IT As Goldilocks

by Ron Blitstein, Fellow, Cutter Business Technology Council

First I must share a bias. To be effective, IT departments must be no more than half a step ahead of the business partners it supports. If IT has the temerity to be more than this elusive half step, it will be accused of arrogance and be seen as disconnected or following its own agenda. If IT is seen to be lagging the business, the fate is equally unpalatable. IT is now seen as an impediment to business strategies and ambitions -- a boat anchor, a blocker. Sadly, given project lead times, if IT only moves in lockstep with its business partners, it will be too slow to deliver and be a drag on critical business timelines. The key to success is the "not too hot and not too cold" alignment that requires value-creating IT departments to discover that tricky half step. Alignment is key, but is it enough?

Let's create the proper business context. Your business partner has requested help in improving some gnarly aspect of a business problem. Perhaps it is after improvements in cycle time or quality, or maybe new functionality is the order of the day -- it doesn't matter. However, for some reason or other, despite the best efforts of your IT team, the request goes unanswered. Sound familiar? I know, I know, your team wasn't trying to be dismissive. Why doesn't the business understand that enhancement requests are up, as are approved projects, and for some reason there is a spike in maintenance activities (some troublesome security patch) to resolve?

The real problem here isn't that the system is swamped with demand. It isn't even that your people appeared disinterested (not a good thing for partners to show one another) when this opportunity to "partner" first appeared. The real problem is that they dropped the communication ball and left a void in the mind of your user.

Nature, as we all know, abhors a vacuum. The same can be said of your business partners. They really prefer to be on board with the process. They do not go out of their way to put sand in the gears. The ugly fact is that they have businesses to run and interpret silence from you in a way that may not be helpful to either party in the long run.

Many IT departments have responded to this challenge by creating business liaisons or relationship managers. One company I know calls them DIOs (division information officers). The name doesn't matter and frankly neither does the structure. What does matter is a real focus on communication.

Enter Rube

If business partners are unaware that IT is overtaxed, how can they help select the best projects from the bin? However, the problem is not just one of selecting and managing priorities. The real risk is much more challenging. When the business knocks and no one in IT answers the door, business partners don't just hang ten and wait. They act. They have a problem, they have urgency, and they invent solutions because they must move the ball toward the goal line.

Like the inventions satirized by cartoonist Rube Goldberg,¹ your business partners create solutions that oftentimes complicate your architecture, compromise your security, and generally make your life much harder than it needs to be.

As in all relationships, quality and timely communication is the key. When demand exceeds capacity to deliver, IT steering committees can help determine the best path to maximizing overall business return. When demand comes urgently and passionately from out of the blue, not responding precludes you from shaping the alternatives that may exist into something less objectionable. Or perhaps, if you are lucky, you and your business partner may collaborate and shape this new demand into something upon which you can build competitive advantage. Now that would be just right.

I welcome your comments on this Advisor and encourage you to send your insights on the market in general to me at rblitstein@cutter.com.

-- Ron Blitstein, Fellow, Cutter Business Technology Council

Notes

¹For cartoon examples, see www.rube-goldberg.com.