In my previous post, I emphasized the importance keeping the senior executives well-informed on the status of IT projects and issues.  If this is not done or done poorly then the woes of the IT department expand exponentially due to the upset engendered by management’s dissatisfaction.  Why?  IT staff generally work hard, are very creative and do their best given clear direction and oversight.  When those efforts are invalidated then the general purpose to create is blunted resulting in less production, more errors and unhappy staff.  A sort of dwindling spiral comes into play – less production and more errors = more dissatisfaction = less production and even more errors, etc.

Factually, nothing lowers the morale of an IT dept faster than dissatisfaction by management.  Now, certainly if the IT dept is messing up then it deserves such treatment.  This, however, sets the stage for an “us vs. them” conflict or the trench warfare analogy mentioned in my previous post.

So, what is an IT executive to do then?  He or she must stay causative and not blame upper management either.  At the end of the day, it is the responsibility of the IT executive to build his/her organization to deliver excellent IT services and become a full partner with upper management in helping the company achieve its goals.

Given that the internal processes and procedures have been ironed out in the dept then the remaining puzzle piece is:

KEEPING UPPER MANAGEMENT WELL INFORMED AND FURNISHING THE VITAL INFORMATION OF WHAT IS GOING ON.

At first glance this may seem too simple and not workable.  But, I can guarantee that if you do not do this then upper management will never be happy with the IT dept because it really does not know what is going on.  The gap between what the IT dept is actually doing and what upper management know may be so vast that the Grand Canyon would look small in comparison!

We are now embarking on the road towards true IT Governance – “IT Governance is about IT decision-making: The preparation for, making of and implementation of decisions regarding goals, processes, people and technology on a tactical and strategic level.” (Simonsson & Johnson, 2005)  Good communication between IT and the business executive strata is the foundation for sound IT Governance.

Here is an analogy to put everything in perspective: your family has outgrown the existing house and have hired an architect firm to build an addition.  You meet briefly with the firm giving basic direction and let them carry on.  The firm gets very busy dreaming up fantastic designs and solutions for the extension and puts them into production.  Meanwhile you are busy handling your life and paying little attention to all of the noise and construction.  When the dust settles and your proud architect tours you through the new addition, you have this sinking realization that the firm has not fully understood what you wanted and has just wasted a huge amount of time and money!  You promptly get upset, berating  the lead architect and consider firing him on the spot!

Now, if the firm had been applying the above maxim then this situation would never have come to pass because the owner would have taken a much more active role in the decision-making and project management process.

HP CEO Mark Hurd echos this sentiment during a televised broadcast at the 2009 Conference on California’s Future (his speech begins 5:25 into the video).  Mr Hurd emphasizes the need for upper management, especially the CEO, to take a very active role over IT projects and initiatives.  In fact, without this commitment, many IT projects fail.

Moving on to practicality, how will you implement the above maxim in your dept?  Here are some guidelines from my experience:

• Have one-on-one meetings with all the key executives that you report to or deliver service to.  Find out what they really need and want from you and your dept.  What information do they need on a regular basis?
• Work out how to deliver that information on a regular basis (e.g. e-mail, reports, meetings, etc.).
• Form Steering and Operations Committees that meet on a regular basis.  A steering committee would address high-level strategy and approve new IT projects.  An operations committee would deal with smaller projects, issues, bugs, etc.
• Adjust the above as needed.

Applying these concepts will pave the way for the IT dept becoming a business partner rather than just a service arm of the company.