Idea Ripper // ArchiveCards: 1555 [Live] | Updated: 2026-10-14
Card #c1303IR // #c1303Synthesis

"Instead, ask yourself, “How will this initiative make life easier for the actual people who have to use it?”" "It actually creates failure – expensive failure."

— In our words · Source: Digital Impact (Steve Lucas)

[Use when]

You're approving a technology project justified by the system rather than the user.

[Why it matters]

Larry Quinlan, Deloitte's former global CIO, says the implementations that succeeded were the ones tightly tied to the people using them. Digital for its own sake gets redone, delayed and abandoned, and careers stall with it.

More from Digital Impact

#c1300"“We’ve learned to bite off smaller pieces with our integrations, get them working well, and then expand." "When they ask for a car, they…You're building something large for non-technical stakeholders who need to see progress. #c1301"“Previously, we were built for large-scale project implementations. We’d take three to five years and roll them out only when they were as…Your team holds releases until they're nearly perfect and projects take years. #c1302"They want to pick up the phone because that might be their weekly conversation with somebody." "Efficiency isn’t always the right measure…You're automating away a customer touchpoint and measuring only time saved.

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