Published: July 28 2008, 08:31 AM | no comments
by Steve Romero

One of the problems I see in IT today is the lack of integration between IT disciplines. Our organizational models, methodologies, standards bodies, and professional associations often hone in on only individual slices of the IT pie. This notion was underscored for me at the recent conference I attended at the MIT Center for Information Research (MIT CISR).  

We have our IT Operations Department, with its ITIL framework and many technical certifications. We have our Security organization, with its ISO27002 standard and CISSP certification. We have our Project Management organization, with its PMI PMBOK and PMP certification. We have our Systems Development organization, with its CMMI, Rational Unified Process and technical certifications. We have our IT Audit organization, with its COBIT framework and CISM and CISA certifications. These are but a few examples of what I call the "compartmentalization" of IT.

Each of these areas, disciplines, frameworks, methodologies, standards, certifications, is critical to the success of IT, but how often do we see conflict, contradiction and a lack of cohesion between them? I seldom see these areas integrated into a cohesive whole, with common goals and objectives.

I don't expect all IT professionals to be versed in all areas of IT. That's not realistic and thanks to IT Governance, it's not necessary. IT Governance brings it all together.

Most of the Executives that attended the MIT CISR in Cambridge stayed for the entire week. However, many chose to attend portions of the week, sometimes only one day. I thought this to be problematic. There are critical interrelationships between the subject areas and each of the areas covered during the week is critical to the success of an enterprise. So I was surprised, if not shocked, to find that even at my beloved MIT CISR, there is a lack of integration between their areas of study.

One more than one occasion I found different presenters using dissimilar vernacular to describe the same concept. Some of the topics were linked, but most were presented individually. I came to find that the lead researchers work relatively independently of one another. One presenter actually pointed out a "coincidental" equivalent result with another researcher, attributing it to being of like-mind. Once again, I witnessed the compartmentalization of IT disciplines.

I talked to Jeanne Ross about this. Jeanne is taking over the Director role of MIT CISR from Peter Weill so he can expand the center's global reach. I told Jeanne it would be great if MIT had a presentation that tied together all of the concepts of the week and she seemed intrigued by the idea.

I hope they do pursue an overarching presentation some day. I'm interested to see if they conclude, as I have, that IT Governance is the unifying discipline that addresses the compartmentalization of IT.

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