Consistent Inputs = Consistent Outputs (Critical message to IT Leaders)

I like consistency. I like knowing that every time I put the house key in my house’s lock, the door will open. I like knowing that if I keep batteries in the remote control, my television is going to turn on when I point the remote at it and click the power button. Of course, there are exceptions, but for the most part, that is everyone’s expectation. That when we do the proper “input”, we get the proper “output”.

In the car industry, most of the processes have been automated. Why? To get the same repeatable output each time a “product” is manufactured. This is the same across the rest of the manufacturing industry. When I was “much” younger, I worked in the Phosphate Industry as a Statistical Analyst. I loved it. I enjoyed the logic and predictability about inputs, additives, process flows and at the end of the day, a product.  A predictable product that was made up consistently of the same amount of product and effort – give or take a few percent points.

If that is the case, that you can create a predictable product by creating, following and perfecting process flows, then why are so many IT departments so resistant to implementing processes and procedures and documenting their expected end product? Isn’t that what we provide? A product?

The inputs are our knowledge, resources and efforts. The product is our problem resolution. The problem with this? You can’t count on the knowledge, resources and/or effort to be consistent. So, now what?

There are different ways to answer this question with most leading to automation or outsourcing --- but it doesn’t have to. Internal IT teams can level the playing field but don’t expect it to be without some effort and soul-searching on your part.

·         Take an honest look at the business you are supporting,
     o   Can you meet their needs with your current support model? (Worry about exceeding later – for now, just MEET expectations)
  o   How do you know?
          §  Ask the business. Face to face. Honest conversation. Don’t get defensive. (You’ll win serious brownie points for asking – as long as you follow through)
·        After you finish crying or punching out a wall in the men’s/ladies’ room, get your team together and go over your notes.
     o   Evaluate where you are falling short,
·         Create a Success Matrix (I’ve loaded one that works onto my website CGSOLUTIONSOFJAX.COM – feel free to use it – one less item for you to  have to worry about)
     o   Create a scale for Needs complete Reworking, Needs improvement, and Needs Attention.
     o   Be sure and have a column for Effort Required and another for Cost of Effort. This way you can prioritize each item based upon your resources.
·         Assign responsible persons to track progress and lead the effort.
·         Create checks and balances. It’s easy to focus on the low-hanging fruit while letting the back-breaking items wait. Don’t let this happen.
·         Ask business leaders to participate in meetings about the matrix – this way you have provided them feedback, asked for their participation which, by the way, means their tacit approval and buy-in.
     o   Be picky. If a mid-level manager has the authority to say – yep, that’s important to us, then he or she is the right person to select. If not, pick someone else.
     o   You could get turned down but you made the effort.
·         Celebrate and reward the progress.
·         Try hard not to focus on the negatives. All it will do is slow you down and discourage any positives. (I think this one is tough for people. I take my work ethic and progress personally and I get frustrated when I fail to meet my own objectives. Remember that you are only failing if you give up.)
·         Focus on creating a consistent work process. Teach it. Live it. Embrace it. (k, nuff said huh?)

Keys to Success:

·         Be realistic about what you can do with your existing team.
·         Breathe deeply frequently and stay positive (you may have no reason to be positive but if you let yourself get overwhelmed by the task at hand you’ll get overwhelmed and be of zero hope/help for your team or your business.
·         Be objective. If you can’t demonstrate the value of improving an item in business terms, focus elsewhere.

I’ve performed a fair number of technology and security assessments in the past two years and what I have found is “consistent” – although not consistency of the kind I’d prefer. The grass is NOT always greener in the Outsourced pasture.

The realities of internal versus external support:

·         Neither Internal nor external teams communicate well with the business.
·         Internal teams are not getting the training or support they need and are expected to both build and run their environments on shoe string budgets.
·         External teams are expected to do more with less just as frequently as internal teams are.
·         External teams get the training so that they can differentiate themselves from other teams.
·         External teams have executives who smooth the feathers and promise change in the event of issues. Obviously this can only go on for so long before changes are made there as well.
·         External teams are not perfect. The message from the President gets just as lost on its way down to the people on the floor as it does in an Internal Support team.

More often than not, when an internal team quits producing results, the business notices – more frequently than not – before IT management does. Close relationships with the business are key. They are not from Venus and you’re not from Mars or Pluto. You have to quit talking in bits and bytes and start talking in terms the business can relate to. Trust me, the external executives do.