Letting Users Set the Business Tech Agenda

A couple of items in a  recent article at Information Week called "IT Departments Will Set Less Of The Business Tech Agenda, Survey Suggests" caught my attention. 

"Business users want more innovative software faster and will bypass the IT department if necessary to get it."

"In some cases, the research also shows IT organizations turning a blind eye when business units take risks with smaller, more innovative approaches to software."

No doubt this is a worrisome trend for many in IT.  We sit back and say sure the centralized, integrated approach may take a little longer but if we do it we can have better information, we can have a more complete insight to our customers, we can . . ., we can. . ., we can . . .

What this brings to mind is the old riddle about 4 frogs sitting on a log. 

Q. Four frogs are sitting on a log.  Three frogs decide to jump off.  How many frogs are left on the log?

A. Four frogs.  Deciding to do something and actually doing it are not the same thing.

Likewise, software that can provide what is needed is not the same as software that does provide what is needed.

To me that is the key reason why our customers go with the alternative, non-standard solutions.  They get what the need/want from them while the centralized systems never seem to live up to their promise.  Somewhere along the line we've lost the user involvement and commitment to developing the solution as we envisioned it.  Perhaps we truly never had them.

To me the key to getting and keeping our users involved revolves around a number of things.

1. The system must meet their immediate needs
2. The system must provide results throughout the development cycle not just at the end of a long process
3. It must provide results quickly - we need "early wins"
4. The fully integrated end state must tie in with the customer's vision of how they will operate in the future
5. The process is driven by the customer's needs not IT's

If we can't do these things I believe our customers will go for the short term alternatives that do even if they don't meet the long term needs.  What are your thoughts on this?

"Frogs" photo by mstresbabette

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