Continued from ../../../../../../insights/2009/03/12/does-this-sound-like-your-it-department/
The premise of this and subsequent posts is that the situation described in the previous post can change.
What has to be done is to deliver on all those change requests, and finish those current projects so you can start new ones (there will always be new ones). At risk of sounding like a psychedelic poster, this means accepting the things you can’t change and changing the things you can.
What can’t you change right now?
... The installed base of legacy systems.
... The backlog of change requests and bugs (even if you do manage to deal with a lot of these things, there will be new ones come along to take their place; that is job security).
... Senior management’s’ conflicting priorities for IT.
All of this is pent-up like rising waters behind a dam ready to burst. Something has to change, but you can’t just blow a hole in the dam, the result would be chaos.
So, what can you change (or at least start to change?)
... The structuring and management of the IT projects.
... Overall management of staff by skills/specialties.
... Allocation of staff to the projects.
What follows in these posts is my prescription for this change, supported by some war stories, lessons learned, and lots of ideas to try. Even an ‘average’ company has some unique aspects, so maybe not everything in these posts will work for everyone, but I hope to give you enough ideas that some will work. My own fervent belief is that visible success with IT projects may lead to softening/improvement of the things you can’t change right now.
Next Time: Principles for IT Projects Success