The summary.
RESISTANCE IS RATIONAL WHEN COSTS FALL ON PEOPLE AND BENEFITS DO NOT
Address that imbalance directly, involve people in decisions affecting their work, and be honest that it gets harder before it gets easier.
Overstated benefits are disproved immediately and credibility is lost permanently.
UNCERTAINTY EXPANDS TO FILL SILENCE
Communicate regularly even with little to report, say what is not changing, and make sure leadership speaks about it — their words carry weight the project team's cannot.
WORKAROUNDS INDICATE THE SYSTEM DOES NOT SUPPORT SOMETHING PEOPLE NEED
Treating them as non-compliance addresses the symptom. Establish what the workaround achieves, and formalise the exception where the system genuinely cannot do it.
Ask periodically: what do you still do outside the system?
CAPTURE BASELINES BEFORE IMPLEMENTATION — THEY CANNOT BE RECOVERED AFTERWARDS
And measure adoption, because low adoption means benefits will not materialise whatever the system does.
NEGOTIATE ADMINISTRATOR TRAINING AND CONFIGURATION ACCESS INTO THE CONTRACT
Partners are not always incentivised to reduce your dependence on them.
