Digital transformation has been a leadership priority for more than a decade, and yet the failure rate remains stubbornly high. Some studies suggest that 70% of transformation projects don’t succeed. Anyone who’s lived through one knows why: unclear vision, misaligned leadership, brittle processes, budget pressure, shifting priorities, poor communication, the wrong technologies, or simply trying to change too much at once.
There’s rarely a single point of failure. More often, it’s a pattern. And one theme appears again and again: Big Bang thinking.
The Problem with Big Bang Transformations
Big Bang programmes earn their name. Months (or years) of planning, alignment and documentation build towards one moment where you “pull the lever” and hope everything holds.
The risk is enormous.
The preparation is exhaustive.
And the blast radius, when things go wrong, is wide.
Even with talented teams and rigorous planning, Big Bang releases concentrate uncertainty into a single moment and place unrealistic pressure on people to foresee every possible failure. Weeks are lost rehearsing one set of actions, rather than delivering incremental value.
Some big inflection points are unavoidable. Most aren’t.
The majority can be reduced, minimised or replaced entirely with incremental steps, if the programme is designed with that mindset from the start.
Why Incrementalism Works
Incremental change isn’t about moving slowly. It’s about moving intelligently.
When transformation is broken into small, reversible steps, teams can:
- Show value earlier, increasing stakeholder confidence.
- Course-correct quickly, without derailing the entire programme.
- Reduce risk through continuous validation.
- Simplify communication, because each change is easier to explain, socialise and adopt.
- Improve engagement, as teams feel empowered rather than overwhelmed.
- Build true organisational agility, not just perform Agile ceremonies.
Incremental progress compounds, creates momentum. It makes transformation something the organisation lives, not something that happens to it.
Incremental Change at Counter
At Counter, incrementalism isn’t a delivery tactic, it’s part of how we operate as a business.
Across our technical and commercial teams, we use Agile practices to create feedback loops, make decisions quickly and adjust direction when needed. But we’re not dogmatic. We don’t enforce boilerplate processes, mandate tools or treat ceremonies as ends in themselves.
The goal is simple: create clarity, reduce risk, and empower teams to deliver high-quality work.
And we bring that mindset directly into client engagements.
How We Support Incremental Transformation
When we embed a Counter team, we look first at how to shrink risk. That usually means breaking down large, intimidating transformation programmes into smaller steps that:
- deliver value quickly
- are easy to reverse
- build confidence in the wider organisation
- allow teams to learn in-flight
- develop internal capability along the way
Our approach isn’t about avoiding complexity, it’s about making complexity manageable.
We also ensure that the knowledge built doesn’t walk out the door. Clients can hire the engineers directly at the end of an engagement, keeping the context, capability and momentum in-house. Because our teams are embedded from day one, they’re already onboarded, aligned and productive.
Incremental change strengthens the organisation while the transformation is happening, not months later when a Big Bang finally lands.
When a Big Bang Really Is Necessary
Sometimes, a Big Bang is unavoidable: decommissioning a legacy platform, moving to a new core system, replacing infrastructure that can’t be migrated gradually.
When that’s the case, we help clients reduce the blast radius.
We draw on our experience delivering high-stakes releases to:
- identify failure points early
- put guardrails in place
- support teams through the cutover
- run post-release analysis so the organisation learns from the experience
Even when the change is large, the thinking can still be incremental.
Transformation That Actually Works
Transformation isn’t a single project, but rather a continuous evolution.
Organisations that embrace incrementalism tend to move faster, with less risk, and with teams who stay engaged throughout the journey.
If consultancies want to help clients deliver real, sustainable change, this mindset has to be built into their DNA, not just their delivery playbook. Discover how Counter does things differently here.
