Mission statements help define an organization's direction and inspire employees to achieve corporate goals. Unfortunately, countless mission statements are meaningless, forgettable and totally ineffective. Many are merely an uninspiring collection of buzzwords that could have been written by Dilbert's boss. If that describes yours, you have work to do!
Every organization has some "ducks." Ducks are employees who have a detrimental effect on productivity. Their work is consistently substandard, they rarely meet deadlines, and their skills are out of date. They hate change, resist taking responsibility, and blame their failures on co-workers. They constantly complain about their projects, their teammates, their workloads and their managers. They stifle innovation by shooting down new proposals, claiming that changes "just can't be done."
Few organisations want to admit that a large project is failing. But some projects will never meet their deadlines or deliver the expected benefits. When the possibility of success is gone, these projects often must be terminated for the health of the corporation.
Fixing a broken process is often difficult, expensive and thankless. IT executives are divided on whether to outsource a broken process (e.g., payroll, help desk, accounting) or fix it in-house first. Some feel that outsourcers specialize in specific processes and therefore prefer to let the outsourcer fix what's broken. Others claim that after a broken process is outsourced, it often remains broken.
Many corporations periodically commission external assessments of their IT organizations. IT staffers usually look forward to these assessments (also known as baselines, reviews and the dreaded "audit") with the same enthusiasm they exhibit for root canals. Assessments are often perceived as witch hunts with hidden agendas whose primary purpose is finding fault and punishing (or firing) the guilty.
Over the past few years, Sarbanes-Oxley Act compliance, as well as privacy and security regulations, have wreaked havoc on IT budgets. Despite the difficulties, many companies have made good progress in these areas, and their CIOs are looking forward to more budget flexibility in the next few years. Unfortunately, new budget busters looming on the horizon will continue to affect IT spending.
Bad news comes in many forms: when $17 million goes missing, a failed Sarbanes-Oxley audit, project delays, records compromised, bugs in new technology products and more.
When the board says, "Be more innovative", many CEOs turn to their CIOs. Requests for innovation also come from other departments after they hear about new technologies from vendors or trade magazines. As a result, many IT organizations are being told to be more creative, and articles stating that the CIO should become the "chief innovation officer" abound.
Over the past few years Oracle has purchased several application software manufacturers, including Siebel, Retek, ProfitLogic and PeopleSoft (plus JD Edwards). Following its acquisition binge, Oracle has announced that all its current application software will be migrated to a new platform, Fusion, that will be introduced in late 2007.
Is your outsourcer out of control? Mine is, and the failure is my fault. Guilty, guilty, guilty!
A large program consists of related projects that must be designed, managed and coordinated as a single entity in order to achieve the optimal outcome.
The basic management controls required to run an effective IT organization are quickly becoming a lost art. Many companies have lost touch with the fundamentals of IT management. The industry originally learnt these fundamentals during the 1970s and 80s, but today there are large numbers of IT organizations with surprisingly weak management controls.
Many companies feel that their IT organizations are "broken" or irreparably damaged, and indeed, some are. The symptoms of a damaged IT organization are all too familiar: failed projects, big write-offs, high CIO turnover, an outdated technology base and uninvolved executives telling the latest CIO, "Call me when the problems are fixed". These companies are often tempted to succumb to the siren song of the outsourcers who offer to take over all of IT and promise to fix it.
Many companies feel that their IT organizations are "broken" or irreparably damaged, and indeed, some are. The symptoms of a damaged IT organization are all too familiar: failed projects, big write-offs, high CIO turnover, an outdated technology base and uninvolved executives telling the latest CIO, "Call me when the problems are fixed." These companies are often tempted to succumb to the siren song of the outsourcers who offer to take over all of IT and promise to fix it.
Successful outsourcing efforts need metrics that are clearly defined, effectively monitored and always tied to the needs of the business. Good metrics support your cost and service goals and are consistent with your culture.