🤫 The Dirty Secret of AI Transformation: It’s Not About the Framework
Most AI and digital transformations fail—and not because of the wrong framework or lack of funding. They fail because business leaders treat transformation like a plug-and-play checklist, ignoring the single biggest factor in success: the skill of the person leading it. In today’s hype-driven landscape, everyone’s obsessed with frameworks, methods, and AI tooling. But here’s the uncomfortable truth—none of that matters if you can’t apply it appropriately for your people, your organisation, and your context.
After 20 years leading transformations across industries, I created HOBA not as just another framework, but as a common language that connects strategy, operations, and implementation—because transformation is not one-size-fits-all. It’s not linear. It’s layered, nuanced, and deeply human.
In this post, we break down why most transformation frameworks fall short, how the HOBA approach changes the game, and the real questions you should be answering at each stage of your journey.
Here’s what we’ll cover:
What You’ll Learn in This Article:
Let’s get into it 👉
Why Your AI Transformation Framework Might Be Holding You Back 🚫
Everyone talks about the perfect AI transformation framework—McKinsey’s model, IBM’s playbook, modular AI architectures. Yes, frameworks matter—but they aren’t the magic bullet.
After two decades delivering large-scale transformation with HOBA, here’s what I’ve learned:
✅ Transformation isn't about following a methodology dogmatically
It’s about the skill of the business transformator to use tools and techniques appropriately and proportionately—for the context and for the stakeholders.
Your framework is only as good as your ability to map it across:
- Layers - Strategic, Operational Implementation
- Language - Vision vs process vs tactical detail
- Level - Conceptual vs logical vs physical/process
That’s precisely why HOBA exists. 🎯
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👏 "Transformation doesn’t fail because of bad frameworks. It fails because leaders don’t know how to use them appropriately across layers, language, and levels." #BusinessTransformation #AITransformation #HOBA #Leadership 💡🧠
🧩 The 6 Step HOBA Process Aligned with 5W1H
Step
1. Focus
Focus Area
Strategic vision
5W1H Question
WHY — Why are we doing this transformation?
2. Control
Governance & stakeholder engagement
WHO — Who is involved, impacted, and governing scope, risks, assumptions, dependencies?
3. Analyse
Business problem/opportunities
WHAT — What problems and opportunities are we addressing today?
4. Evaluate
Desired business outcomes
WHY (operational) — What benefits does the business intend to realize?
5. Design
Target operating model
HOW / WHERE — How and where must behaviors, processes, structures change?
6. Implement
Delivery timeline and benefits realisation
WHEN — When will changes be deployed and benefits delivered?
Each of these steps must be tailored differently depending on whether you’re engaging with the board (strategic layer), operations leaders, or delivery teams (implementation layer)—because they speak different languages.
🔄 A Different Perspective
Contrary to the dominant narrative (even from leading voices like IBM and McKinsey):
- The biggest failure point isn’t framework choice—it’s the inability to adapt the talk-track and detail to stakeholder understanding and priorities.
- Simply starting with technology or automation misses the real drivers—business problem, leadership alignment, stakeholder readiness, governance, benefits clarity.
- Tools like watsonx, AI agents, ML pipelines, modular AI architecture are only enablers—they don’t define transformation success
- Mature leaders don’t chase frameworks—they excavate context, adjust language, and meet people where they are.
Frameworks matter—but only when wielded by skilled people who know when, how, and to whom each layer communicates.
🚀 Final Thought
If you want transformations that stick, don’t ask which framework to use—ask:
"Is my business architect fluent in layers, language and levels? Can they map this transformation across strategic vision, operational buy in, and delivery details?"
That’s how transformation transcends frameworks—and drives real change.
🚀 Conclusion: Tools Don’t Transform—People Do
If there’s one takeaway from this blog, it’s this: successful AI and business transformation isn’t about which framework you use, it’s about how well you use it—proportionately and appropriately for your people, your priorities, and your processes.
Most organisations jump straight to implementation without asking the critical questions. They treat AI like a silver bullet, when the real power lies in alignment—across layers, language, and levels. That’s why HOBA exists. Not just as a method, but as a common language for transformation.
But don’t take our word for it—see how ready your organisation really is.
⚠️ "AI won't fix your broken strategy. Start with WHY, WHO, and WHAT before you touch the tech." #DigitalTransformation #5W1H #HOBAFramework #StrategyFirst ⚙️📊
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The future of your transformation starts with clarity. Let’s get you there.
But in reality, none of those things are true.
That’s where the Transformator steps in—not to replace roles, but to orchestrate alignment across silos.
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👏 "The success of transformation lies not in the method—but in the mastery of the transformator to adapt it to the people, the purpose, and the process." #TransformationLeadership #EnterpriseArchitecture #HOBA #ChangeThatSticks 🚀👥
💬 Call to Action:
✅ Read our international bestseller – The Business Transformation Playbook
🎓 Join our HOBA Certified Agile Transformation Course – Intro to Agile Business Transformation
📥 Download our free TOM checklist or blueprint template free TOM checklist + blueprint templates
📞 Or schedule a free discovery call to see how we can help you design a TOM that works – Schedule here
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🚀 "Frameworks don’t transform businesses—people do. The real value is knowing how to apply the right tool, for the right problem, at the right time.” #BusinessTransformator #HOBAtech #StrategyExecution 🔧📊🔥
About HOBA Tech
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We’d love to hear your thoughts! Let us know in the comments what stood out to you or what topics you’d like us to cover next. If you found this valuable, share it with others who could benefit!
Thank you for reading, and here’s to your transformation success!
Sincerely,
Heath Gascoigne
P.S. If you want to join our Business Transformator community of 2,000+ like-minded Business Transformators, join the community on the Business Transformator Facebook Group here.
P.P.S. If you want to learn more about business transformation, check out The Business Transformation Playbook.
