How IT is set up to Fail
I was reading an article titiled "Why IT is designed to Fail". Click here to read the article. Below is my response.
Very good article. I feel the biggest challenge to a CIO, is staffing their departments correctly. The CIO paradox will continue until the CIO realizes he/she is in the IT business and the IT business is Engineering and Operations. Project Management, Life Cycle, and Security are inputs to the final output i.e. Engineering and Operations. Until this happens most IT organizations will be staffed inappropriately and [productive] work flow will slow –the end result is in a loss of productivity and creditability. The basic premise is to understand the difference between an Engineer and an Operator. The next step hire qualified IT Project Managers. In my opinion the IT organization should be heavy with engineers, sprinkle in a few IT Project Managers, Security Analysts and lastly (and most importantly) a dedicated group of Operators.
Lastly, your article points out that most CIO’s refer to their projects as being Business Projects versus IT projects. This is a bad course to take because it takes ownership of the (business) project from the CIO and thrusts it onto the business unit. The project fails and the CIO gets the blame for that failure. Bottom line, the CIO is in the Engineering and Operations business –if that is not cool enough, get an MBA and move on!
Very good article. I feel the biggest challenge to a CIO, is staffing their departments correctly. The CIO paradox will continue until the CIO realizes he/she is in the IT business and the IT business is Engineering and Operations. Project Management, Life Cycle, and Security are inputs to the final output i.e. Engineering and Operations. Until this happens most IT organizations will be staffed inappropriately and [productive] work flow will slow –the end result is in a loss of productivity and creditability. The basic premise is to understand the difference between an Engineer and an Operator. The next step hire qualified IT Project Managers. In my opinion the IT organization should be heavy with engineers, sprinkle in a few IT Project Managers, Security Analysts and lastly (and most importantly) a dedicated group of Operators.
Lastly, your article points out that most CIO’s refer to their projects as being Business Projects versus IT projects. This is a bad course to take because it takes ownership of the (business) project from the CIO and thrusts it onto the business unit. The project fails and the CIO gets the blame for that failure. Bottom line, the CIO is in the Engineering and Operations business –if that is not cool enough, get an MBA and move on!
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