History tells us that technology hype cycles will make many
promises but all-too-often fail to deliver on them, within business
realities that they were built for.
Generative AI could be a recent case in point, but glancing over
its shoulder also reveals a range of earlier technological business
twists and turns that still have leaders at major retailers tangled
in pursuit of the business value they crave.
One of those that I see today is less about the tech itself and
more the people that surround it.
Large retail brands have seized upon Agile and other working
principles and practices borne out of software development –
such as Scrum team collaboration structures and SAFe (Scaled Agile
Frameworks) – to extrapolate maximum efficiency and
effectiveness from their digital transformation pursuits. Having
gazed enviously from the window of corporate headquarters at the
flexibility and speed to results of their ankle-biting
“digital native” competitor set, many have
