A Message for Web Professionals

“The people farthest from understanding the technology are often the ones making the strategic decisions.”
— Dennis Kardys

Here’s the thing. You may have paid for this book, but the chances are it is not primarily written for you. Sorry about that.

My guess is that if you bought this book, you are a web professional. You are frustrated with your organization and want to know how to change it. You are looking for some silver bullet that will allow you to transform your business, or at least make sure senior management starts taking digital seriously.

Unfortunately, as I am sure you know deep down, there is no such silver bullet. Adapting an organization for the digital economy and ensuring digital lies at the heart of your business’s thinking is not the kind of thing that has a magic solution. It takes time, energy, and a fundamental transformation in organizational DNA. In fact, I wouldn’t blame you for feeling utterly miserable at the thought of it all.

When I decided to write this book I found myself in a quandary. Should I write a book aimed at web professionals (despite the fact they can only make some of the changes required themselves), or do I write a book for senior managers, who would likely never hear about it, let alone read it?

In the end I settled on a middle path. This is a book written primarily for you as web professionals. A book you can quote to senior management and one that will inspire you that change is possible.

Your job is to take the concepts covered in this book and put them in front of senior management. That might involve encouraging them to read the book themselves, presenting plans based on my suggestions, or simply quoting from it.

Whatever you do, don’t read this book and get frustrated that senior management don’t know this stuff. It is your job to educate them and hopefully this book will give you the arguments to do so.

One tool that I would like to share with you is a short video presentation that can be shown to senior management. It is only a few minutes long and is designed to raise their interest in digital. You can watch it at http://www.digital-adaptation.com.

Finally, in order to ensure that you don’t go away thinking it takes senior management to make all the changes, the last chapter focuses on what you can do yourself. I share some thoughts about things you can do without the need for senior management buy-in. You will be surprised — it is perfectly possible to plant the seeds of digital adaptation with very little power.