Pushback: A Critical Success Factor in IT Request Management

[MichaelDortch]

IT leaders and their teams often find themselves in what I like to call a 'Dickensian dichotomy' — a "best of times, worst of times" situation. With access to tools such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) and ServiceNow, savvy IT teams can do almost anything enterprise users ask of them. That's the "best of times" part. It's also the "worst of times" part, because it means that IT can find itself drowning in an ever-rising sea of requests. In the case of drowning, IT might find itself simply saying "no" to all requests not generated by IT itself. We know all too well where that approach leads — to IT being perceived as a hostile impediment to the business.

So what's an IT team to do? Say "yes" to everything and constantly risk dilution of efforts, distraction from primary goals, and failure? Or say "no" to everything and risk being perceived as "the department of 'no,'" "the sales prevention department," or worse?

IT Request Management Starts with One Question

The best response to that apparently never-ending sea of requests is a question, the same question in response to each request. That question is:

"Why does the business need this?"

This pushback may be seen as challenging, if not confrontational. It is, but in a good, if not great way. It puts the onus on the requester(s) to see and frame their request in the only context that matters: benefit to the business. The benefits should be meaningful and measurable in ways even CxOs outside of IT can understand.

So how best to do this while maintaining cordial, collegial relationships with your user/requesters? For some answers, including "FIve Steps IT Request Management Should Follow," "IT Request Management in ServiceNow" and some other views you can use on this subject, check out the rest of my post at http://intreis.com/pushback-it-request-management/ -- and of course, your comments are welcome, there and/or here!