Strategic Management of Information and Communication Systems

Strategic Management ofInformation and Communication Systems Mark P. Haselkorn Department of Technical Communication University of Washington markh@u.washington.edu Haselkorn 2001

Overview • Introduction • ICT System Management • Y2K and ICT System Management • The Role of the CIO • Technical Communication and the CIO Haselkorn 2001

Introduction • Standing Technical Communication on its head • Hypothesis: When the role of Chief Information Officer (CIO) is properly understood, the training and experience of technical communicators, augmented by additional training and experience in management, best suit the demands of this position. Haselkorn 2001

ICT System Management • Dynamic, “open” systems • “System integration” goes far beyond technical issues • Balancing cross-organizational tensions Haselkorn 2001

ICT System Management • Balance central management and local execution • Consider evolution of ICT issues over time • Clarify ownership of and responsibility for ICT systems • Consider the impact of local diversity on ICT • Consider the role of local autonomy in ICT • Build trust between local ICT administrators and central managers • Strengthen horizontal ICT relationships across the organization Haselkorn 2001

ICT System Management • Overcome funding disincentives to working across organizational boundaries • Assure that central ICT guidance is at an appropriate level • Address cross-boundary issues in life-cycle management of ICT systems • Tackle the informational effort needed to support management of integrated ICT systems • Address issues of organizational culture that impact ICT • Empower permanent organizational entities focused on cross-boundary ICT issues Haselkorn 2001

Y2K and ICT Management • Need felt to establish temporary entities to spearhead Y2K response • Not so much because the problem was large and important, but because existing entities did not encompass the cross-functional, cross-hierarchy, cross-organizational, cross-system issues involved • Organizations already had permanent homes for functional parts of their ICT system-of-systems; they needed homes for the space between those parts Haselkorn 2001

Y2K and ICT Management • Toughest problems occurred not within areas under responsibility of an ICT manager, but rather within areas that cut across those responsibilities • These more holistic problems weren’t about “hard” machine issues—involved integration of and communication across the entire system of systems • “There are a number of areas that are very soft and it would be wonderful if they got a greater emphasis. The programs have their problems, but largely those are being worked. What isn’t being worked is the overall infrastructure.” Haselkorn 2001

Y2K and ICT Management • Yet as difficult as it had been to focus on enterprise-wide ICT management during a “crisis” situation, managers knew it would be even more difficult to maintain this focus under “normal” conditions • “The enterprise as a whole is not being looked at. We may have management and policy, but strength from an enterprise standpoint is lost and we’re moving away from it… Momentum here that we gained through Y2K is rapidly falling away—We’re losing our opportunity to maintain the enterprise perspective.” Haselkorn 2001

Y2K and ICT Management • 1995 Standish Group report: • US spends more than $250 billion each year on IT application development • Approximately 175,000 projects • Average project cost for a large company is $2,322,000; for a medium company is $1,331,000; and for a small company is $434,000 Haselkorn 2001

Y2K and ICT Management • 1995 Standish Group report: • “A great many of these projects will fail. Software development projects are in chaos.” • 31.1% of projects will be canceled • 52.7% of projects will cost 189% of their original estimates • Lost opportunity costs are not measurable, but could easily be in the trillions of dollars (e.g. unreliable baggage handling software at the new Denver airport cost the city $1.1 million per day) Haselkorn 2001

Y2K and ICT Management • Standish Group estimated that in the coming year (1995) American companies and government agencies would: • Spend $81 billion for canceled software projects. • Pay an additional $59 billion for software projects that will be completed, but will exceed their original time estimates Haselkorn 2001

Y2K and ICT Management • While temporary Y2K entities have disappeared, there are legacies of Y2K aimed at addressing this ongoing management challenge • “[A]gents of change are… rewiring corporate culture one technology project at a time. These direct descendants of Y2K crisis management teams are more highly disciplined and closely managed than past IT teams… [T]he CIO has emerged as the driving force behind these collaborative implementations of technology.” McCartney, Larry, “Change Agents,” CIO Insights: Executive Briefs, 2001. Haselkorn 2001

Y2K and ICT Management • But while CIOs have increasingly been charged with managing an organization’s information and knowledge systems, there has been considerable uncertainty as to the exact nature of and appropriate skills for these positions. • What is enterprise-wide management of an organization’s information and knowledge systems? • What does an entity devoted to this activity do? Haselkorn 2001

The Role of the CIO • CIO’s office initially seen as an extension of already influential acquisitions and system development function • Technology the central component of an organization’s information and knowledge activities • CIO’s primary role as “owner” and manager of that technology • Activities centered on standardizing and “keeping up” with new information and communication technology Haselkorn 2001

The Role of the CIO • But as Y2K demonstrated, enterprise-wide ICT management is not primarily about functionally organized technology • If the CIO owns anything, it is the space between these nodes of responsibility • Focus on the conversation and interactions that link the functional parts into a strategic whole Haselkorn 2001

The Role of the CIO • Units responsible for fielding new systems: “We need to do a lot of work on PC and server common operating environments. Because we are finding out that servers have different disk drives on them, different versions of Oracle, different versions of the operating system. And as a result of that we can’t distribute software in a rational manner.” • Units responsible for security: “From the information warfare perspective diversity is not such a bad thing. If every piece of software is absolutely standardized, one hole gets you in everywhere. When an adversary has to figure out which executable is on which computer among 1,300 possible options, that makes his targeting problem hugely more difficult. That’s a fundamental point that’s almost always missed.” Haselkorn 2001

The Role of the CIO • Distinguish functionally bound ICT issues from enterprise-wide ones • Where issue resides within a functional responsibility, role is greatly minimized or non-existent (But often an incorrect assumption that a cross-functional issue is bounded within a particular functional responsibility) • When an ICT issue is identified to be enterprise-wide, take ownership Haselkorn 2001

The Role of the CIO • “Ownership” means assuring a single point of contact providing consistent guidance at the appropriate level • Under normal circumstances, “ownership” does not mean that the CIO’s office should be that point of contact or own the problem parts • The CIO owns the space between the parts—the space that makes it a cross-enterprise issue • Primary role is to identify relevant organizational perspectives, determine best available representatives of those perspectives, and then link, guide, and empower those people and units to manage the issue Haselkorn 2001

The Role of the CIO • Under the CIO’s guidance, a cross-boundary entity defined to represent the relevant organizational perspectives on an issue becomes the point of contact • Only such an entity, acting with the guidance and authority of the CIO’s office, can balance competing organizational goals that surround a cross-boundary ICT issue • CIO is the fulcrum in this balancing act—team-building, facilitating cross-boundary communication and activity, assuring that ICT activities are aligned with organizational goals and strategies, and institutionalizing desired change Haselkorn 2001

The Role of the CIO • “Given the high risk for failure of teams, the CIOs who lead [collaborative] groups require business, technology, team-building, project management and communication skills to be effective.” Jessica Lipnack, co-author of Virtual Teams Haselkorn 2001

The Role of the CIO • At special times, CIO must go beyond the “fulcrum” role to one of greater authority and stronger leadership. • “There are bureaucracies that are designed to slow down decision-making and there are places where you want to do that—but in this case, because of time urgency, the bureaucracies were either pushed aside or stepped aside and allowed that rapid reaction to take place. And you need to be able to adapt your organization to do some of those things.” Haselkorn 2001

The CIO and Technical Communication • CIO’s office the glue that integrates the many facets and perspectives of an enterprise-wide ICT system • CIO works partly through central authority, but more commonly through the creation and ongoing support of cross-functional entities focused on cross-boundary ICT issues • Fundamental skills include communication, facilitation, team-building, and creative use of information tools—central skills of technical communication Haselkorn 2001

The CIO and Technical Communication • CIO generally needs to adopt a perspective focused on strategic goals, the use of information to achieve those goals, and the role of individuals and information tools to facilitate that use • CIO’s perspective must consider the boundaries of organizational lines and functional distinctions, even as it works to remove their potential negative impacts on cross-functional information issues and objectives • Again, this recognition of multiple audiences and goals is the perspective of technical communication Haselkorn 2001

The CIO and Technical Communication • CIO is owner of the information space between functional nodes of an organization • CIO is a communicator, a facilitator, and a politician • CIO is a technical communicator with extremely high-level management skills • Technical communication needs to partner with related fields to produce these people. They are sorely needed throughout industry and government Haselkorn 2001

Strategic Management of Information and Communication Systems