Finding an alternative to metrics in assessing success
When deciding whether to make a change, start by setting goals and then develop metrics to gauge your progress
Follow @ITCatalystsDear Bob ...
I am working with my leadership team to implement a strategy of collaboration between IT and our business partners. I've read your article "Run IT as a business -- why that's a train wreck waiting to happen," Advice Line, 1/18/2010) and completely subscribe to the theory of governance within IT, and I'm trying to put together quantitatively a proposal within my company to begin down this road. I'm looking for some solid numbers though to help support my proposal from an industry standpoint.
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Do you have specific industry numbers to support this model? If so, can you share them with me?
- Change Agent
Dear Mr. Agent ...
Not only don't I have any numbers, I don't even know what numbers to have. We're talking about a strategic internal shift. Strategic shifts don't generally improve metrics -- they change which metrics matter.
An example: With the standard model, "IT projects" are considered successful when they have provided all planned deliverables according to the signed-off specifications.
What often happens is that IT considers the project successful, even when nobody in the business ever makes use of the software. For example, when business managers complain that the spec was wrong, that they had no idea what the spec meant when they signed off on it, and that they only did so because if they didn't, their project couldn't move forward.
So according to the metric, the project was successful, even though no business benefit ever appeared and the most important result was an argument.
Compare that to the model I described in the article (and explain in detail in my most recent book). There are no IT projects -- everything is about business change or improvement. Here's what will happen to the metrics:
