Check whether you are ready to roll out
Most rollouts that fail do not fail on the software. They fail because nobody owned what got published and no rule was written down. This names what is missing, and can tell you to wait.
2 of 5 people in place, 0 of 5 decisions written down.
Not yet — and the software is not the reason.
- No executive sponsor. Sets priorities and settles what counts as company-wide.
- No communications owner. Holds the calendar of company-wide messages and owns the governance rules.
Put those in place and a rollout works. Skip them and it will not, whatever you buy.
Nearly. The people everything answers to are named.
2 of 5 people in place. A rollout needs all but one of them, or an area of it has nobody keeping it current.
0 of 3 decisions written down. Until they are, everyone can send everything to everyone — which is how people learn to ignore it.
Ready. The people are named and the rules are written down.
That is the half of a rollout nobody sells you, and it is the half that decides whether anyone uses what you bought.
A customer success manager, a product manager and a technical account manager come with the subscription, and setting this up with you is their first job. Not having it yet is a reason to talk, not a reason to wait.
What this arithmetic ignores
- It asks whether these exist, not whether they are any good. A sponsor who never turns up is a box ticked and a rollout in trouble.
- None of these is a full-time job. If the answer is no because nobody has the time, the answer is still no.
- A rollout team comes with the subscription — a customer success manager, a product manager and a technical account manager — and setting this structure up with you is their first job. Not having it yet is a reason to talk, not a reason to wait.
- Nothing here is about the software. Every one of these would be true of any platform you bought.
What does one platform return in a year? What does another year of deciding cost?
Missing one of these?
That is the half of a rollout nobody sells you. Tell us which one and we will say how other teams covered it.