Fast Times: How Digital Winners Set Direction, Learn, and Adapt

by Arun Arora

An expert guide for senior executives who want to quickly understand what really matters in digital business and what it takes to win.

Today’s technology demands lightning-fast changes. But speed without purpose is not progress. In Fast Times, McKinsey leaders cut through the hype to provide a readable inside look into what digital winners do best: set direction, learn, and adapt faster than anyone else.

For executives frustrated with their pace of change, Fast Times digs into the root questions that shine a light on the issues that keep companies like yours from setting direction, learning, and adapting: Do you really know how your company is performing? How do you make it safe for people to experiment so you can build a proactive culture? How do you balance fast execution with deliberate decision-making? Are your training programs up to the challenge of reskilling the talent you need tomorrow? Do your IT people have the skills needed to build the tech that’s needed and incorporate cybersecurity?

The experts at McKinsey & Company draw from decades of experience and detailed analysis to highlight what matters most in order to become a digital winner. With illuminating sidebars and real-life scenarios, Fast Times is an invaluable shortcut to setting direction, learning, and adapting to win.

Genres: Business, Nonfiction

148 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 18, 2020

Reviews

[Jate Saitthiti]

Great to know, How the corporate world takes "Digital Transformation" into action. Such as Agile, DevOps, Corporate Communication and Recruitment process.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won Fast Times as part of a Kindle giveaway. Long story short. The key to being a digital winner is to make decisions quickly. If the first one doesn't work, be willing to try something new. The key to the is no longer working in silos but collaboration and cross training. For anyone working today and planning to stay working for the foreseeable future, there was nothing new.

[Rhonda · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book was very uneven, which may be a reflection on the different authors. The earlier chapters were the most unhelpful, with the later chapters being the most helpful. The beginning chapters were poorly (maybe arrogantly?) written, with every possible jargon and corporatese thrown in. The overuse of jargon distracted from these chapters, and seemed thrown in to impress, rather than to add value. Also, most glaringly, the authors also never defined what "digital transformation" meant to them. Many chapters also had very vague examples--I assume to protect the privacy of the leaders who talked to them, but this made the examples fairly useless. On the other hand, some chapters in the middle and end of book, were far more explanatory and helpful--most notably the chapters on setting up teams and obtaining buy-in. The chapters on dealing with personnel were very honest--obtaining and/or training digital leaders and workers, dealing with employees unable to adapt and/or fit into the new structure. The "Food for Thought" (key points) at the end of each chapter were helpful in summarizing the chapter. I would suggest reading the "Food for Thought" section first, as that will give you a good idea if you can skip the chapter or should read it for more thorough info. Overall, the book seems intended for a corporate book club, rather than an individual read.

[Brook]

This book is really not for me, a retired 75 year old schoolteacher. So, I can’t really rate it fairly. I read the first couple of chapters, which told me who 5his book was for. I gave it 4 stars because I felt it would be unfair to give it anything lower, but not a 5 because the first chapter should have been enough explanation about who the book was for, wasting 2 chapters leads me to believe there might not be much substance to this book.

[Claudio Góchez]

Fast times

Consejos totalmente aplicables y prácticos para tomar en cuenta en la implementación de una transformación digital, diferentes perspectivas de diferentes industrias, lo cual da un panorama mucho más amplio de las oportunidades y los riesgos que está aventura de transformación digital implica.

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just OK

Having led multiple transformations as my corporation evolved the topics in this “FastTimes” are basic and too general to be impactful. Scan for what provokes a thought. Glad this was included in Kindle Unlimited

[Folarin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very Nourishing!!!!

Very Nourishing. Good food to the brain for understanding digital transformation and digital transformation projects. Thanks for this great body of knowledge.

[Csimplot Simplot · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book!!!

[Rita Arens · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great take on digital transformations.

[Grant Hurvitz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Strong start and then definitely tapers off toward the end.

[Denis Vasilev · Rating 2 out of 5]

Консалтерская абракадабра про цифровую трансформацию