Published: September 26 2008, 01:54 PM | no comments
by Steve Romero

I experienced first-hand a spectacular example of IT Governance in action as I presented on that very topic at Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA). Ironically, my original flight to the meeting was cancelled, but that does not diminish my appreciation for what I witnessed there.

LAWA is a unique system of four airports owned and operated by the City of Los Angeles. The four airports are Los Angeles International, LA/Ontario International, Van Nuys and LA/Palmdale Regional Airports.

A member of the IT Enterprise Architecture organization within LAWA recently attended my IT Governance presentation at a local CA office. At his suggestion, the Office of Enterprise Architecture and the CIO invited me to address their newly formed Enterprise Architecture Advisory Committee.

The venue for the meeting was rather grand. It was a large room with theatre seating and an impressive conference table surrounded by high-back leather chairs. There were a number of IT folks in the theatre seats and the members of the committee sat at the conference table.

The meeting kicked off with a round of introductions - and I was floored! This IT Enterprise Architecture Advisory Committee was comprised almost entirely of Business Leaders! Check out these lists!

The non-IT attendees were from the following operation and business divisions:

• Airport Police
• Airport Operations
• Landside Operations
• Engineering and Project Management
• LAX Development Management
• Financial Systems
• Budgeting & Debt Management
• Property Management
• Residential Acquisition
• Procurement

In addition to representing their organizational areas, these business leaders are also representing the following divisions of the enterprise:

• Construction and Maintenance
• Facility Planning
• Environmental Management
• Concession Management
• Accounting Operations
• Internal Auditing
• Risk Management
• Human Resources

One of the main points I make in my IT Governance presentation is that IT Governance is a function of the business, and not IT. It requires the business to be a partner if not a leader in the effort. I usually go on to convince my predominantly IT-centric audiences of their responsibility to engage and energize their business partners.

My experience with LAWA was uniquely exhilarating and encouraging. I was talking to the right people! It is rare that I present to so many members of the business and here I was talking to leaders representing every major area of the LAWA enterprise.

It was refreshing to meet a CIO that recognizes the criticality and value of business participation in IT Governance. During my presentation, he shared how their IT organization is addressing various IT Governance processes and mechanisms. He offered comments on how he valued business participation and the resulting insights, opinions and views - recognizing how critical those elements are to reasoned and rationale decision making. As I have said before, IT Governance is a journey, and given the level of business engagement, LAWA is well on their way.

As I sat on the tarmac waiting for a gate to open so that my plane could return to correct an electrical issue, this minor setback was greatly tempered by my wonderful experience with IT Governance at Los Angeles World Airports.

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Published: September 23 2008, 05:33 AM | no comments
by Steve Romero

Does the term "governance" evoke a positive or negative response in your organization? If "governance" is viewed as something negative, what can you do to overcome that perception?

In my last blog, I wrote about the negative view of processes and process management shared by many people in our organizations. A couple of days after drafting that blog, I attended an informal presentation by some IT leaders from a healthcare company. They were providing a high-level review of their experiences fostering and implementing service management for their enterprise. In their conversation, they too discussed the negative perceptions that can be associated with particular terms. In this case, the term was "ITIL," as well as the associated term "Service Management."

Many members of this healthcare institution's leadership team shared a negative view of ITIL® and of service management in general. These executives had experienced failed efforts in the past that left them jaded. If there was to be any hope of introducing and establishing service management, these new advocates of ITIL needed to first overcome the negative perception of the term.

How did they do it? The answer in this case was painfully if not ridiculously simple - they changed the term! Instead of calling it "service management," they referred to it as "service excellence." They did so because there was already an executive-sponsored strategic initiative in place of the same name. The name change quickly did the trick and they have since experienced continued success.

I didn't know whether to laugh or to cry when I heard this. It made me think of the countless times I have heard folks say that in their organizations governance is a dirty word. In almost every case, these negative perceptions are based on a complete misunderstanding of IT Governance. Knowing this, my first inclination used to be to educate the naysayers and change their minds. I have personally experienced the time-consuming nature - if not outright futility - of this approach.

I know some may take issue with using this name changing tactic to further their causes. It is not blatantly deceitful, but a few people may think of it as a bit surreptitious.

As for me, I appreciate the brilliance of this simple solution. I am reminded of the words of our wise friend William Shakespeare, "A rose by any other name, is still a rose."

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Published: September 11 2008, 12:40 PM | no comments
by Steve Romero

When you hear the word "process," what comes to mind?  For most IT folks, the word evokes negative feelings.  Process means bureaucracy, slowing people down and making things overly complex or unnecessarily difficult.  But I see things differently.  

For me, the word "process" conjures up very positive feelings.  It means focusing on the customer and providing stellar products and services.  It means making work possible and practical.  It means empowering people and enabling them to be successful.

Unfortunately, the former perception is often closer to reality.  Despite our best intentions, many of our processes are ineffective and inefficient and are deserving of their bad rap.  I attribute this to what I consider to be the most neglected discipline in most enterprises today--good process management.

In every presentation I deliver, no matter what the subject, I mention the need to enable and provide good process management.  I spend a few minutes describing the absolute necessity of good process design, even better  process implementation, accountable process ownership, and effective process governance. It has been frustrating to have only a short time to get this critical point across to my audiences.

That has recently changed with the lastest seminar I am involved with,  "Bringing Clarity to Process Management."  In the seminar, we spend up to 3 hours providing an overview of the critical aspects of process management including case studies of organizations that have successfully automated processes and an overview of process management roles and responsibilities. This event was born of numerous requests from attendees of past events who diligently filled out their audience surveys and requested more information on how to enable and ensure success in their process efforts.

I am immeasurably passionate about good process management and am thrilled at the opportunity to speak at length on the subject.  We piloted our new theme last month in Minnesota and held our second event in Dallas last week.  In each case we had large audiences and the response was overwhelmingly positive.  It was extremely gratifying to see folks get excited and energized at the prospect of introducing good process management concepts to their organizations.  

I would love to hear about your process management efforts and the perception of process in your organization.

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