When I was a Chief Information Officer, I would encounter a senior member of the medical, nursing, or administrative staff who would excitedly tell me, “I just got back from a conference. I saw a demo of the Gorbal 5000 computer system! Unbelievable! It saves lives, reduces costs, improves patient experience, and mows lawns. We need to implement it here! It would transform us!”
I would think, “I need this system like a hole in the head. I have to kill this idea but because this person is an important person, I must do so in a way that makes it look like I am being supportive.”
So, I would say, “Sounds very exciting. Given the importance of this project, we should go through the following steps.”
Step 1. Form a committee of senior leadership and board members to guide us. A project this important requires the very highest level of organizational attention. It will take months to schedule meetings.
Step 2. Write a mission statement. All important projects need a mission statement. Make sure that some of the committee members will fight to the death over each adjective. It will take months to get a consensus on a final mission statement
Step 3. Perform an exhaustive review of the literature and experiences of others. To ensure that the organization is fully informed, give the committee 100 articles to review. Each article will require discussion lasting one entire meeting.
Step 4. Obtain the guidance of subject matter experts. Hire two knowledgeable consultants to advise the committee. Vet them to make sure they violently disagree with each other. The resulting committee’s confusion will take months to resolve.
Step 5. Make site visits. The committee should visit at least six sites to see firsthand the experiences of others. Given the prior commitments of the high-level committee members, these visits will take months to schedule.
Step 6. Prepare a comprehensive budget that fully allocates overhead and accounts for staff time and costs. The resulting price tag will terrify the committee and make a return on the investment seem impossible.
Step 7. Prepare a risk analysis of the project. Cover all possible risks, e.g. asteroid strikes and the sun running out of fuel. This long list will further terrify the committee.
Performing steps 1 through 7 correctly takes at least two years. Usually, the proponent will have given up and moved onto some other distraction. Often technology progress will have assigned the Gorbal 5000 to the dustbin of yesterday’s technologies. If the proponent is still hanging in there, you should be prepared for the following dialogue.
Proponent: The process has been great. Very thorough, although it certainly took a long time. Now what do we do?
You: We were certainly diligent. Now we need to put together a Request for Proposal to see what the market has to offer.
Proponent; Sounds right. How do we go about that?
You: First thing we do is put together a large august committee.
And you repeat steps 1 through 7.