When do you need better IT Governance?

It’s rare to find an IT organization with more people and funding than they have things to do.  Usually it’s the opposite…far more things to do than time or money.  Numerous individuals and groups have great ideas that involve IT, creating an extensive backlog of projects and tasks which aren’t always prioritized across the organization.  Add to that people experiencing unplanned technical difficulties seeking IT’s help plus executives who expect any of their bright ideas to receive IT’s immediate attention and the IT department can be a very busy, intense place to work.  Sometimes despite all of IT’s hard work and personal heroics, business leaders still see IT as more of an impediment than partner to the business.  

Lots of things can cause this but the governance model frequently is a major one.  

Governance is about establishing a common understanding of

1.       Who has authority to make what decisions or undertake what actions

2.       Who must be consulted before making a decision or taking an action

3.       How are decisions made

4.       Who needs to be informed of decisions

5.       Who is accountable

6.       How are conflicts resolved

How do you know if your governance model is a culprit?   

Look for the following symptoms:

1.       Collisions occur frequently.  The colloquialism is “people are stepping on each other’s toes."  Multiple people think they have the authority to decide or do things, resulting in contention or redundant efforts.  Few companies and employees can afford duplication of effort.  And, quite frankly, many people get a bit ticked off if they are working on something only to discover someone else is already doing it or has already done it.  The result?  In addition to people wasting their time, often it's accompanied by a little workplace drama.

2.       Circular ownership occurs frequently.  The colloquialism here is “things are falling on the floor.”  In this case, people assume other people own something but those people also assume someone else owns it.  Consequently, no one ones it and important things don’t get done due to the gap in responsibility.  The expectations based upon incorrect assumptions can be the source of frustration because people recognized these tasks needed to be done and unjustly blamed others when they don't get done.  This also introduces counter-productive drama sometimes.

3.       The staff spends more than 10% of their time running around in react-mode.  A good question to ask is, “What percentage of the day do my employees spend doing what they planned to do each day versus having to fight the day’s fires?”  In a well-governed organization, the average day runs according to plan versus a non-stop merry-go-round of emergencies and urgent tasks.

4.       There’s a history of making poor decisions.

Some of the common sub-optimal areas of governance are portfolio management, project management, offering management, strategy and planning, financial accounting, audit, risk, and business continuity.  Having a plan or procedures is not enough.  There has to be uniform understanding of and respect for roles, accountability, rules of engagement, decision-making processes, and communication.  This must occur not only within the IT organization but between IT and the business.

Stay tuned for ideas for creating a harmonious governance model between IT and the business.

And a shout-out of thanks to my colleague Gisbert for giving me some ideas for this article.