When it comes to user satisfaction, perception is everything. That point was driven home for me during a recent flight while I was en route to Honolulu to present on-site for a strategic client and to speak at LAVACon, the local PMI Chapter annual project management conference.
We left the gate on-time at 12:45 in our enormous 777 for the 5-hour flight to Hawaii. After 15 minutes of sitting on the tarmac, the Pilot announced that we were returning to the gate to address a maintenance issue.
After 30 minutes at the gate, the Pilot told us that maintenance believed they could resolve the problem in 30-45 minutes. That time came to pass and after 90 minutes at the gate we were told the plane was going to be taken out of service.
As we gathered our belongings, my response was rather carefree. I travel so frequently that I expect things to go wrong, and I am resolved to go with the flow. Luckily, I had a day to spare due to prophetic travel planning. I did not expect they would be able to get us all to Hawaii on the next flight so I was prepared to leave the following day.
To my utter amazement, they provisioned another 777 (from the International terminal) and had us all on our way within 5 hours of planned departure. I was impressed, delighted and very pleased with the outcome. This made me very much the exception among my fellow travelers. Most were livid. While I gladly and gleefully boarded the new plane, to my astonishment, the resulting solution did not assuage the negative emotions of my fellow passengers. The 5 hours of countless displays of anxiety and anger continued. They grumbled on the flight, they grumbled as we deplaned, and they continued to grumble as they met their friends and family at baggage claim.
Why was my response so different than the others? I believe it was because I had more insight into the challenges and associated processes involved with solving the problem. My perception was different than theirs.
I closely follow the day-to-day machinations of air travel, due to my role at CA. Plus, my father worked for United Airlines for 38 years. I know jet airliners are expensive and only profitable when they are in the air. Airlines can't afford to leave 777s lying around "just-in-case." I also know tons of work and preparation goes into these jets getting from point-A to point-B. I hardly expected the airline to be able to not only find an available jumbo jet, but also get it prepared, staged and provisioned to fly - on a moment's notice! Yet they did!
I came to realize that my emotions and state of mind were greatly tempered by my perception. I have to believe that if the people on that flight had the same level of air travel industry awareness as I, they would have been equally impressed and satisfied with the outcome.
I believe this situation is analogous to the animosity and acrimony that exists between many IT organizations and the constituents they serve. I believe many IT users and customers have a negative perception of IT because they lack the insight into what it takes to deliver and continually support their technology services.
This is no fault of their own, but rather due to IT's inability to communicate what is required. I say inability because few IT organizations have adequately addressed IT governance and the associated discipline of process management.
If you can't design, implement, manage, and govern good processes, you surely can't communicate them. Until you do, you can't expect your constituents to have an understanding, appreciation and accurate perception of what it takes to govern, manage and secure the IT environment.
How do your users perceive your organization? What have you proactively done to influence that perception?