I have a confession to make. I absolutely love gadgets, and am drawn towards the novelty of shiny new tech products. I have been known to make purchases without really thinking through the practicality of the item I’m buying, which means I have a box full of tech products and gadgets that I rarely (if ever) use. There was a time when we had no fewer than three juicers in our house, which (as far as I am concerned) is three more than we’re ever going to need. Each of these products “seemed like a good idea at the time”, but were soon relegated to the depths of a dusty cupboard, never to be used again.

While most of the purchases I’m referring to here were small and inconsequential, a similar and more worrying pattern exists in organisations. Stakeholders often fall in love with the idea of a particular ‘solution’, long before an understanding of the context and the desired outcomes have been determined. If nobody has asked “why is change necessary” and “what benefits and outcomes are we seeking” then how on earth can we ever know whether the supposed “solution” will actually make things better? There’s a chance it’ll actually make things worse.

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