Technology Impact

Technology changes can vary from a small desktop application change to massive building of a new manufacturing plant.  The scope of the planning and the amount of time it will take to make the change will be dependent on how big the technology effort is.Changes to people and process are a bit “softer” and can be planned and managed differently than technology.  Recognize how long it’s really going to take to make a technology change -- the physical aspects of this type of change may require more time than you expect, but when the technology solution is an integrated part of your future vision and you can’t get there without it, you’ll need to wait until it can be ready.Consider if you will be able to continue your current operations with the old technology until the new technology is ready.  If you can, then you’ll need to plan for a quick cutover and dismantling of the old later.When you can’t continue with the old because it has to be dismantled first to make way for the new, then you’ll have to have a plan for what the transition time period looks like.  Do you shut down the plant for a week and send everybody on vacation while the changes are applied?  Do you need to build an interim site that can keep the lights on temporarily and keep you producing products and services?  Do you need to stockpile inventory to handle customer orders during the outage?Seeing tangible and visible progress on a technology change can really generate excitement and, in a way, the technology itself can be one of your change agents!