Engineers often enter digital transformation initiatives at the execution stage. Parul Malik from the Price of Freedom Foundation helps us to understand from the top down how we go about planning a new initiative and the five key areas that help businesses grow their strategic priorities.
Parul has undergone her own transition, starting early in her career as a Software Engineer and moving to Testing, where she learned about quality, audits and governance. This gave her the foundational knowledge of the role compliance plays in software.
In 2021, Parul started her Executive MBA at The University of Chicago Booth School of Business. The decision to change her career path was not made overnight. Parul spent six months talking to industry experts and researching before committing to such a big change.
"That Executive MBA," Parul reflected, "helped me to create the mindset that helped me to think like an executive; like a strategy session, how things work in the industry. Because I was from an engineering background doing the Executive MBA, I learned the numbers, the finance, the ecosystem, and that helped me understand how money moves around numbers, and that changed my perspective entirely."
The Five Key Areas of Strategy
For critical transformations, Parul outlined the five key areas she focuses on; balancing business strategy, governance, risk and execution.
Align every architectural decision with business objectives. The plan should be created in a way that, whether technology or team planning, the business objective is the core driver.
Technology should enable growth. Improve the transition you are making by planning the technology so that it can improve your customer experience, increase operational efficiency and support long-term scalability.
Make governance an accelerator. Define architectural principles, design frameworks, technology standards, and review boards that promote consistency. Give clear decision ownership to team members and establish governance checkpoints to keep complex transformations aligned.
Build in compliance and security from the beginning. Rather than treating them as a final checkpoint, incorporate them into architecture and design decisions. The team shouldn't feel bound by these things; it should be part of their daily work.
Proactively manage risk. Every transformation introduces technical, operational, financial, and organizational risk. Conduct a risk assessment early to evaluate trade-offs and identify dependencies.
But, Parul warns, there should be disciplined execution. It is not enough to just define these steps, you should build them into every step of the transformation, through incremental delivery and measurable milestones, such as KPIs, architecture reviews and governance dashboards.
The Impact of AI
When I asked Parul how AI impacted the way she manages strategy, she pointed out the double edge sword. On one hand, it's very useful, but on the other hand it creates a lot of issues because of the security risk it poses.
Parul comes from a compliance background, so she has concerns, not only over the way it is being used, but she feels that not enough attention is being placed on AI Governance.
"You need strong governance; the AI world is entirely different" Parul warns. "You cannot be so confident that you have all the confidential information just inside your organization. Now there are many ways it can be public."
America 250
I couldn't think of a better organization to interview than The Price of Freedom Foundation on the year of America 250. Working with gold star families, the foundation collects stories and remembrances to write biographies for their fallen loved ones. I asked Parul how they prepared for this historic milestone.
"It is more than a historic milestone" said Parul, "it is an opportunity for a mission-driven organization like what we are doing to modernize how we perceive their legacy, engage communities, and deliver lasting impact."
Parul goes on to explain how modern digital platforms and social media have made it easier for people to connect. She talks about the limitations of legacy applications and how modernization and scalable technologies play a critical role in extending outreach.
"The goal is not simply to celebrate the past, but to ensure the organization's mission continues to grow, evolve, and inspire the future generations."
Final Thoughts
When I asked Parul what she found most inspirational about the Veterans, she zoomed in on something I had not thought about. Parul is very methodical in her thinking, and she diligently plans for every transition in her life. But the military must be constantly ready. The level of training they must do to rise to any new challenge that appears with no warning is exceptional.
Their training is the foundation that provides security so that they can adapt quickly. In the AI age, we need that same foundation. Parul believes governance and compliance is the answer, allowing us to accelerate innovation but still meet the regulatory requirements.
"I believe successful engineering leadership is about making technology decisions that not only solve today's challenges but also position the organization for future growth" Parul explained. "And by integrating governance compliance and risk management into the architecture, organizations can innovate faster, reduce risk and deliver long-term business values with less expenses."
In an AI world, we need to add structure to reduce risk. Parul offers a refreshing take on the path forward.