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Who's Driving This Thing Anyway? Don't Let Technology Steer the Ship

by Marianne Calilhanna    Dec 2002

No matter what promise technology makes, "empowering people to work more efficiently" inevitably brings some new degree of complexity for users. Remember that first batch of SGML-flavored Kool-Aid and how it was going to streamline the production process and decrease time to market? And why do publishers still struggle with automated multichannel publishing when XML tools are in their third and fourth versions? Why do some publishers still convert to XML on the back end after print production? The simple and often overlooked answer is that computers and systems are much easier to manipulate than people are.

Sometimes the excitement over new technologies may lead many organizations to force feed their employees. Defining your organization's primary objective then letting processes and supporting technologies attain that goal not only achieves greater success but places people and their goals in the driver's seat, not the latest technology. In other words, process and organizational change should drive technology rather than the other way around.

Exactly how people are organized and work together is harder to understand and systematize than the technology itself. Companies often overlook this fact or underestimate the importance of organizational culture when implementing new systems.

It's natural to expect a learning curve when shifting to new technology or new tool sets. Anticipating how that learning curve affects workflow and production is one of the tenets of change management. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a leading international publisher of professional health information for physicians, nurses, specialized clinicians and students, has acknowledged and embraced the organic nature of technologic change in publishing and even devoted full-time staff to spearhead and assist with the human element—The Business Process Reengineering Group. Mike Sherlock, Director Business Process Reengineering Group, explained, "Our mission is not only to support new technology used in the publishing process but also to educate users so they recognize the business drivers that mandate technologic change. When users clearly see the big picture, they are less resistant to change. Reengineering is really about improvement but it doesn't always feel that way."

The American College of Physicians-American Society of Internal Medicine (ACP-ASIM) is the nation's largest medical specialty society. The College publishes journals and books and provides timely information to its 115,000 members via its web site. Providing accurate and timely content to its members is one of the many services ACP-ASIM provides.

Today, ACP-ASIM is embarking on an enterprise-wide content management initiative. Linda Drumheller, Director of Editorial Production, is leading the technologic and organizational change. Early on, it was recognized that simply touting the glories of XML was too frightening to editors. ACP-ASIM decided to upgrade the staff one at a time and revise just those tasks required to get their work complete in the new environment. They discovered "implementing XML up the workflow" was most effective for their environment. Linda explained, "We are now midway through the XML transformation, and each product is at a different stage of implementation, that is, the point in the workflow at which Word is transformed to XML varies from one product to another. At no time has the implementation been disruptive, no editorial deadlines were missed, and the transitions went smoothly, almost as non-events. As a result, among all else, our editors who are migrating over to the new environment are learning from other editors who have paved the way, and this has built up their confidence and made what we're doing not seem so foreign to them. No one seems to be threatened any more."

Additionally, having a champion and cheerleader for, and real-life experience with, the coming technologies has provided encouragement, direction, and reassurance to the staff and has allowed them to drive towards a known goal rather than an unknown one.

It is easy to minimalize the effect new processes and technologies have on the people working with them. After all, one of the objects of change is to make life easier. When updating systems in your enterprise expect to:

• let business drivers mandate change
• involve your enterprise in an organic, iterative, and collaborative process for managing content
• justify the additional responsibility by detailing the payback
• hold users hands while shifting to new tool sets
• always need people no matter how advanced your technology

We invite you to share your experiences, both successful and challenging, managing the human element of change. Remember, you are driving the technologic revolution not simply going along for a ride.