Loading ...Re: 5 tips to prevent IT extinction
Michael Krigsman continues this very interesting discussion on a role and value of internal IT organizations. It is very difficult to dispute his arguments and I am not the one to even try. I just want to comment on the last of the five tips listed - Lose the arrogance:
Lose the arrogance. Condescending attitudes toward the business destroy IT’s credibility in the enterprise, making IT weak and vulnerable.
A blog called It Ought to be Simple says it well:
If IT’s condescending attitude resulted in nothing more than a few hurt feelings, it wouldn’t be such an issue. But the attitude causes much bigger problems: It gives IT a free pass, the right to blame mistakes on users…who are, after all, too stupid to know what they’re doing.
Here’s what a CNET blog commenter said:
Users are stupid and that needs to be the starting point…for software developers
Such nonsense undermines IT and only hastens its path toward extinction.
My comment has to do specifically with the type of IT arrogance which is connected to implementation of business applications and often expressed with a phrases - “users don’t know what they want” or “if only users explained to us what they want”. Perhaps these sentiments are more expression of frustration than arrogance which is rooted in a gap of business process improvement knowledge in many organizations.
A common chain of events is started by a business organization which requests introduction of a new application into IT portfolio, where IT role is seen primarily as a deliver of technology. Scanning employment ads in DICE, Monster, etc placed by IT organizations reveals that they are looking for specialists with experience of the specific application technology rather than the specific business processes. Requirement gathering process degenerates into cafeteria list compellation of available functions and features, because a technologist cannot engage business community into value added review of their processes and practices, or introduce thought leadership for adoption and change management which are learn through the past experiences in similar business situations.
Perhaps I would add the 6th tip to prevent IT extinction - Add value by assuming ownership of Organizational Transformation and Change Management.
There are many excellent blogs and other resources on the Internet which explore methodologies and Best Practices for business process re-engineering, project management, systems implementation, software engineering, and change management. However I could not find much help with unlocking value of integrated utilization of these disciplines to facilitate Organizational Transformation. In this blog I would like to focus on this subject. I would like to stress that this is not an academic inquiry, but a practitioner's desire to discuss and share practical business knowledge and Best Practices. Let's see how it evolves - "Every brilliant idea quickly degenerates into a lot of hard work" - Peter Drucker.