Norm enjoys fine wine and vacations in the Tropics. He sent two kids to college and will be an empty nester after his third leaves in the fall. He's the envy of his family and everyone who has ever enjoyed his chili on July 4th. Oh, and half the IT department at his company thinks he's the antichrist.
Norm's the Director of IT Operations at a midwestern manufacturer of industrial equipment and he's just like you and me only more assertive. Plus he got a bigger raise last year.
Norm's fatal flaw? He cares so much about helping grow the business that he bungeed into Lake Pariah by suggesting to the CEO that IT was bloated and ineffective. He said all the IT employees in the world won't make a dent in the company's ambitious goal of doubling revenue in two years. He said aging IT employees were too comfortable with the status quo and don't get that without focusing on self-service and automation they'll be obsolete in five years.
Norm proposed something radical: fire half of IT and map every new dollar spent to more than one gained in new revenue. For instance: eliminate three CRM NOC admins and use Orchestration to automate monitoring and configuration management. It will reduce downtime and generate more sales proposals. Or eliminate two call center agents and invest in a community forum for supply chain vendors to crowd-source knowledge. It will lead to better answers and fewer parts outages in retail stores.
Norm isn't afraid to ask the hard questions. He places the needs of the business first and lets his integrity and commitment to customers guide his actions even when they're unpopular. Think of him as the Henry Ford of IT who knows the business needs more than a faster horse and buggy. Or the Einstein of automation, a great spirit undeterred by opposition from mediocre minds.
Think of Norm what you will but take away from his story that IT must evolve from technology traffic cop to technology advisor to remain relevant. Perhaps most important, next time you want to help the business or just give your career a fuel injection ask yourself one simple question: WWND?
