Overcoming the ‘messy middle’ in tech innovation

Deploying new technology initiatives can be an onerous task, but a shift in mindset can help equipment executives overcome hurdles to see projects to fruition.

Transformative change at any organization is often accompanied by a “messy middle” where expectations don’t align with reality, Deborah Reuben, founder and chief executive of consulting firm TomorrowZone said during the recent Equipment Leasing and Finance Association (ELFA) Innovation Roundtable.

“If you’ve ever been through any kind of a transformative change, whether you’re just implementing a new kind of software, you’re adopting a new process,” Reuben said. “You have a current state, where you’re starting, [and] you’ve got this imagined future state. The target, it’s a new thing. It’s a transformed way of doing business. It should look nothing like what you had before. … That new way doesn’t come into view instantly. It’s messy.”

Equipment Real equipment and software investment growth is projected to be 2.2% in 2024 following a “sluggish” 0.5% annualized growth rate in Q3 2023, according to the ELFA. By comparison, equipment and software development grew at a 7% annualized rate in Q2 2023.

A new tech implementation initiative can come with complex interconnected and interdependent processes that pose unexpected headwinds, and conflict with expectations of how the rollout should go, Reuben said.

“Often, we’re planning [transformation projects] as if we can know everything upfront. And that gets us in trouble,” she said.

The messy middle

The messy middle usually appears in the building phase of the initiative following the needs-analysis phase, Reuben said. “That’s when the uncertainty creeps in. That’s when disagreements start to happen … because you’re continually learning as your context is changing.”

Decision makers should embrace this period as a necessary step in fully flushing out the product or solution, she said.

“When you’re going through that messy middle in the initiative, one of the things that is often diminished or not given enough attention or not focused on is just how much learning has to happen to go from that current state to that new future state,” Reuben said.

Considering the messy middle as a progression rather than a hindrance can help executives overcome mental hurdles to tech innovation.

“That’s a natural thing,” she said. “It happens because you’re learning more about what you really need. Because what you thought you needed was an assumption based on what you knew at the time.”

Registration is now open for Equipment Finance Connect, the nation’s only dealer-centric equipment lending and leasing event, which will take place May 5-7 in Nashville, Tenn. Learn about the event and free dealer registration at EquipmentFinanceConnect.com.