A little bit of History

In every area of human endeavour, particularly where new technologies are involved, we see a continuing learning process by those who are constantly pushing the boundaries of possibility. Either a technological advance, or peoples' changed attitude towards it, can cause a leap forward in its exploitation. Before one horizon is reached, the next is opened up. And so it is in business IT exploitation.

In the application of computers within business, I have seen many huge leaps forward which were stimulated by technological innovation. However, the management of IT exploitation throughout business and the public services has changed little over many decades, and the organisation of the IT service is still largely as it was when its complexity and its business impact were a fraction of what they are today.

Over the years I have observed the introduction of a variety of project management disciplines that were intended to improve the delivery of IT systems, but project delays and cost over-runs continued unabated. It became clear to me that continuing emphasis on project management process issues, rather than on behavioural and cultural inadequacies, meant that the root causes of poor performance stubbornly remained. And so it is today.

The IT/Business culture disconnect has not helped. The IT professionals introducing new systems spent much time keeping up with the latest technology, often at the expense of becoming business savvy. Business people also tended to overly focus on the technological solution, at the expense of radical business process re-examination in the new e-business context.

Towards the end of the 90s, IT exploitation had reached a high penetration and degree of maturity within many corporations. However, the unrealistic vendor and academia hype associated with the dot-coms caused many boards to lose their way. They ignored the lessons that had been learned by their own IT professionals over many years, and instead accepted damaging advice from enthusiastic vendors of new technologies. The vision was certainly sound but the approach was totally misguided.

We continue to see the introduction of a vast array of new information technologies that are becoming ever more pervasive and complex, and more difficult to absorb and exploit effectively. Their impact on business process effectiveness, and on bottom line performance, has become increasingly important for future business profitability and success in the marketplace.

Such high business dependence on a function that to date has shown so many weaknesses in its delivery is worrying in the extreme. 'More of the same' has proved to be inadequate to the need and is certainly not the answer to today's pressing IT exploitation issues in both business and Government. The management of business change which is constrained within the traditional IT management structures of the past has consistently failed to address the most important issues that continue to bedevil the exploitation of IT today.

The reality is that the greatest motivating influences for change in the organisation and management of IT have been about frustration and impatience on the part of business management, and the conservatism of IT management who failed to respond effectively to deep frustrations within the business. Hence my proposals for a change in culture as well as in process, as discussed in The Drowning Director.