Your "Data System" isn’t broken - It’s just doing what you designed it for!

Recently, I came across the POSIWID principle:

“The purpose of a system is what it does.” – Stafford Beer

It changed how I think about data transformation. Because most systems aren’t broken. They’re just producing exactly what they were allowed to produce.

That’s not a tech problem. It’s a leadership one.

The hardest part of data transformation? It’s not the tech. It’s rewiring what your system really does.

Not what the slides say. Not what the roadmap promises. What it actually delivers, day after day.

If your business still:

• Doesn’t care about structure or clear data ownership

• Can’t define clear metrics or shared business logic

• Expects IT to magically “think of everything”

• Builds dashboards from Excel extracts

• Requests endless “quick fixes” with a “we’ll fix it later” mindset

  
  

Then that is the real purpose of your system. And no AI layer or BI tool will change it - until the company mindset changes.

This shift doesn't start in IT. It starts in the boardroom.

The painful paradox: Everyone agrees with the vision

“We want self-service insights!

”One source of truth!”

“Decision-ready data at speed!”

"AI innovation"

The exec room nods. Budgets pass. Roadmaps launch. Heck! Even the cleaning lady thinks it would be great!

But then reality hits…

Your current legacy system - yes, the one you want to move away from - is still expected to run at higher speed. Worse: you’re told to build more in it.

Because it’s the only thing the business knows how to use and can not wait for something better down the line.

IT has a plan, business say ok lets go.. but somehow something is missing, and you can feel it. You want change - but it seems that everyone subconsciously , wants to keep things exactly the same.

That’s POSIWID. The real system purpose isn’t defined by strategy decks. It’s defined by what people allow and reward.

Change that? It’ll hurt. And if you’re leading the shift - you will not be popular.

Everyone likes change. Until it asks something of them.

What POSIWID looks like in practice:

• Quick fixes are rewarded. Root causes ignored.

• Dashboards are counted. Decisions aren’t.

• Legacy pipelines remain “because someone still uses it.”

• Refactoring is treated like “IT’s job,” while business logic stays frozen.

  
  

Everyone’s busy. No one is transforming.

The trade-off no one likes to make

To rewire a system, leadership must choose:

• Prioritize the cleanup - even if it slows new features or changes the way we work.

• Fund the boring backbone - what no one sees but everyone relies on.

• Break the habits that built the chaos.

This isn’t a tech decision.It’s a cultural one.

It’s saying:

“We’ll accept discomfort now, for capacity later.”

Most companies don’t. Because it means breaking things that look like they work.

What only executives can do

• Rename the KPI: From “reports delivered” to “decisions improved”

• Fund the boring work first: Want AI? Build the data brain first - even if ROI takes 2–3 years (Think: stop patching the boat, start building the bridge)

• Kill shadow work: Don’t reward Excel heroics - remove the need for them

These changes don’t start in Jira. They start in the C-suite meetings and actions.

How to bring people with you

• Get top-level alignment: If the C-level doesn’t shift the system purpose, they’ll unknowingly fight progress

• Sunset with clarity: Tell people what’s going away, when, and why

• Create delight early: Ship one modern, end-to-end solution that makes people say “I want that”

What success looks like

Old behavior:

• “Can you resend the file?”

• "We fixed it for now. It’s not perfect, but we’ll rebuild it later”. Later never comes!

• “We keep our structure in excel, its ok for us”, without caring or realizing the value of resharable data, for the rest of the business. Changing it will mean changing how department works and noone wants that.

New behavior:

• “If it’s not aligned with business logic, we don’t use it”

• “We deploy with zero incidents - and no hero work”

• “Legacy tools run the business, but we’re building for the future”

• “We reward long-term value, not short-term hacks”

• “We automate and evolve - even when it means changing how we work”

Final word

Rewiring a system isn’t about new tools. It’s about trust, setting higher standards for yourself, and getting everyone to want to change.

POSIWID wins by default - unless you name the trade-off and lead the shift.

If you want transformation that sticks, don’t start with software. Start with a new message:

“We’re done surviving. We’re building systems that scale - and we’ll measure ourselves on enabling that.”

Let that become your new system purpose. And let everything else follow. //Adnan