There was/is a recognised skills issue in change roles, such as business analysts, product managers, change managers, product managers and their ilk – resulting in difficulty hiring, managing and paying for skilled ‘digital’ people.

As a business owner, I was unable to meet my client’s needs as I was just one person and I was unable to bring on people with the right skills and attitude to deliver for my clients. Training on a one to one basis was too risky and time consuming.

The task we set ourselves, in order to deliver for our clients was to investigate and effectively design a solution based on human needs, current industry requirements and future trends to ensure the relevant skills were able to be tapped into. At this stage we didn’t know what the solution was, just the problem.

Set out a series of problem statements and assumptions

Held informal discussions with key businesses to validate our assumptions

Researched the existing landscape of courses and providers

Researched the marketplace and the growth patterns of digital in Scotland

Secured funding to support us through the pilot phase

Ran 3 surveys with the industry to test our assumptions and gather key insights

Designed a strawman course and development pipeline programme

Engaged with potential mentors, trainers, partner and candidates

Ran co-creation workshops with a cross section of industry to capture their experiences and needs, and held follow up meetings and interviews

Designed a solution – since called The Digital Transformation Programme – a 12 month career development programme aiming to upskill and reskill ‘changemakers’

Launched the solution and have since trained 25 people

We have had incredible feedback from attendees of the programme – re-capped here:

This Is Milk digital transformation programme launch

And in this testimonial – https://www.thisismilk.co.uk/blog/the-digital-transformation-programme-a-business-analysts-testimonial

We have traction now in banks, public sector, and SMEs as well as individuals self-funding.

The programme has also been nominated for a BIMA award for Innovation in Transformation and Consultancy, and a Scottish Women’s Award for Digital Business of the Year.