"They’ll Have No Choice" Is the Lie That’s Killing Your User Adoption

They’ll Have No Choice’ Is the Lie That’s Killing Your User Adoption Rates

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been in a meeting with IT or business executives and heard the same line:

“Well, people won’t have a choice — they’ll have to use it.”

Every time, a little voice in my head goes: “Oh no. Here we go again.”

Because the truth is: people always have a choice. And I’ve seen what happens when leaders convince themselves otherwise. Spoiler alert — it’s not pretty.

“Mandatory” Doesn’t Mean Adopted

Executives love the idea that adoption will just happen because the system is critical. I’ve heard:

• “It’s part of their workflow.”
• “They can’t do their job without it.”
• “It’ll be mandatory.”

But reality proves otherwise.

I’ve watched salespeople who didn’t want to bother with the CRM just dump their notes on an admin, forcing her to spend hours entering data she had no context for. I’ve seen required fields filled with random characters — literally gibberish typed in just to move on. (Ever run a report where someone’s phone number is “asdf1234”? Yeah, me too.)

And I’ve seen entire project teams scratching their heads wondering why their shiny new system isn’t delivering value… all while users are quietly avoiding it, delaying updates, or working in Excel on the side.

Mandatory? Please. Adoption was crap.

The Red Flag Nobody Wants to Admit

Here’s one of the biggest red flags I’ve learned to spot: when executives and project teams assume that users will have “no choice.”

That assumption kills accountability. It kills urgency. And it kills the mindset you need to actually drive behavior change.

Because if you believe people don’t have a choice, you won’t:

• Build the incentives to make correct use the easiest path.
• Redesign workflows to reinforce the right behaviors.
• Put in place monitoring that catches bad data early.
• Hold people accountable when they try to bypass the system.

You’ll just sit back, waiting for “mandatory” magic to happen — and then be shocked when your data is garbage, your AI is useless, and your promised ROI never shows up.

I’ve Seen It All — And It’s Always a Choice

Let me be clear: after years of doing this, I’ve seen every trick in the book:

• Random junk in required fields.
• Shadow spreadsheets that keep the “real” numbers offline.
• Managers quietly tolerating non-use because they don’t want to rock the boat.
• Work dumped on admins who already had full-time jobs.

These are not edge cases. This is what happens when you assume users “have no choice.”

People always have a choice. Maybe not a choice to avoid the system entirely, but a choice in whether they use it correctly, consistently, and in a way that creates value. That’s where adoption lives or dies.

When Data Goes to Hell

And here’s the kicker: all that sloppy, half-hearted “adoption” wrecks your data.

• Automations don’t work. If the fields are empty, wrong, or inconsistent, the workflows break.
• Reporting is garbage. You can’t make confident decisions when the numbers are made up.
• AI betrays you. If your AI is trained on junk, it won’t just be wrong — it’ll be confidently wrong, helping you make terrible decisions faster.

And when your systems are unreliable, your customers feel it. Deals stall. Service slips. Trust erodes. What started as a “mandatory adoption” myth ends as a shitty customer experience.

Flip the Script

Instead of assuming “no choice,” try this:

Act as if people had 100% freedom to avoid the system.

How would you design your rollout differently?

• How would you align incentives?
• How would you train, support, and reinforce the right behaviors?
• How would you track whether people are actually doing what’s needed?

If your adoption plan only works when people “have no choice,” you don’t have a plan. You have wishful thinking.

Technology Value Matters

The next time someone tells you “they’ll have no choice but to use it,” treat that as a warning sign, not a comfort. Because the second you believe adoption is automatic, you’ve already lost the battle for value.

And here’s the bigger truth: Technology Value Matters. You don’t get it from going live. You don’t get it from mandates. You only get it when people choose to adopt the system — fully, correctly, and consistently.