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Simplicity is critical to the effective execution of IT strategy. Raj Sheelvant’s discusses on importance of simplicity in his post "Simplicity Minded Management".  He refers to Ron Ashkenas’s HBR article “Simplicity Minded Management”, where the author provides the following checklist as a guide to help to reduce complexity:

Make simplification a goal, not a virtue

• Include simplicity as a theme of the organization’s strategy
• Set specific targets for reducing complexity
• Create performance incentives that reward simplicity

Simplify the organizational structure

• Reduce levels and layers
• Increase spans of controls
• Consolidate similar functions

Prune and simplify products and services

• Employ product portfolio strategy
• Eliminate, phase out, or sell low-value products
• Counter feature creep

Discipline business and governance processes

• Create well-defined decision structures (councils, committees)
• Streamline operating processes (planning, budgeting, and so on)
• Involve employees at the grassroots level

Simplify personal patterns

• Counter communication overload
• Manage meeting time
• Facilitate collaboration across organizational boundaries

I thought this a great checklist to help reduce the complexity. Given the nature of enterprise simplicity should be critical part of an enterprise architect’s goals. Simple strategies and architectures are easier to communicate, easier to execute and easier to manage. What component of your strategy or enterprise architecture can you focus on simplifying this week?

 

Technorati Tags: Simple, Simplicity, EA, Enterprise Architecture, Strategy, Architecture, Goal, Objective

An article from Cio.com title "The Productivity Gap Between Mid-Market and Large IT Shops" really struck a cord with me. The IT service management consulting at Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) performed an analysis of recent data trends and found that:

"IT departments in Fortune 1000 enterprises actually are more productive and effective service providers than mid-market counterparts—and it has nothing to do with the amount of staffers or money spent."

Having worked in both large and mid-market IT shops, my experience supports their findings, consider the following results from their research:

• Ninety percent of mid-market IT organizations use manual processes.
• Seven out of 10 calls for IT support are a direct result of incorrect operating procedures, meaning self-inflicted by the IT staff.
• Eight out of 10 IT system outages are caused by a failed change—meaning, an IT staffer "didn’t take the time to consider the ramifications of making a change to the infrastructure,"
• As much as 80 percent of the actual IT department is replicated by "shadow IT" workers in the business because IT is too busy to service their customers effectively.
• Research from EMA and The Standish Group show that approximately 70 percent of mid-market IT projects fail.
• Larger companies of the Fortune 1000 support almost three times—2.9 times, to be precise—as many users per IT staff member than mid-market companies….. The Fortune 1000 user-to-IT-worker ratio is 512 users for every one IT worker; in the mid-market, the ratio is 175-to-1…..this makes "mid-market IT organizations only about one-third as effective as their larger Fortune 1000 cousins.

The reason for the different in large and mid-market organisations is not about the money spent of IT and it’s not about the number of staff. The primary difference is in the productivity of the IT organisation. The reason for the low levels of productivity in mid-market organisations are due to:

1. Lack of specialisation: The research found that mid-market organisations have "more generalist approach with a shared team and few if any specialists…. These teams work harder and have less time to dedicate to any particular technology or specialization".
2. Poor IT processes: "IT is too busy to adopt huge [process-oriented] frameworks like ITIL, Six Sigma, CobiT or formal IT project management," Marquis writes. "But the reason they are so busy is precisely because they have no formal processes…. average IT organization is its own worst customer and responsible for most of the outages to which it finds itself reacting," he writes. "In fact, most of the work going on in the average IT organization is not productive work at all, but rather is re-work."

This research provides some interesting insight into mid-market IT organisations. If you’re working in a mid-market IT organisation investing in robust IT processes and specialisation can significantly increase the productivity of your IT shop.

 

Technorati Tags: Specialisation, Strategy, Research, Process, ITIL, COBIT

A research report from IT Governance Limited found that:

"…only 12 percent of businesses take technology seriously enough to operate full board-level oversight of their IT resources…..boards still appear to be lagging badly in implementing appropriate IT governance measures. IT governance frameworks, such as ITIL, CoBIT and ISO27001, also appear to be used in less than 50 percent of organisations."

Other findings from the study includes:

• Less than 7 percent said that board members understood the risks posed to business operations by information and IT systems.
• Over 57 percent said that directors and officers failed to understand the age and health of the current IT portfolio and the business implications of deferring maintenance.
• Less than 37 percent said that IT governance frameworks were integrated with their company’s enterprise risk management regime.
• Asked if their companies used standard IT governance frameworks, such as ITIL, CoBIT, ISO17799 or PMBOK, 9 percent said yes, and 19 percent said that good progress was being made towards this.

These finding really surprised me… I expected to see an higher percentage of organisations adopting these best practice frameworks, especially considering the emphasis on corporate governance and risk management…!

 

Technorati Tags: IT Governance, Governance, Strategy, Business, Management, Research, IT,ITIL, COBIT, PMBOK, ISO17799

The Harvard Working Knowledge has an article "Ten Principles of IT Governance" by Peter Weill and Jeanne W. Ross, taken from their HBS Press book "IT Governance". The ten principles listed below provide a good foundation for your IT governance programme.

1. Actively design governance: "Many enterprises have created disparate IT governance mechanisms. These uncoordinated mechanism "silos" result from governance by default—introducing mechanisms one at a time to address a particular need (for example, architecture problems or overspending or duplication). Patching up problems as they arise is a defensive tactic that limits opportunities for strategic impact from IT. Instead, management should actively design IT governance around the enterprise’s objectives and performance goals….. Not only does overall governance require active design, but each mechanism also needs regular review. Focus on having the fewest number of effective mechanisms possible…..  Many enterprises with effective IT governance have between six and ten integrated and well-functioning mechanisms. One goal of any governance redesign should be to assess, improve, and then consolidate the number of mechanisms."
2. Know when to redesign: "Rethinking the whole governance structure requires that individuals learn new roles and relationships. Learning takes time. Thus, governance redesign should be infrequent. Our recommendation is that a change in governance is required with a change in desirable behavior….. governance processes communicate and enforce new desirable behaviors to facilitate organizational transformations."
3. Involve senior managers: "In our study, firms with more effective IT governance had more senior management involvement. CIOs must be effectively involved in IT governance for success. Other senior managers must participate in the committees, the approval processes, and performance reviews. For many enterprises, this involvement is a natural extension of senior management’s normal activities….. CIOs must be effectively involved in IT governance for success…. Many senior managers are willing to be involved but are not sure where to best contribute. It’s very helpful for the CIO and his or her staff to communicate IT governance on one page with a picture like the Governance Arrangements Matrix. The matrix provides a vehicle for discussing each senior manager’s role and any concerns they have."
4. Make choices: "Good governance, like good strategy, requires choices. It’s not possible for IT governance to meet every goal, but governance can and should highlight conflicting goals for debate. As the number of tradeoffs increases, governance becomes more complex. Top-performing enterprises handle goal conflicts with a few clear business principles. The resulting IT principles reflect these business principles…. Some of the most ineffective governance we have observed was the result of conflicting goals."
5. Clarify the exception-handling process: "Exceptions are how enterprises learn. In IT terms, exceptions challenge the status quo, particularly the IT architecture and infrastructure. Some requests for exceptions are frivolous, but most come from a true desire to meet business needs. Formally approved exceptions offer a second benefit in addition to formalizing organizational learning about technology and architecture. Exceptions serve as a release valve, relieving the enterprise of built-up pressure. Managers become frustrated if they are told they can’t do something they are sure is good for business…….If the exception proposed by a business unit has value, a change to the IT architecture could benefit the entire enterprise. We have described the exceptions process of UPS, State Street Corporation, and other enterprises. All these exemplars have three common elements to their exceptions procedures:
   • The process is clearly defined and understood by all. Clear criteria and fast escalation encourage only business units with a strong case to pursue an exception.
   • The process has a few stages that quickly move the issue up to senior management. Thus, the process minimizes the chance that architecture standards will delay project implementation.
   • Successful exceptions are adopted into the enterprise architecture, completing the organizational learning process."
6. Provide the right incentives: "… a common problem we encountered in studying IT governance was a misalignment of incentive and reward systems with the behaviors the IT governance arrangements were designed to encourage. The typical concern: ‘How can we expect the governance to work when the incentive and reward systems are driving different behavior?’ "
7. Assign ownership and accountability for IT governance: "Like any major organizational initiatives, IT governance must have an owner and accountabilities. Ultimately, the board is responsible for all governance, but the board will expect or delegate an individual (probably the CEO or CIO) or group to be accountable for IT governance design, implementation, and performance—similar to the finance committee or CFO being accountable for financial asset governance. In choosing the right person or group, the board, or the CEO as their designate, should consider three issues…. First, IT governance cannot be designed in isolation from the other key assets of the firm (financial, human, and so on). Thus the person or group owning IT governance must have an enterprise-wide view that goes beyond IT, as well as credibility with all business leaders…. Second, the person or group cannot implement IT governance alone. The board or CEO must make it clear that all managers are expected to contribute to IT governance as they would contribute to governance of financial or any other key asset…. Third, IT assets are more and more important to the performance of most enterprises. A reliable, cost-effective, regulation-compliant, secure, and strategic IT portfolio is more critical today than ever before. The person or group owning IT governance must understand what the technology is and is not capable of. It is not the technical details that are critical but a feel for the two-way symbiotic connection between strategy and IT…. Our recommendation is that the board or CEO hold the CIO accountable for IT governance performance with some clear measures of success."
8. Design governance at multiple organizational levels: "In large multi-business unit enterprises it is necessary to consider IT governance at several levels. The starting point is enterprise-wide IT governance driven by a small number of enterprise-wide strategies and goals. Enterprises with separate IT functions in divisions, business units, or geographies require a separate but connected layer of IT governance…. The lower levels of governance are influenced by mechanisms designed for higher levels. Thus, we advocate starting with the enterprise-wide IT governance, as it will have implications for the other levels of governance."
9. Provide transparency and education: "It’s virtually impossible to have too much transparency or education about IT governance. Transparency and education often go together—the more education, the more transparency, and vice versa. The more transparency of the governance processes, the more confidence in the governance.  Many firms like State Street Corporation use portals or intranets to communicate IT governance. State Street’s portal includes under the section ‘IT Boards, Committees, and Councils’ a description of the Architecture Committee and all the other governance bodies. The portal includes tools and resources, such as a glossary of IT terms and acronyms and the ‘Computer Contract Checklist.’ Often portals include lists of approved or recommended products. Templates for proposing IT investments complete with spreadsheets to calculate the IT business value are often available….. The less transparent the governance processes are, the less people follow them. The more special deals are made, the less confidence there is in the process and the more workarounds are used…. Communicating and supporting IT governance is the single most important IT role of senior leaders…… Firms in our study with more effective governance also had more effective governance communication. The more formal vehicles for communication were the most important."
10. Implement common mechanisms across the six key assets:  "We began the book by describing how IT governance fits into corporate governance. We contend that enterprises using the same mechanisms to govern more than one of the six key assets have better governance…… relationship assets….IP assets……human assets…..information and IT assets……physical assets….financial assets….. Many enterprises successfully coordinate their six assets within a project but not across the enterprise via governance."

This is a great check list that can be used to start or review our existing IT governance structure and process. Given this list how effective is your existing governance mechanisms? Which one action can you take this week to strengthen IT governance with your organisation?

 

Technorati Tags: Enterprise Architecture, Governance, Principles, IT Governance, IT Strategy, EA, Architecture, Business, Leadership, Management

A Cutter Associates study of enterprise architectures in buy-side asset-management firms cites six reasons why these firms should adopt a framework and structure for enterprise architecture. The report cites six reasons why these firms should adopt a framework and structure for enterprise architecture:

1. Achieve greater flexibility and capacity for acquisitions, new products and new investment instruments.
2. Reduce IT’s time to market.
3. Adapt better to changes in the vendor landscape, industry trends and regulatory environment.
4. Align IT and business to the same set of priorities.
5. Reduce cost to business and IT.
6. Improve communication within IT and between IT and business people.

Source: Wall Street & Technology

Technorati Tags: Enterprise Architecture, Architecture, Cutter, Research, EA

Cio.com provides insight into IT strategic planning with "8 IT strategic planning pitfalls" which we should consider and avoid in our IT planning:

• The Doorstop Plan: "This is not War and Peace. Aim for 15 pages, says Gartner VP Dave Aron, who saw one IT plan weigh in at 250 pages. Consider PowerPoint instead of Word as your medium of choice, says Cullen. It fosters brevity. And limit it to 25 slides."
• The Shelfware Plan: "There’s nothing as worthless as what Aron calls the ‘write once, read never’ plan. ‘The strategic plan needs to be a living thing,’ says IT consultant Laurie Orlov. To avoid seeing your plan become shelfware, keep the people who helped create it involved, have it handy and refer to it often. ‘One CIO I know starts every meeting with a strategy moment: He asks, how will our business win and how does this meeting help?’ says Aron."
• Don’t Wait ‘Til Next Year: "Strategic plans ‘require regular revalidation and refreshment,’ says Orlov. Michael Hites, CIO of New Mexico State University, updates his three times a year."
• The Devil Really Is in All Those Details: "Details don’t belong in the strategic plan. It should be a stake in the ground, says Orlov.
• Carved in Stone and Just as Heavy: "You don’t want to go the ‘we-agreed-to-that-and-we’ll-never-change-it’ route," says Orlov. Expect the unexpected. ‘What if the company suddenly makes an acquisition or there’s a leadership change?’ Cullen asks. Want to really elevate your plan? Include scenario or contingency planning."
• The English As a Second Language Trap: "Too many IT strategic plans are written in jargon. You’re setting a direction for IT to support the business. Do so in business terms…. Throw out the IT lingo. Connect your goals to key business drivers."
• One Size Doesn’t Fit All: "…Create customized versions of your plan to address the differing needs of the plan’s audiences—the executive team, the IT department, business unit heads and vendors/partners. At the very least, create a customized introduction or executive summary. The goal, says Cullen, is to have one strategy and several ways of presenting it."
• Shooting for the Stars: "Keep it real. ‘Don’t be too ambitious in your first plan,’ advises Cullen. ‘Don’t try to change everything.’ When it doubt, underpromise and overdeliver."

 

Do you have any tips from your experience that you can add to this list?

 

Technorati Tags: IT Strategy, IT, Planning, Strategy, Leadership, Management, Architecture, Mistakes

Global Enterprise Architecture Organisation post on their blog titled "Enterprise Architecture within a Social Ecosystem" discussing how we "tend to treat the complexity of humans beings as information processors as a part of the context surrounding our work, rather than a topic within its scope." This undermines the effectiveness of our enterprise architecture efforts. The social context in which our architectural work take place requires careful consideration if our architectures are to be adopted. 

Here are a few specific instances of ways in which social scientists have long known that the human mind tends not to work precisely as we might expect:

• People tend to find it difficult to visualize a future that is different than the past. We’re natural extrapolaters. For example, when the housing market has been going up for a few years, almost no one can conceive a future in which the median house price will be flat or falling. Similarly, overbuying when times are good and overselling when they are not has plagued the stock market for decades.
• People tend not to periodically re-test the assumptions on which they are basing their behavior to determine whether or not those assumptions still hold. Encyclopedia Brittanica did not properly adjust its business model when Microsoft Encarta debuted, because they continued to assume that all "serious" reference would be published in paper form. They had to declare bankruptcy a couple of years later.
• When preparing to reach a decision, people tend to factor in only a subset of the relevant information, because the full range of variables exceeds the "seven plus or minus two" that they can deal with concurrently.
• People tend to acquire imaginary "property rights" in places and roles they have occupied for a long time. This gives rise to fief building, infighting and other maladaptive uses of enterprise property.
• People tend to perform better when moderately challenged, especially by novelty, and less well when bored.
• Mathematical diagnostic models derived from expert’s judgments frequently outperform the experts themselves because the models eliminate the "noise" in human thinking.

If the people and social issues are considered up-front, they can be incorporated into our planning and mitigated to help ease the adoption of new architectures, ideas and practices. The ultimate goal of any enterprise architecture programme is adoption! Sound architecture and engineering is important, but these aspects aren’t as important as creating the organisations change, required to ensure adoption and the unlocking of business value. This requires a robust social architecture! How much of the softer people and social issues do you consider and plan for in your enterprise architecture initiatives?

 

Technorati Tags: Social Architecture, Change, Change Management, Management, Leadership, Enterprise Architecture, Architecture

The  United States Government Accountability Office defines enterprise architecture as follows:

An enterprise architecture is a blueprint that describes the current and desired state of an organization or functional area in both logical and technical terms, as well as a plan for transitioning between the two states. Enterprise architectures are a recognized tenet of organizational transformation and IT management in public and private organizations. Without an enterprise architecture, it is unlikely that an organization will be able to transform business processes and modernize supporting systems to minimize overlap and maximize interoperability.

United States Government Accountability Office, "Enterprise Architecture: Leadership Remains Key to Establishing and Leveraging Architectures for Organizational Transformation," August 2006. An abstract of the work (with links to the full version) can be viewed and downloaded here.

 

Technorati Tags: Definition, Enterprise Architecture, Architecture

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