The challenges in implementing digital change

The new Central Digital and Data Office, along with the Government Digital Service and the Cabinet Office, should work to provide clear leadership for this agenda, in particular: a) revise existing training programmes to better equip and train all decision?makers with responsibility for digital transformation programmes. This should include education on legacy systems, the importance of data and the risks of ‘build before buy’ and of opting for unproven technology;

b) work with HM Treasury to review existing business case funding and approval processes for digital programmes to: remove the incentives to state with full confidence those things which are still unknown; ensure that uncertainties associated with assumptions are made clear, together with when these uncertainties will be better understood; understand what the final product should look like, and the path to get there; be clear on what risks represent ‘unknown unknowns’; and ensure professional independent technical assurance mechanisms are in place, to support those responsible for approving programmes; and

c) disseminate and apply lessons learned from the successes and failures of the past and seek to understand why digital strategies have made poor progress.

Individual departments and public bodies should: d) carry out proper evaluation and assurance in the early stages of a digital programme to understand its complexity and scope, assess how realistic the chance of success is and reflect this in the programme approach;

e) ensure senior digital, data and technology colleagues have wider influence on all change programmes with digital components, by providing strategic direction and oversight at key decision points in the process;

f) strengthen their intelligent client function for digital change including identifying and developing key requirements before tenders and bid processes commence and taking the lead on supplier engagement;

g) maximise the chances of effective digital delivery by ensuring that business leaders have sufficient skills, commitment and time to engage in all aspects of governance and decision-making;

h) produce departmental strategies and plans for how to manage the legacy IT estate so that maintenance, support and decommissioning are systematically addressed and required funding is ringfenced; and

i) ensure that agile principles and approaches are appropriately applied within the context of significant business programme change, for example by developing interim and target operating models, and having appropriate business and technical architecture in place.