Awesome
Second central system effect
In the past there was the Second system effect:
The second-system effect is the tendency of small, elegant, and successful systems to be succeeded by over-engineered, bloated systems, due to inflated expectations and overconfidence
In the past, a lot of second systems failed because of over-engineering.
But time has changed. Fewer systems get developed from scratch these days. There is now a different effect.
What does the "second central system" mean? If you have a close look at these three terms, then you see something is strange. "Central system" suggests that there is exactly one central system. But "second"?
In this context, I speak about systems in the intranet of a company. Examples: Document management systems, Content management systems, Customer relationship management systems, Issue tracking systems, Collaborative software, Wiki systems...
It does not apply 100% to ERP system system, since they get replaced less often.
Let's provide some examples of non-ERP "central systems": Sharepoint, Jira, Confluence, Zendesk, Redmine, YouTrack, Gitlab, DokuWiki, XWiki, Slack, ...
If one of the above tools gets used for some years, then no employee loves these systems because they tend to be full of outdated information.
If a new system gets introduced, the second central system effect gives you a new working tool and this feels like a great relief. Everything is shiny, new, crips. No bloat, no outdated content.
Everybody is excited and everybody loves the new baby.
But why do people love the new baby?
Because of the great features?
I disagree.
The new system feels faster because it contains less information. It feels lightweight and easy to use since only new and valid information is visible.
Don't get fooled by your feelings.
You just start again from scratch. That's what gives you a feeling of relief.
Imagine that you up to now use a tool called "Boring247".
This system gets used for 8 years and most data is outdated.
Now a talented salesman presents you "Shiny365". You are excited it is soooo great, this new tool.
Don't get fooled by your feelings.
You could just start from scratch with Boring247.
What feels great is "starting from scratch".
The system which you use for your central system does not matter much.
If you choose the shiny new tool: Now you loose one very important aspect.
Now there are two central systems. This is a contradiction.
Now information is scattered and things get worse, although it feels good today. Employees need to look up in two systems: the old one and the new one. You think the old system won't be used anymore if the new system arrives? If you don't have a clear strategy here, you will have some hardliners in your company which refuse to use the new systems. Don't be surprised that there are hardliners who want to keep the old systems. It is likely that during the euphoria phase you just not heard their opinion. You only heard the "hurray" from the over-motivated group.
Of course, the above text simplifies a lot of things and usually there are good reasons for new systems. They have often new features and a simpler user experience.
I know this sounds disrespectful, nevertheless, I will use this word: Childish. I have seen this childish joy about new systems several times. And then some years later, the once shiny new thing is a bloated beast which contains a lot of (today) irrelevant information.
That's live.
Example: From email to internal chat.
People complain, that they get too many mails, and that email is more distracting than helpful.
Then they switch from email to an internal chat (for example slack)
Wow, that's great (at the beginning). Only relevant information is in chat. No distraction any more.
Some days pass.
Then people discover that you can send animated gifs. Isn't it great? Some love it, for some (like me) it is plain useless and distracting.
Wow, there is even a very cool feature: You have bots. And these bots can send reminders ...
Sooner or later you get more flashing and distracting chat messages than you got emails in the past.
Example: From Sharepoint to ...
There so many alternatives to Sharepoint, and at least I don't see that the bandwagen effect has already settled to one prominent alternative. I will use Foo has imaginary alternative.
It is hard to find relevant information in your current intranet?
Then you search for alternatives.
I think Foo is the right tool. It has nice features ....
Example: From Jive to ...
same as above.
Example: From SAP to ...
This is a change which most people avoid up to now.
In this context (ERP), people know that you must have only one system, and not two.
Dirty Content vs Dirty Container
With "container" I mean the software you work with. With "content" I mean the content you and your collegues create.
People tend to blame the container if the content is dirty. Of course there are shiny new containers which have some features, which the current container does not have. But the beauty of the new container is its clean survace. Why is the new container so beautiful? It contains no outdated content. Be aware that, although you think you are rational thinking being, you (like every human) get fooled by your own non-rational instinct easily. It is almost impossible to distinguish between a dirty container and dirty content.
Alternatives?
Which alternatives exist?
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you can start from scratch with your old system. Just delete everything which was not touched for X months. Choose the variable X.
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Build a clean-up task-force. A small team should care for outdated information.
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Before choosing a new system, set up a prototype of the new system and load all the old data into the new system. Then compare the features: Is the new system still fast and easy to use?