Smart people can make stupid decisions. Case in point: business executives who decide they can address their technology needs without involving IT, responding to the IT supply-and-demand crunch that afflicts so many enterprises today.
In my experience, nobody wins in these do-it-yourself projects. The executive who sponsors the project puts his or her reputation on the line by promising outcomes dependent on technologies that he or she is ill-equipped to develop, implement, or manage. The IT executive finds him- or herself powerless, relegated to integration and support tasks without having had adequate resources and time allocated for the project. Meanwhile, the CFO watches dollars flying out the window as the budget for ill-conceived and poorly executed initiatives becomes a moving target.
But although it’s tempting to try to redirect a DIY technology initiative and send it back into the arms of IT, that’s usually the wrong thing to do. Invariably, the IT executive will try, but fail, to address the technology needs of the now very grumpy executive. The very grumpy executive will blame his or her function’s performance issues on the lack of the necessary technology to support the unit’s plans. And the CFO will discover that it costs more to stop a DIY project (while trying to satisfy the requirements of the ever-grumpier executive) than it does to let it go forward subject to agreements with the executive to operate within newly defined guardrails regarding costs, benefits, and timing.
Once begun, DIY projects take on a life of their own and it’s in the best interests of all involved to make the best of a bad situation. IT should heed the advice of one wise CIO and treat the projects as a “great opportunity to partner, change their organization and save everyone’s job” by supporting the initiative and improving the way future project priorities are defined and the speed at which technology is delivered. And CFOs should snatch (at least a little) victory from the jaws of defeat by holding the business executive accountable for delivering performance improvements enabled by the new technology.
The only way to prevent DIY projects from emerging in the first place is to set up a situation in which business leaders would never consider going rogue — by pursuing low-priority initiatives and/or contracting directly with an external IT provider. As CFO, you should partner with your CIO to:
1) Sponsor an IT prioritization process in which business leaders can get to weigh in and have their voices heard. Once decisions are made, however, everyone is expected to buy in.
2) Ensure that IT operates as a “one-stop shop” (by brokering internal as well as external technology solutions and delivery approaches), and stipulate that IT-related procurement decisions require IT approval.
While it’s a given that smart people at times make stupid decisions, they rarely embark on courses of action that run counter to their best interests. DIY projects are a symptom of enterprise incentives and capabilities gone awry. Help your smart people make smarter IT decisions by learning from — not stopping — DIY projects.
Orginally published at CFO.com
What's difficult is when this type of behavior comes from the very top. When there is a culture and an environment that almost encourages rogue IT. Case in point, the company I work for continues to purchase other companies and many times consults IT. But, it's not as a strategic partner with a plan of how to fold them into the current IT environment, it's more of can you check the code to see if it works. Once the acquisition happens, we are left with dead bodies around trying to clean up the mess all the while trying from the middle management level promoting partnership and strategic prioritization...with little to no avail.
Top-down sludge is common. When you have technologically savvy people, you do not want to unilaterally push some solution at them; it is smarter to build consensus and obtain buy-in for integrating a new solution. Otherwise, you get an expensive failure. I have seen quite a passel of these grotesqueries come from management that knows little or nothing about what it's doing. In a word: don't surprise people from out of the blue.
Top-down sludge is common. When you have technologically savvy people, you do not want to unilaterally push some solution at them; it is smarter to build consensus and obtain buy-in for integrating a new solution. Otherwise, you get an expensive failure. I have seen quite a passel of these grotesqueries come from management that knows little or nothing about what it's doing. In a word: don't surprise people from out of the blue.
Small companies avoid IT "buy-in" because IT sections rarely listen to what management actually want. Instead any request sees sledgehammers brought out to crack walnuts, with lots of toys for boys and fat salaries that seem to create more bottlenecks than they solve. If IT want more "buy-in" they need to listen harder, and think simpler. You IT types may like all the bells and whistles, but, trust me on this, NO ONE else does.