Friggin' 'ell, I'll just do it my way....
You ever implemented a shiny new system, only to find that within two weeks the precious spreadsheets are out in full force?
A new ERP. New warehouse systems. You've slogged your guts out process mapping, sold your soul to the steering committee, held endless workshops, and gone live with a fully business signed-off system. NICE!
Hold on... what's that? You've heard that the spreadsheet that's been around since 1996 has come back to life like some kind of excel zombie... you can't kill it, you don't know where it came from, and somehow it's still more trusted than the new system! Or maybe the users have found ways to work around the new processes you worked so hard to establish. The to-be was never to-be.
I wrote a 15,000 word dissertation on exactly that (yes, slight flex there, but shh don't mention it), and I had to create my own word for it because nothing quite fit.
Frigability
It means how easy it is for people to "frig" the system, going straight back to old ways of working, and either bypass, or work around it altogether.
And it turns out, it's not actually the teams being awkward, it's not a training problem, whatever the project plan says.
It's because nobody redesigned the actual process before they bought the shiny new system.
High frigability - you built a lovely system on top of an absolutely battered business process, and everyone is quietly working around it.
Low frigability - you fixed the process first, so the system actually makes people's lives easier, so they use it.
Have a think about it... every time someone says... "oh we'll need to ask Mark in the warehouse, he'll know", you've likely got an excel zombie in your midst... as well as a system that hasn't landed.
Where in the world
Last night was hot. Too hot! So it's 5am and I'm in the garden cooling down. Keep safe out there, drink plenty of water, and get the factor 30 on!
Currently listening to...
This has been living in my head rent free all week... here, you have it too. Good luck with the ear worm!!
What I’ll leave you with
As my grandad says… if you can’t Tech It Forward…. you can Tech It Back!
Have a great day,
Liz