still we see us shackled, shackled by the Qtr Century club that have done the same task the same way for 25+ years and struggle with the vision of a totally different future. We still need to see “IT ALL” to accept the “immediate”. 

Customization has become the Mother of all Resistance – because we feel it is “easy” to change the new system, we do so without a real feel for what we are changing.  Most large system replacements start with a core or subset of the enterprise, so why not use that to assess what really needs to change, what the system can do.

Our core thinking needs to change, our change agents need to be at the forefront – I challenge all of you to consider taking a new system replacement, have the vendor implement it out of the box and try it – just try it. Make the required configurations to get you to Day 2 and move on… Let the system prove to you its worth before you go ahead and make it into your old system.

Am I saying “zero configuration” is the way to go – nope, not practical – BUT it should be the GOAL.