Over the years, I’ve made several wishes. Things like a gazillion dollars, magic carpets, and even a talking monkey that I could have as a best friend have all made the wish list. But one thing I do wish for daily is that Information Technology (IT) management was a one-sided coin.
In all the years I’ve managed IT shops, there is always a belief that there is a magic fairy dust that IT folks sprinkle into the ether and poof, things happen. Want to add a new facility? Sprinkle, sprinkle, and there’s a new facility with a fast internet connection. Want a new financial system? Sprinkle some fairy dust and out of nowhere, a new financial system is operational with balanced data.
This belief of magic fairy dust has also included an underlying myth that getting IT things to happen is all about IT stuff. If IT stuff and people are good, it should be easy. At least to those who aren’t in IT.
The reality, though, is that IT management is NOT a one-sided coing and there is NO magic fairy dust. The truth is that IT management requires sound operational understanding of what’s needed from IT stuff. Without that operational knowledge, things just won’t turn out correctly.
It all comes down to two (3) simple concepts. The first is that the business side of things provides the “what” of an initiative. The second is that the IT side of things provides the “how.” It’s that simple, but I do think non-IT folks sometimes think they aren’t part of the same coin.
But they are. When it comes to implementation any new system, IT and business resources MUST partner in order to accomplish a goal. If they aren’t, or worse, if one side doesn’t trust the other side, things will devolve very quickly. It’s a simple solution that’s hard to implement because system outcomes rely both a clear definition of what’s needed and a clear definition of how it will get built.
If IT management were a one-sided coin, there would never be conflict. However, managing IT is a two-sided coin and successful agencies understand and facilitate a partnership between business resources and IT. That, or they have a ton of magic fairy dust.
