Tania Scroggie is back with another episode of ‘Tania’s Teachables’ over on YouTube, this time exploring the hard truth of dealing with legacy electronics in today’s modern world of fast-paced technological advancement. ‘The Inchworm Dilemma’ explores a common challenge facing the support of legacy products–a lack of infrastructure. 

Grand Plans that Stretch Your Company beyond its Limits

A common challenge in leadership that Tania has seen and experienced firsthand is grand plans with no infrastructure or drive to back them up. Everyone has experienced it before–you make all of these amazing big plans and then nothing happens, despite everyone being aligned on the path forward, with no need for clarification on what to do next. 

This is the inchworm dilemma. 

Imagine that the initial strategy is the head of the inchworm, a powerful vision for what you want to have happen, and the rest of the worm is all of the processes, infrastructure, and your team, all stuck in a day-to-day cycle of just tackling their usual tasks, putting out fires, and focused on meeting the year’s business objectives. And the more you stretch forward, the more stress you’ll put on your company and the less likely your initiative will thrive. Unfortunately, this is especially common when it comes to legacy products, leaving many companies dealing with upset customers of legacy electronics and a heavily burdened team that can’t keep up with the demand of new product development and legacy support. 

Legacy Issues Don’t Solve Themselves

Unfortunately, due to the exponential speed at which technology has been advancing, obsolete electronics and legacy systems have become a major part of the industry–and they can make or break a deal with your customers. However, you don’t need to revamp your entire system just to deal with legacy product issues. All you have to do is shift your approach. Commit a little time each week or month just to strategize and implement your vision for legacy support, and don’t hesitate to reach out either to experts in legacy equipment manufacturing (LEMs) who can handle all of the support for you and will make sure that your legacy customers never have to worry about not getting the parts they need.