APM Adoption & Decision Processes
Before asking people to adopt APM, make its purpose unmistakable.
An APM platform can be implemented successfully and still leave the organization asking why people do not use it. That question deserves attention. So does an earlier one: which business result was the investment meant to improve, and how was the platform expected to change the decisions and work that produce it?
A persuasive demonstration can show what a system is capable of. Establishing what the organization needs from it is a leadership decision. It requires translating business objectives into specific asset decisions, accountable processes and results that can be tested in operation.
Culture reveals whether that connection has taken hold. People respond to the priorities leaders sustain, the decisions they are empowered to make and the outcomes for which they are accountable. When those conditions are absent, an adoption campaign cannot create them. Culture will eat the technology strategy for breakfast.
That is a useful place to begin, even when APM is already in place. Anábasis works with leadership and the people responsible for execution to clarify the result sought, examine what stands between the platform and that result, and establish a decision process the organization can sustain.
The governing question
What should APM help your organization decide?
When the platform is already there
Recover the purpose. Then test the obstacles.
Low usage can have several causes. The intended business outcome may never have been translated into work people recognize.
Decision rights or skills may be missing. Data may be unfit for the decision. A cumbersome interface may make a sound process difficult to execute.
These possibilities should be investigated, not assumed. We revisit the original business case with leadership, follow a consequential decision through the work process and listen to the people expected to carry it out. That reveals whether the response calls for a clearer objective, a change in how work is governed, better evidence, or a change to the platform itself.
From objective to action
Make every handoff challengeable.
The platform earns its place by supporting a chain of decisions and actions that can be explained and tested.
Define the objective
State the objective, its timeframe, the acceptable risk and the consequence of falling short. Translate a headline target into conditions the operation would actually have to meet.
Identify the choice
Determine which asset decisions could materially influence that result. Examine the relevant functions, failure or risk scenarios, available evidence and alternatives before selecting a method.
Assign the work
Define the tasks, owners, decision rights and skills required to act on the evidence. Build the process at business level first; then determine where software should support it.
Enable the process
Align the platform’s data, relationships and workflows with that process. Address usability and configuration obstacles that prevent people from carrying out consequential work.
Test the outcome
Follow decisions into execution and compare outcomes with an agreed baseline. Challenge attribution and uncertainty before claiming value.
What to measure
Usage tells us something. It does not tell us enough.
A login, a completed record or a dashboard view may show activity. We also need to know whether the underlying work was sound and whether it changed anything that matters.
Process evidence
Are the relevant asset functions, scenarios, consequences, actions and owners visibly connected to the business objective?
Decision evidence
Were assumptions tested, alternatives considered and actions implemented by the people accountable for them?
Business evidence
Did performance, risk or loss change as expected? What portion of that change can credibly be attributed to the intervention?
Avoided Lost Production Opportunity may provide one measure of value. The baseline, causal reasoning and uncertainty must be explicit. A projected saving is not yet a verified result.
The work product
A decision process the organization can sustain.
The specific scope follows the business problem. The aim is for the organization to understand why the work matters, carry it out and test its result. Sustained use of APM can then follow from the value of the work it enables.
- A visible line of sight from organizational objectives to asset decisions, actions and outcomes.
- Business-level work processes with defined roles, skills, handoffs and decision rights.
- APM structures and workflows aligned with those processes.
- Measures of process quality, decision execution and operational results.
- Explicit findings on evidence, usability and organizational capability.
- A value assessment with an agreed baseline, attribution logic and limitations.
Results as a Service
Accountability belongs in the result.
We begin with the decision, the available evidence and a result that can be tested against an agreed baseline. The scope, verification method and commercial conditions are established together.
Bring a platform whose value is unclear, a workflow people avoid or an asset decision that should produce a measurable result. We will examine what stands between the current situation and that result—and what it would take to close the gap.
Discuss an APM decision →