Dimitris Lyras

Better ways to use maps in digital transformation projects Dimitris Lyras

This book, written for digital project managers, explores better ways to use maps in planning projects, connecting all elements together so that you can see the budgets, schedules and risks, and then deliver the project. We explore why so many digital enterprise projects fail - with one of the biggest reasons being because there are so many different parts and people which need to come together. And people all look at what they are doing in different ways, with different sorts of objects relevant to them. One person's objects is not the same as another person's objects. If we are just dealing with human minds, this is a surmountable problem. The leaders of our ancient armies understood that their view of the world was different to the view of the world of their military leaders, their soldiers, their public, and they could make the system work. The same for everything else which people have done involving people with different goals, from running ships to schools. Or the relationship between a hairdresser and their customers. People all have different objects which are relevant to them and that doesn't cause any problem. If there is a common goal, such as winning the war, safe ships, good education, or an effective hairdressing service, people in different roles can see how their activities relate to that goal, and how their various objects and tasks in their work fit with it. People could talk about their work to another person and they would understand each other. But this does not work when we get computers involved, because computers do not understand goals and activities very well. What computers do understand well is objects. An object can fill a space in a database, or be comprised of a number of database objects (such as a schedule). But objects do not cross easily from one person to another, or one software system (designed for one person) to another.