I firmly believe the current economic situation demands that enterprises address IT Governance and more specifically, IT investment decision making (PPM). I know I am repeating myself because I have said as much in previous posts. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I will continue communicating this message. In doing so, I promise to offer suggestions in regard to leveraging the current economic downturn to further the objectives of IT Governance.

PPM provides the means for organizations to ensure they invest in the optimal efforts and endeavors to meet their goals and fulfill their strategies. After speaking to thousands of people and visiting dozens of individual companies, I have seen very few enterprises that have mastered this discipline. Study after study continues to show at least 50% of our IT projects/programs fail. I insist there is a direct correlation between that lack of IT effective PPM and project performance. I also acknowledge there are numerous significant barriers to establishing and institutionalizing this critical IT Governance process.

I don’t expect organizations in the midst of budget slashing and workforce reductions to be eager to undertake the difficult and daunting task of establishing IT Governance processes. So my first suggestion is to not characterize these efforts as IT Governance or the specific IT Governance process you choose to address. Instead, let’s use business terms.

First, understand the business problem you are trying to solve. For example, almost every organization is faced with a reduction in resources. This makes the allocation of those resources even more critical. This makes the identification of investment priority more critical. So advocate the establishment of the “business investment selection and prioritization program to ensure our constrained resources are working on the most important initiatives” – a major tenant of PPM.

There are a number of important aspects to note:

·         I did not use a single “technology” term. Use simple business language

·         I stated the problem we need to solve. Don’t introduce a solution where there is no problem. Know what is keeping your executives awake at night

·         I called it a “program” and not a process. I am a huge proponent of process management but I realize process is still a four-letter-word for most organizations. Yes, you will be defining, establishing, managing and monitoring processes, but don’t torpedo your effort before it begins by using a term that is viewed so adversely.

Get the right group of folks together to start making these critical investment decisions, and you will have your foot in the IT Governance door.

More to come.

Steve Romero, IT Governance Evangelist