Oct 01
IT Governance – Not just for the large enterprise
Mike Blair
I first started working at C/D/H in 1995. During my time here I’ve consulted in many technical areas including Novell, Microsoft and Cisco. As a network generalist, I gained a broad range of experience and skills that aid me in technical project management and IT strategy consulting. After going back to school and earning my MBA from Grand Valley State University, I found a passion for bridging IT with the business world. I discovered that there's a need for people who can talk tech and talk business.
I enjoy working with my clients on high-level strategic and financial matters related to IT and also working in the trenches, helping manage technical projects.
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Articles by Mike Blair
So I’ve been talking a lot lately about IT governance to just about anyone who will listen. The reaction I get from many people is that they just don’t have the time or resources to address it. Others think it’s just for the big companies, and their small or medium business doesn’t need IT governance. For those people I have to take some time to bust the myths about IT governance and who can play.
IT governance doesn’t have to be hard or take a lot of time. In fact, people should start small and ease into it and let a process that fits well with the company culture develop.
Remember, what you can get out of IT governance is a stronger IT organization that adds value to the business and contributes to the achievement of your business strategies. You accomplish this through better project selection and execution.
What many people don’t recognize is the relationship between project management and IT governance. Decisions need to be made about projects every day that impact the function of IT. This is a great starting point. Start by establishing a basic level of governance using the Project Charter document to define who can make decisions about the project and what the process is to do so. Authorizing a project might just take a few lines in the document. Don’t have one of those? Go back to my previous posting (http://www.cdhtalkstech.com/2009/04/23/why-project-management-matters-to-it) about the importance of project management and start there! Simply getting a team used to having formal decision making boundaries or responsibilities at the project level can set the stage for a larger process that an IT organization can grow into.
Also, governance isn’t just for the large enterprises or B-school graduates. It can be a very useful for smaller organizations to set standards for decision making ahead of time so projects move more efficiently with no confusion about priorities. Being one of those B-school guys, I can get really excited about this stuff and overwhelm a smaller organization. Do not fear – we can help you too. You don’t need a complete SharePoint portfolio management solution just to do IT governance. Let’s just start with a spreadsheet.
Actually, if you’re a CIO or IT Director, I’m sure you probably already have one. You know, the list with all the projects that hasn’t been updated since you did budgeting last spring? Take that list and add a few columns. Make one column for “Strategy” and another for “Priority”. If you don’t have one of those spreadsheets, take 30 minutes and pull one together. Just list all the projects you have going on now and those that are lined up for the next few quarters. For each project, you should be able to associate a specific business strategy that it supports. Within each strategy you should be able to prioritize each project in the priority column.
You should review your list quarterly with the group that sets strategy for your business. Ask them for input on classification and prioritization of projects. Use this list to make decisions on budget, resources and the schedule for your projects. Once you’ve got that down, you’ve got alignment and support of the business and you’ve got a start to IT governance!