Gravitational Lensing in Digital Transformation

/A

Martijn Veldkamp

/A

March 29, 2024

I love when I am walking the dog and different words or concepts mesh together and give me a new way to think about my experiences as an architect and consultant.

With digital transformation, organizations are traversing through a cosmic landscape where familiar landmarks seem to shift and/or warp under the influence of all these connecting problems. (I think in images and I immediately saw Eater of Worlds in the Silver Surfer comic) Do we first need to start with full customer journeys? Do we align our organization across value streams? How do we make the teams more indepedent? Where do I split the teams? What kind of hand-over moments am I actually creating? How does my governance actually look like? What kind of mandate do I give the teams? What is my Target Operating Model? etc

Celestial Body

Mandatory Spotify link

Imagine your organization as a celestial body, bound by all these invisible forces and connective tissues that tether you to your current state.

Gravitational lensing – a phenomenon in astrophysics where the gravitational pull of massive objects bends light, distorting space and time. In the organizational context, this distortion manifests as a warped view of challenges and opportunities. Stakeholders may find themselves trapped within their gravitational field of familiar routines and paradigms, unable to see beyond the immediate vicinity of their current operations.

Basically, your perception of the actual organizational challenges is distorted by the gravitational lensing of the current problem you are having.

Connective tissue

Connective tissue, within the context of organizational dynamics, represents the intricate network of people and their relationships, processes, and systems that hold an organization together. So not the biological tissues, although I studied Biochemistry a couple of decades ago, and these type of tissues are very interesting. Anywho…

These connections, though intangible, are vital for the functioning of the whole. However, during times of change, they can become both a lifeline and a hindrance. During the start of Digital transformation, these connective tissues are pulled and stretched, sometimes to their limits, revealing vulnerabilities and bottlenecks previously concealed.

Digital transformation initiatives are at risk

Just as a celestial body warps the space around it, so too does the entrenched mindset of an organization warp its ability to perceive and respond to change. Digital transformation initiatives often falter not just because of a lack of resources and or technology but because of the gravitational pull of the status quo.

Like light struggling to escape the pull of a black hole, innovative ideas and disruptive strategies may find themselves trapped in the gravitational well of resistance to change. Cue but we always do it like this…

These gravitational forces don’t act in isolation. They interact with the connective tissues of the organization, pulling them into the problem space. With every change you bring you have to be mindful of these invisible forces that shape the organizational landscape. Disconnects between departments, resistance from middle management, and ingrained cultural norms can all contribute to the overall inertia, making it challenging to chart a course towards digital transformation.

So, how can organizations break free from the gravitational lensing effect and strengthen their connective tissues in the face of change? It’s not merely about adopting new technologies or processes but about fundamentally reshaping the way we think and operate in a rapidly evolving world.

Navigating change requires an understanding of the complex interplay between connective tissue and gravitational lensing within organizations. By recognizing the gravitational forces that distort our perception of reality and the connective tissues that hold us together, organizations can start experimenting with their digital transformation