I get inquiries all the time from people seeking support as they ready to tackle what sound like fairly specific records and information governance issues. Lately, these types of inquiries have fallen into these three general areas:
- Getting rid of paper
- Moving to the cloud
- Preparing for AI
These descriptors – which we’ll use throughout the broader manifesto of which this is but the first part – definitely serve as decent jumping-off points (compared to, say, the also-common “we know we need to do something, but we’re not sure where to start” variety). But it may surprise you to hear that when it comes right down to it, they are still too broad to take us very far.
For us to be maximally successful, we need to dive deeper by tying what we are trying to do to compelling organizational initiatives. In practical terms, this means articulating as clear an answer as possible to one critical question:
“What business problem are you trying to solve?”
Take another look and you’ll see that the three examples just listed aren’t business problems at all. They may be potential or partial solutions, but we can’t really even know that until we take another vital step.
Focus on the “Why”
Happily, that step is a simple one, or at least, it sounds like one: to relentlessly ask “Why?”
- Why do we need to get rid of paper?
- Why are we moving to the cloud?
- Why are we preparing to use AI?
Or put another way, keep asking this: What pains are we experiencing that have led us to think we have to do these things? Only after we’ve answered this can we begin to get serious about what we’re doing – and start to be taken seriously by those we’re doing it for.