Headless Replatforms Don't Have to Be "Business-Less": Where to Start?

Over the past year, I've spoken with many CTOs at large retailers with the same basic problem: their headless re-platform initiative is stuck in first gear. The most common symptom?

The lack of business involvement. 🤷♀️

Because there is no burning re-platform priority even felt by the business - it doesn't even cross their minds. If we were to use a car analogy, it's far more likely that the marketing and sales organizations want leather seats added to the car while the technology team would prefer to spend the year overhauling the engine.

Seems like a deadlock. 💥

My advice? Consensus-building is an essential first step toward successful change management in a situation like this.

1 - It needs to start with understanding the CEO and Board-level priorities for the business.

If the technology team is going to get buy-in, it will have to give to get.

If you are a public company, earnings call guidance and analyst questions provide a clue into the problems that are ailing the business. From there, it's a short step to conversations with the relevant business line leaders of those problems.

If you're owned by private equity, usually investors have some kind of Value Creation Plan (VCP) which functions as kind of a thesis as to why investors bought the business in the first place.

The technology team must gain an understanding of the deep-rooted business issues in the business, and use technology as a lever to transform those issues.

Not simply to "create a more flexible platform."

2 - Start Building a Requirements Document

The goal of this requirements document is to:

* Document the goals and challenges of the business as you understand them.

* Add to these business goals the technology underpinnings and deficiencies that relate to those goals.

* Add any additional structural technology issues.

If the technology team starts with clear documentation (it may need to be Powerpoint 🤣 ) and approaches the conversation on a "learning" footing, the business team is more likely to engage consistently.

3 - Find your Business Change Agents

Change is hard because it sometimes requires pain to make it happen. If everything is smooth, people are hitting their numbers and getting their bonuses,then no one will give Technology the time of day. Understanding the pain levers that move the business will at least get the right conversation with your business stakeholders.

4 - Sequencing Matters

You want to create a mix of business-focused projects, which you can use to bootstrap the long-term technology change you need to accelerate the business over time. As a technology organization, you can see the infrastructure problems well before the business can (it's too late then!). Speak clearly and consistently regarding hitting business goals and using technology to accelerate organizational innovation.