Digital Transformation Issue Log
This is a practical guide to building a issue log for a digital transformation project — a register of problems that have occurred and need resolving, adapted to the realities of modernising how the organisation operates using digital technology.
What a Issue Log is
A issue log is a register of problems that have occurred and need resolving. For the full concept and how it works in general, see Issue Log. On a digital transformation project it plays the same role, tuned to this kind of work.
Why it matters for a Digital Transformation project
Digital Transformation projects live or die on modernising how the organisation operates using digital technology. A well-built issue log gives the team a shared, explicit reference for exactly that — reducing ambiguity, aligning stakeholders, and making problems visible early enough to act. Skipping it, or doing it generically, is how digital transformation projects drift into avoidable delay and cost.
What to include
- Issue description
- Priority and severity
- Owner
- Resolution and status
Digital Transformation-specific considerations
Tailor the issue log to the risks that most often derail digital transformation projects:
- Cultural resistance and adoption
- Over-broad, unfocused scope
- Benefits that never materialise
Example
On a real digital transformation project, the issue log would be shaped by modernising how the organisation operates using digital technology. In particular, it should explicitly account for the project’s biggest risks — cultural resistance and adoption, over-broad, unfocused scope, benefits that never materialise — rather than treating them as afterthoughts.