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Voicemail
“… Hi, this is John’s voicemail. I am currently unavailable. You see, we have our annual strategy session with all of the IT management and the leaders of the business units. And it seemed perfect timing to make a change this year. Think about it: IT strategy is more crucial than ever. The wolves are howling in the deserted, grey streets of the economy and we are in desperate need of creative ideas. And not only about how to save money on the IT department. We are also looking for fresh, new ways to use technology to tackle the downturn and find a path forward.
Oh, by the way, this year we are not in that luxurious neo renaissance chateau. Instead we are in this nice little motel. Very convenient, just near the motorway and all.
Anyway, IT strategy. If it is so crucial to the success of our company, why are we so careless about it? Last year, it was difficult enough to get all of the major stakeholders together for one lousy day at the chateau. Well, nearly all of them, that is. Even when I was on my way, I received a hurried cancellation. Something about an emergency client tender, although I have never heard anything about that one ever since. The rest of the attendees sort of trickled into the room during the course of the morning and actually it was already 11 AM when we were really up to speed. Just before lunch, actually (they served an excellent Californian Chardonnay, come to think of it).
So, only a few days before I had realised that some preparation might have been nice. And to admit it frankly, the supporting documentation was just hastily thrown together. Rubbish, really.
Not that it mattered. Not a single soul had gone through it. So we ended up explaining and discussing the basic arguments at least three times again. And when we finally had our session, nobody seemed to be connected. Some of the attendees where shamelessly checking email on their laptops. Others choose to use the Blackberry, hidden under the table. When one of my colleges ran out of the room for the fourth time in a row, nervously answering an incoming phone call, something just broke me.
That’s why we are doing our IT strategy planning a bit different this year. We are incommunicado for a full three days and we all left our phones at home. Also, we won’t be using a laptop to make minutes. Just to make sure.
By all means , leave a message after the beep. I may call you back. In a week or two…”.
First published as part of my 'Slow IT' series on SlowPlanet
Posted by Ron Tolido on December 2, 2008 in
Strategy
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Comments
# on December 3, 2008 10:20 PM, Nick said:
It's that same kind of "present tense only" thinking (can't do it now because it's not billable and by association it's not important) that defines rules that say doing NBD work (new business development) doesn't count towards employee utilization. So while you are possibly making the company a better place to work, and creating new revenue streams (coming up with strategies and new uses of technology, helping enhance the corporate brand, etc), you are actually hurting your chances towards a promotion and career development. The reason being that today you are a loss for the company.
So in essence, where as it's essential for the corporation as a whole to not only continue operating as is and at the same time be able to innovate and re-invent itself, it's actually far better for the employee to bang his or her head against the wall doing anything to make money for the entire year, then it is to spend 6 months doing innovative work that may lead to new revenue streams. In reality, there should be room for both, and currently there is not.
If we look at the current U.S. auto situation, and how it's being blamed on the unions (if you listen to Fox News that is), they are really missing the point. Union or not, the U.S. auto industry had such an advantage over the rest of the world for such a long time, that they could have spent an absurd amount of their yearly earnings on developing all types of new cars (say Hybrids) while still pulling a profit. They did not. If the proof is in the pooding, then proof of this theory is that the 2008 Ford Mustang is practically same exact car both in design and functionality (minus outside technology improvements - i.e. gps systems, mp3 players, etc ) as the make and model that came out over 40 years ago. While it's features, specifically saftey, got progressively better, the vehicle is still the same. They just kept finding more efficient and cheaper way to make them.
While I refuse to believe that people were sitting there, twisting their mustaches, launghing menacingly like Dr. Evil, and intentionally going out of their way to stop auto innovation (although, seriously, where are our electronic cars), I also find it impossible to believe that no one had the foresight to see that gas prices may some day be a barrier to drive. In fact, I'm probably sure that it was thought of, was considered a great idea, and it just got pushed to the back burner so that we could make a "stronger, more rugged" Dodge Ram. However, now everyone wants a Prius, and the foreign hybrid imports because of gas prices. It's the idea that today is what is important, not planning for tomorrow, that got us all into trouble in the first place.
So the real question, as I see it, is how do we stop ourselves from repeating this same mistake? How does IT anywhere stop itself from making itself and it's company obsolete? If there is no funding for innovation, and no innovation leader how can they innovate?