Words are a funny thing. The words we use, and how we structure and say them, are the foundations of how we put forward our thoughts, opinions, and motivations for others. And of course how all of these are received.
New words enter our vocabulary and existing words have their meanings changed over time. Sometimes, though, we need to deliberately stop and think about the words we use and whether they are still the right words to describe our meaning or intent. And maybe whether the use of the "old" words now do us more harm than good.
Why do I pose this strange question from stage left?
ServiceNow, along with Dell and HP, are the premier sponsors of the Gartner IT Infrastructure & Operations Management Summit in Berlin from the 2 - 3 June 2014. Cherwell Software is also a sponsor, but that is it (as far as I can tell) from the IT service management (ITSM) vendor community.
Now it could be that the absence of other ITSM vendors is due to cost and ROI, but allow me some leeway for a moment — what if it is actually to do with the phrase "Infrastructure & Operations"? Not necessarily the words but the order of them. For me, the order is important; after all, who ever deliberately described Wham! as "Andrew Ridgeley and George Michael"? And the most famous actor in a movie is rarely an "and Tom Hanks" unless they only have a cameo role.
But the continued use of "Infrastructure & Operations" might have an even bigger impact than the sponsors at this Gartner event …
INFRASTRUCTURE & operations?
I can understand why we talk of "Infrastructure & Operations (I&O)" — infrastructure came first and, twenty-odd years ago, the management of data center hardware, storage, and networks was critical to IT delivery. But are these words and their ordering still right in an IT world where the enterprise need for infrastructure management is waning as the management of service delivery is increasing in importance (and guess who is feeling proud not to have mentioned "cloud" or "service broker" yet)?
Ask yourself this: Does the phrase "Infrastructure & Operations" consciously or subconsciously make us focus unduly on infrastructure at the expense of operations? Does it make enterprises continue to value those that manage infrastructure over those that manage service delivery? I personally think it does. And I also think that it conflicts with what many organizations are talking to right now: the emphasis on customer or service experience, business value, and the growing use of third-parties to deliver software or infrastructure as-a-service.
Now I'm not saying we should ditch "Infrastructure & Operations" just yet
The renaming of things is a common way to hide the mistakes of the past without actually addressing them, just ask politicians. Plus trying to introduce new terminology is fraught with difficulties, how many conversations have we heard about dropping the IT from ITSM to no avail? People don't like change, and terminology change often doesn't work or takes such a long time to work that it might as well have not worked. Sexy new IT and management buzzwords is a different matter but this blog isn't about them.
Alternatively, I'm asking for people to look at the term "Infrastructure & Operations" with an open mind if not a new mindset. The Gartner event's About page offers the key benefits of attendance as:
- "I&O can be an indispensible partner as your enterprise is going digital
- I&O can transform people and processes to improve business agility and effectiveness
- IT services and operations management tools and processes will evolve to manage the ongoing investment — or migration — of legacy technology."
And the Agenda page says that the journey the I&O organization needs to make will be "discussed in the context of...
- Technology enablers — mobility, cloud and analytics
- IT operations excellence — I&O metrics and process framework adoption
- Business management — lowering cost, governance and financial management."
I might be biased, due to my personal career experience, but I can't help think that the emphasis of the event is on operations. Where the IT service rubber hits the road and the consumers of IT services make decisions as to the worth of corporate IT services and the people that provide them. Not on the most prominent, and therefore most important, part of "Infrastructure & Operations."
Nor am I saying we should flip I&O to O&I or talk to "service brokerage"
As with how I started this blog, I'm just hoping people will look at the "Infrastructure & Operations" term and question whether their use of it is unduly biasing the way that they think about the people, processes, and technology that are employed to deliver IT services. And whether they are employed and managed with the right focus and emphasis for 2014 versus 1994.
Whether the subconscious effect of the word usage and ordering (along with the potentially unhealthy shadow of "We have always done it this way") is a figment of my imagination or not, consider one final thing:
As we, as IT professionals, continue to talk about things such as business value, outside-in thinking, consumerization, and business outcomes why do we continue to describe ourselves by what we do rather than by what we help our business colleagues and employers achieve?
With my cynical hat on, it's almost as though we want to deliberately hide what it is that we do or don't do. Not a great start when you consider the key driver for attending the Gartner I&O event:
"Attend for expert advice that will help you position I&O as a key contributor to business strategy and competitive advantage."
Source: http://www.gartner.com/technology/summits/emea/it-operations/agenda.jsp
It's a great message for IT whether you work in infrastructure or operations.
So the next time you use the phrase "Infrastructure & Operations" within IT or "I&O" outside of IT, stop to think about how the phrasing is unduly influencing your thoughts, decisions, and actions. And maybe how the words are continuing to disconnect what IT does from what it can, and hopefully does, achieve.
If you're lucky enough to be at the Gartner event next week and want to talk about the importance of service experience, consumerization, and what a truly modern IT organization can achieve … As well as how ServiceNow is bringing ITSM and ITOM (IT operations management) together, then look out for this logo:
We're there to help you to help your customers (and maybe even their customers) and to ultimately improve your IT service delivery and your business.
