Maintain a stable and secure IT infrastructure

Destination:  Reliable and consistent IT resources availability

”Maintain a stable and secure IT infrastructure’ is the destination most stakeholders clearly understand. Building the short, conversational statement that summarizes what you do?  This should be the start of any statement. 

Here’s an example:

Bob, work force consultant:  “So what would you say …. you do here?”

You:  “I maintain stable and secure IT infrastructure by <fill in whatever it is that you do here>”

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Build using what others have done

Destination:  Lower cost for new and improved IT services that implement faster with less disruption

Technology must advance and change to make a difference in an organization’s performance. Software becomes easier to use. Hardware becomes faster. Incorporating those advances raises productivity. The challenge is how to build the changes into the IT services structure.

I have experienced a frequent and expensive strategy. It is a nasty and widespread tendency to disregard using what others have done. This is especially noticeable in new IT team members.

Why propose replacing rather than modifying what is already in place? The dominant reason given: replacing it is faster. The truth behind proposing replacement most often comes from technological bias rather than speed. Almost always the complete replacement is not quicker or cheaper. The organizational impact cost wrought by the technology flip can be much higher.

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Make changes small and quick

Destination: Steady increase in overall productivity supported by IT with less disruption from change

American spiritual leader John Maxwell posited a development concept.  He said you should ‘fail early, fail often, but always fail forward’.  I would add ‘fail cheaply’.  Silicon Valley companies embraced this with gusto.  Software or infrastructure systems, doing smaller increments is great cost containment.  It can also avoid the lessons born of catastrophe.

The Agile concept of a Minimum Viable Product embraces getting changes in place.  Those changes at least do something.  In software development, Scrum amplifies the intended quick movement to something visible and viable. 

‘What small changes can I make that may accumulate to a spectacular outcome?’ Asking yourself this question is tough.  Not a lot of visible glory in it. So how do we get from the today state to this destination?  How can we claim what the organization needs quicker, more precisely and at the lowest cost?

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Communicate What IT is Doing

Destination: Increased satisfaction with IT efforts through better understanding

Lack of communication can be the great punisher of IT professionals. We can include ‘not involving others’ as a variant. When looking for scapegoats, or an area to cut expense, IT is one of the easiest places to go.

When something goes wrong with IT services, a frequent question is ‘what are they doing?’

Sometimes that is the question even when nothing has gone wrong with IT services. Technology has some inherent mystery in it. In the blame shifting game, the mystery makes IT a convenient target. The thought is ‘I guess its possible that what you did just disappeared‘. And it is possible – but not likely.

The question ‘what are they doing?’ is a good and legitimate one. The challenge is how to make the question less frequent and less charged. Meeting the challenge requires communicating well both reactively and proactively. The risk in that is much less than the alternative of communicating solely on demand.

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Follow mission with IT investments

Destination: IT changes with the most impact for the investment by improving what brings the most value to an organization’s customers

An organization’s mission drives the organization’s investment in IT.  Or at least it should.   You had better know what the mission is.

Amounts spent on IT are investments.  IT pay, hardware outlays, and software costs are expenditures.  Its no different than spending for inventory, buildings, labor and staff, and marketing.   

All organizations need basic IT services.  The basic services enable:

• taking and fulfilling orders,
• invoicing and collecting from customers, and
• paying employees, suppliers and government entitles. 

The IT infrastructure that enables those services must be stable and secure.  Beyond the basic, where do organizations direct their IT investments?  The next level IT purpose:  move an organization from good outcomes to great performance.

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