Evan Schuman's StorefrontBacktalk

One of the biggest hurdles is a disconnect between who is setting the priorities and who is asking for the work. In my experience, either an IT Steering Committee or an Executive Committee typically sets IT priorities. There may or may not be business cases presented; there may or may not be some form of voting.

The requests, however, typically come from either a functional or a department head. These folks are the ones who live in the details of the day-to-day business and understand what they want the IT system to deliver.

A typical conversation between the two leaders goes something like this:

Department Head: “I need to engage you on this project to implement technology widgets in our stores.”
IT Leader: “Sounds like a great idea. Best thing to do is let your executive know to bring it to the next IT Steering Committee for review.”
Department Head: “I already did. He told me that I am all set. It’s going to be approved, and I should start moving forward.”
IT Leader: “Well, it hasn’t been brought to me as a priority yet. Until it is, unfortunately, I can’t work on it.”
Department Head: “I HATE YOU! WHY DO YOU WANT TO SEE ME FAIL? WHAT DID I EVER DO TO YOU?”

And here’s how the same conversation sounds from the other perspective:

Business Executive at the Steering Committee: “I need to add this widget to the project list.”
IT Leader: “We are currently operating at 110 percent of capacity. I’d be happy to add the widget to the list, but something else will have to come off the list.”
Business Executive: “Well, nothing else can come off. Can’t you just make this work?”
IT Leader: “I HATE YOU! WHY DO YOU WANT TO SEE ME FAIL? WHAT DID I EVER DO TO YOU?”

OK, so that might be a little dramatic, but you get the point.

In my past life, what would normally happen is that one project would be dropped off the list to accommodate a new project. A month later, at the next Steering committee meeting, the business owner who lost last time would fight to get the previously dropped project back on the list and something else would get dropped off. The next month, THAT business leader would then fight to get her project back on the list, and so on. You end up doing 11 projects on a 10-project list. And you wonder why I’m not a fan of IT governance?

The other potential result is that the department head or business executive then starts looking for ways to get their widget without IT.

So what can be done to make the situation better? I don’t think there is a silver bullet here. I think it really comes down to open and honest dialogue with all parties involved. Here are a few small tips that may help:

• In some cases, it may make sense for the department or functional leader to present his case to the IT Steering Committee.
• IT leaders should spend time talking to their business counterparts outside of the emotion and passion of a specific project to build a relationship on trust and respect.
• Business leaders should understand that “I cannot do it right now” means that the IT leader’s hands are tied. Don’t shoot the messenger.
• Consider a flexible IT organization that can grow and shrink based upon the demand at any given time.
• Try a $0-based budget where IT resources are allocated based upon the business’ capability to purchase them.
• Stop drinking Red Bull and watching Star Trek at 1:00 in the morning.

What do you think? Love it or hate it, I’d love to gain some additional perspectives. Leave a comment, or E-mail me at Todd.Michaud@FranchiseIT.org.