Retiring Retirement - A Path to Business-IT Maturity

I’m increasingly invited to retirement celebrations for former and current consulting clients and friends.  They are quite distressing events.  First, the retiree is typically putting on a brave face, boasting about all the golf and fishing they will enjoy.  But often beneath the surface bluster is a deep-seated fear.  Sometimes they ask me if my [...]

So, What Comes After Level 3 Business-IT Maturity?

I had a question from a colleague recently that I’d like to address in this post.  She asked, “I’m going to ask a possibly ‘dumb’ question, but since I believe that there are no dumb questions I’m asking it anyway…  Since level 3 is constantly evolving i.e., today’s Level 3 will be tomorrow’s Level 2 [...]

Goodby, Shadow IT - Hello, Shadow IT

In our multi-company research WebEx call earlier this week a participant reflected on the changing attitudes to “Shadow IT” - that term IT professionals give to non-IT professionals when they ’step into their IT professional turf’ and do stuff that should have been ‘better left to the professionals.’
The Shadow IT phenomenon is a great example [...]

Reaching Level 3: The Mindset Factor

I’ve posted before on the role of ambition as a key factor in driving business-IT maturity.  I want to move beyond that and pick up the theme of mindset.  This is a topic I covered in today’s teleconference as part of our multi-client research project into business-IT maturity.
According to Wikipedia, Mindset refers to the set [...]

Re-thinking Business-IT Maturity

It’s time to update our venerable Business-IT Maturity curve - this is a BIG DEAL!  (Well, at least it is to some of us!)
For the last 10 years or so I have been drawing a simplified version of the Business-IT Maturity curve as a single ‘S’ curve, or learning curve.  I typically talk about three [...]

IT Service Management vs. IT Product Management

 
In an earlier post, I discussed the differences between and relationships among Project, Program and Portfolio management - this continues to be a popular post.  Today I’d like to explore the differences between IT Product Management and IT Service Management as they pertain to IT and to business-IT maturity.  This thread is inspired in part [...]

Elevating Business Demand Maturity - Victim or Leader?

 
I’ve touched on this theme in several posts, but I feel it’s time to call it out: don’t be a victim - be a leader!  I’m moved to get back into this because I continue to hear IT professionals bemoan the fact that “Our business partners just don’t want to use IT to innovate - [...]

Six Sigma and Process Innovation

 
The Enterprise Leadership site posted a nice piece on ITIL and Six Sigma back in December, and more recently on Getting Six Sigma Right.  I want to reflect on this, and expand on my own post a while back which discussed IT Improvement versus Breakthrough.
Quality guru W. Edwards Deming said you can focus on product [...]

Chasing Perfection?

Mark Runta posted recently on the question Are You Chasing Perfection?  He asks an important question, and makes a powerful point.
I see many IT organizations that, in the interests in getting from Business-IT Maturity Level 1 to Level 2, try for perfection, and elimination of any possible risk.  This becomes one of the sticking points [...]

Wecome Back, Information Center - All Is Forgiven!

 
Earlier in my consulting and research career, especially in the early-1980’s to mid-1990’s, an IT organizational construct typically called “The Information Center” became popular in medium to large enterprises.  The philosophy behind the Information Center (IC) could be captured in a single phrase, “teach them to fish so they’ll feed themselves for a lifetime.”
IC’s comprised [...]