12.27.11
Christmas Eve
[Cartoon]
On Christmas Eve, all the presents are wrapped and ready for the big day. After weeks and months of preparation, everyone is ready to share and see what surprises are hidden behind the paper and bows. The effort leading up to the big day is significant and worthy of a celebration by itself, but the real celebration comes when the unwrapping occurs.
At Christmas, celebrating the completion of having everything ready for the big day is rare. But, celebrating before a job is completely done is a hallmark of IT projects. The party comes when the product is launched. It is the time when IT has fulfilled its promise and delivered on the requirements given. It’s a time to recognize those that went beyond the call of duty and a time to give thanks to those that gave continuous support. It’s a time to hand out certificates of completion and enforce the team effort.
For the business, the launch of a new product is a time of apprehension. Launching a project is a major step towards success, but it is not a measure of success. IT success and business success are not the same. IT is project-minded and the business is customer-minded. IT is focused on the launch and the business is focused on the landing.
The success of the project will be measured by how well it is accepted by the customers. The measures may be in increased revenues, growth in internet or store traffic, or just in the ability to use computing capabilities in a new and innovative way.
Enterprise Architects understand that computing technology is an enabler. Although the enabler is a thing unto itself, its importance is in what it enables. While IT wants to celebrate the enabler, the business wants to celebrate the enablement. This is why Enterprise Architects are viewed as business partners in an organization and IT is often seen as a resource for completing projects. It’s no wonder that IT is often outsourced or replaced by cloud services.
For those IT organizations that do recognize that they should join the business and celebrate the landing rather than the launch, they will have a joyous and productive engagement. For those that only celebrate the launch, they will continually be unappreciated and eventually be replaced by the business.
Enterprise Architects are well-aware of the continuing evolution of technology. They creatively look for technology convergence that can provide breakthroughs in thinking. We are at one of those convergent junctions today. What is about to happen will give non-professional information technologists control of their use of automation in their business. No longer will they simply peer through windows and see only what applications let them see. They will be able to go inside, see how things work, and control their automation. – Enterprise Architects Masters of the Unseen City
Closing the Business / IT gap.
