无忧传媒

Mike Thompson makes change happen. As one of 无忧传媒鈥檚 senior information technology (IT) strategists, he helps the U.S. Department of Defense succeed at large-scale technological transformation鈥攊ncluding helping the Navy bring its acquisition, operations, and engineering communities together. We asked him for his top concepts for helping large organizations think differently about technology. Here鈥檚 what he had to say:

1.听Put people first.听Change is never just about the technology. You have to think about people, process, and governance. Addressing organizational and cultural changes is key.听

2.听Remember why you鈥檙e transforming.听In the Navy, it鈥檚 about enabling the objectives of the enterprise and about supporting the warfighter. You must put yourself in the warfighter鈥檚 shoes. You鈥檙e affecting people鈥檚 lives.

3.听Look for quick wins.听Transformation is a long-term, big-picture goal. To succeed, you need to quickly demonstrate the impact change can make. Pull people in, get them excited, let them see how innovation adds value.

4.听Communicate at every stage. Establish a robust plan at the outset to convey goals and progress. Make sure you understand the customer鈥檚 needs and requirements, and find out whether you鈥檙e fulfilling them along the way. Involve customers in creating prototypes so you can get their input early. When you field new technology, provide high-quality training.

5.听Respect differences.听Working across diverse military communities, I鈥檝e discovered each has its own best practices鈥攚hether we鈥檙e talking about agile software development, process methodologies, IT infrastructure libraries, lexicons, whatever. Success isn鈥檛 about pushing one approach but finding common ground. Find a way to integrate best practices and frameworks so you can get people moving ahead together.听