July 23, 2025

EP61: Why Digital Projects Fail with James Freed

40 minutes

In this episode we discuss the reasons behind the failure of digital projects. James shares his insights from his extensive experience in the NHS and emphasizes the root causes of success and failure.

James Freed is the Deputy Director of NHS Digital Academy. The team he leads exists to help as many health and care teams as possible deliver more value tomorrow than they did today. Before that he was CIO for Health Education England.

Show Links

Ben Pearce LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/benpthoughts/

Tech World Human Skills Home - https://www.techworldhumanskills.com

James Freed Linked In - https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-freed-digital/

Future Dot Now - https://futuredotnow.uk/

Takeaways

70% of digital transformations fail to achieve expected benefits.

One hour of training can significantly improve staff satisfaction.

Focus on outcomes rather than outputs for project success.

Staff satisfaction is directly linked to patient safety and wellbeing.

Digital champions can provide immediate support to staff.

Cows (computers on wheels) illustrate the challenges in NHS tech.

Bad digital experiences contribute to staff burnout and turnover.

Training is essential to prevent burnout and improve job performance.

60% of digital project failures are due to cultural and skills deficits.

Digital literacy varies significantly across different industries.

Keywords

digital projects, NHS, project failures, healthcare technology, digital transformation, staff experience, training, project success, human skills, technology implementation

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By Ben Pearce

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