Transformation Assurance Index™
A nine-domain field guide for reading whether a program will land before it does not. Created by Ronald L. Jordan Jr. to make an independent, evidence-based read of transformation health repeatable.
The structural blind spot
Problems that sink a program are often visible for months: reconciliations nobody ran, designs still churning, and defect backlogs aging while the schedule keeps promising green.
Status rolls uphill and becomes more comfortable at every layer. A qualified amber at the workstream can become “on track” by the time it reaches the board.
The remedy is not more status meetings. It is a different vantage point.
The framework
Each domain is a place programs reliably fail. Each has a tell: observable evidence that cuts through the reported status.
Is there a single executive who owns the outcome, with authority over scope, budget, and go-live?
The tell
Watch how quickly cross-functional decisions get resolved. Strong governance clears them in days; weak governance lets them stall the work for weeks.
Is scope baselined and under real change control, or are small changes being absorbed until the plan no longer matches reality?
The tell
Every requirement should trace to a design and a test. When it cannot, the gap will return as rework.
Is there a genuine, dependency-linked critical path, or a list of milestones dressed up as a plan?
The tell
Ask the program to name its critical path. If it cannot, the schedule is decoration and green status is opinion.
Are design decisions stable and signed off by the business, or still churning while the build races ahead?
The tell
Confirm that the integration architecture has been tested at real volume. Everything else is a design on paper.
Has a full-volume mock conversion been run, reconciled to source, and signed off by named data owners?
The tell
If full-volume mock conversions have not been run and reconciled, you do not yet know whether the data is clean.
Are critical defects trending down with controlled aging, and are stage-gate exit criteria actually enforced?
The tell
A program that has never failed a gate is not disciplined. Watch the defect curve and who controls the exit criteria.
Is readiness measured by role and the ability to perform on day one, or is training delivered being reported as readiness?
The tell
Determine whether super-users and process owners are confident, not merely trained. Those are not the same thing.
Has cutover been rehearsed end to end, with timings, a real go/no-go, and an empowered rollback decision point?
The tell
Confirm that hypercare is staffed and scoped beyond the first few days. A support model that disappears after week one guarantees a crisis in week two.
Does the system integrator's reported status hold up against independent evidence, and has key staffing remained stable?
The tell
Measure the gap between what the SI says and what the artifacts show. That gap is where real program health lives.
The scale
The scale forces specificity that comfortable language avoids and makes evidence comparable across all nine domains.
The rule scorecards get wrong
Transformations do not fail on averages. They fail on their single weakest link. A program can be strong in seven domains and still be doomed by one. A blended score smooths exactly the gap that will sink the program and hands everyone a comfortable number that hides the one thing that matters.
Do not ask what the average says. Ask where the one red is, and whether anyone has the runway to turn it green.
Original field guide
A useful first conversation
Bring the question that matters most. We’ll explore the situation, the stakes, and whether working together is the right next move.
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