Technical expertise matters. But transformation doesn't happen without your people.
When you're hiring someone to lead a significant technology transformation, much of the focus will naturally be on whether they've done it before.
You need that technical experience. But I'd want to understand something else just as thoroughly: how they've worked with the people already in the business.
Transformation rarely starts with a blank sheet of paper. There's an existing platform, customers relying on it and a team who may have spent years building and supporting it.
You need to understand what you're changing
Quite a few years ago, I recruited a development leader into a technology business that needed to make significant changes to its platform.
He had the technical experience and was keen to make an impact. Within a relatively short period, he'd met with heads of department and was talking confidently about the changes he intended to make.
Many of those changes may well have been right.
The problem was that he gave very little recognition to why the platform had been built in the way it had. The people around him had been involved in those decisions and had spent years making it work.
Some became defensive. Instead of looking at where the platform needed to go next, they found themselves explaining why previous decisions had been made.
He'd started to alienate some of the very people whose knowledge, trust and support he needed.
That doesn't mean a new technology leader shouldn't challenge what already exists. They've been brought in to make a difference. But they also need to understand the environment they're changing and how to influence people when they don't necessarily have the authority to simply tell them what to do.
What does their transformation experience actually tell you?
When I'm recruiting somebody to lead significant technology change, of course I want evidence that they've done something comparable before.
If you're re-platforming, migrating to the cloud or changing how your product is built and delivered, technical experience matters.
But “I've led a cloud migration” only tells you so much.
Two candidates can have delivered very similar transformations in completely different circumstances. One may have had a substantial budget, specialist resources and a large transformation team. Another may have done it within a 50-person SaaS business where the existing platform still needed to run, customers still needed supporting and the people around them had years invested in what was already there.
I'm interested in how they operated in that environment, not simply what appeared on the project plan.
How did they bring people with them?
Someone brought in to lead transformation needs enough confidence to challenge what already exists. But I'd also listen carefully to how they talk about the people and decisions they inherited in previous roles.
Did they spend time understanding why things worked as they did? What happened when experienced people disagreed with them? How did they build support for an unpopular decision? And when did listening to the existing team cause them to change their own mind?
You're not looking for somebody who needs everyone's permission. You're looking for somebody who can make difficult decisions and retain the trust of the people they need to deliver them.
Technical expertise matters. But transformation doesn't happen without your people.
Understanding how somebody got people behind change can tell you far more than simply knowing they've delivered the technology before.
Here when you need me,
Debbie
