Last week an IT survey by Hackett Group was reported on by ZDNet with the sentence "IT needs to be more innovative and grow businesses amid stagnant budgets and staff cuts" holding up the introductory paragraph. The article then continues with:
"Welcome to 2014, which appears to have the same challenges as previous years."
It's a great point and one that, as a throwaway line, could easily be overlooked by the reader. And it's this line rather than the Hackett Group stats that inspired my blog.
So if you want to read about the key themes of the Hackett Group report, then you should read the ZDNet article. If you want to understand why I am referencing the ZDNet article, then read on.
IT's "priorities" you say?
Have you ever noticed that the word "priorities" starts with the word "prior" — which Google defines as "existing or coming before in time, order, or importance"?
So it seems fitting, if not ironic, that most IT and CIO 2014 priorities have existed prior to 2014. And, if you allow me the opportunity to be brutal for a moment, many have existed since prior to 2010 (if not earlier).
And this is my point: We talk of "IT priorities" but are they really priorities — the things that are "more important than other things and that need to be done or dealt with first."
Can you see what I am getting at? Surely if these things really were priorities in 2010, 2011, 2012, or 2013 shouldn't they have been dealt with, and replaced by new or amended priorities, by now?
Unfortunately, in the words of The Four Tops, when it comes to IT's priorities it's often the same old song.
IT priorities? More like "IT aspirations"
Surely if, year on year, we keep saying that IT needs to improve this, transform that, and develop the other in a Groundhog Day manner, then these things have not been prioritized. They are merely "IT aspirations" based on what the collection of survey respondents needs to do or think they need to do (based on the herd-effect of IT management buzzword bamboozlement).
And in some ways, these surveys feed this perpetual merry-go-round of failed aspirations, providing a high-level list of things that could (or should) be done rather than the practical things that IT organizations should be doing to achieve IT and business operations. They often quote the top ten things your average IT organization needs to do rather than helping them achieve them.
For instance, how should IT organizations cut costs or become more efficient? There's lots of ways but, as with losing weight or quitting smoking, there has to be a will to succeed and hopefully some support from others along the way.
But maybe this is where people working in IT feel safe? In my experience, those that want to act and feel strategic like the safety of fluffiness — thinking that it's hard to fail when there are no visible timelines, deadlines, or other success variables and targets. Although, this is technically untrue — these internal IT organizations are failing their corporate peers, they just haven't been found out yet.
It ain't what you do it's the way that you do it
… And that's what gets results.
So let's look forward into 2014, and beyond if you like.
Your IT organization is subscribed to the industry-agreed top ten IT priorities and everything is rosy, I just won't mention that feeling of déjí vu. But do you have the bandwidth or organizational capability to deliver against all of these priorities? Or, in fact, any of these priorities even?
To quote myself (yes, the ego has landed), I'd rather do one thing well than two things badly. And to quote the much-smarter Jim Collins, author of Good To Great:
"If you have more than three priorities, then you don't have any"
So are you still feeling comfortable backing those ten strategic IT priorities? Or are they now feeling more like ten strategic aspirations — things that you would love to do if you had the time, money, and people? But you probably won't, well not this decade.
Or are you able to benefit from the guidance and advice of others, those who have already successfully delivered the required changes or transformation to meet their priorities.
For example, the large number of ServiceNow customers presenting at Knowledge14, which is fast approaching. Take a look at the agenda to see where you can get help turning those IT aspirations into real priorities, and then into successes. Let's collectively make 2014 the year of delivered priorities.
Image source: Flickr: Banalities' Photostream
