3 ways IT departments waste time and effort

Is your IT department efficient or have you recognized instances when your department wastes time?

Here are three ways many large IT organizations typically pour time and effort down the drain.

Micromanagement – In many IT departments, work items are managed down to the microscopic level, workload are prioritized and distributed down to each productive resource and cost estimates are compiled, according to John Wyss, director for product management at financial software company Intuit Inc.

This practice might be ideal for projects such as building an aircraft or a bridge where predictable progress and proper sequencing are critical, Wyss said. However, micromanagement can be “poison” for teams building software against a set of constraints.

Budget constraints – Among the most challenging constraints to a project, said Wyss, are those set by the budget.

All too often, the budget can be spent on process, tracking, and “lots of people debating whether to fix this bug or that – rather than just getting on with the work,” he said. Problems that arise from such a situation are often the result of bad project management.

Not having the right people in charge – Wyss said the real problem is poor strategy but in removing the power to make decisions from people doing the work.

For example, if IT engineers are in charge of what they are doing, they are allowed to work within the parameters of what they know, rather than within the confines of a template.

RELATED CONTENT

How Canadian CIOs should practices best practices
Five acts of CIO best practices

No matter how well designed, templates tend to be inflexible, said Wyss. They end up forcing IT specialists to waste a lot of time to make their ideas fit the template.

He said it might be better to let IT professionals do the job first and report back later. The rationale being that as long as the desired results are achieved, details of how it was arrived at are “almost irrelevant.”

By giving those who know how to get their jobs done the reins, a leader is communicating faith in the abilities of the workers. This translates into better results and less waste, said Wyss.

Read the whole story here

 

Would you recommend this article?

Share

Thanks for taking the time to let us know what you think of this article!
We'd love to hear your opinion about this or any other story you read in our publication.


Jim Love, Chief Content Officer, IT World Canada

Featured Download

Featured Articles

Cybersecurity in 2024: Priorities and challenges for Canadian organizations 

By Derek Manky As predictions for 2024 point to the continued expansion...

Survey shows generative AI is a top priority for Canadian corporate leaders.

Leaders are devoting significant budget to generative AI for 2024 Canadian corporate...

Related Tech News

Tech Jobs

Our experienced team of journalists and bloggers bring you engaging in-depth interviews, videos and content targeted to IT professionals and line-of-business executives.

Tech Companies Hiring Right Now