IT Governance, key and still alive

So many publications mentionning this topic. Does that mean that
- nobody understand anything?

- there are some unsolved problems in the concept and its application?

- it is now just a way for vendors (consultants, gurus, SOA solutions providers, scorecard specialists ) to market

- Organizations, in spite of the "official speech", are very very far from that?

One of the permanent criticism is that too much governance can kill agility, can kill innovation and adaptation.

It is sure that governance concepts and techniques are mainly "mechanistic", and sometimes far from systemic and "organic" adaptation.

Often too, within governance speeches, a "human" point of view is developed, but is it sincere or just "window dressing"?

Some rebounds on that:

- Is governance, agility incompatible? May be, not?

- SOX and management decommitment !!!

This can occur in some big companies, that are sometimes exceptional at the IT Governance point of view (IBM, ...), and now try to find the right balance between control and need of organic adaptation...

- the key Application Portofolio Management (APM) again and again

- as everybody knows, indicators are connected to Governance. BSC concept is not far, strategic mapping tools too...

Some example of comment on a good usage of bsc...
...a lot of education in business schools on BSC, in a lot of different disciplines
(financial control, governance, strategy, business plans, ...)
examples of students thinking on bsc...

CIO is just in the middle of all that.
- a lot of choices to do in the permanent pressure of demands...
- ...with end user power at last...
- Governance often means contracts. But contracts don't solve everything:
SLA (Service level agreements contracts) cannot replace cooperation in case of outsourcing

- How can CIO solve application challenges? Replace everything by an ERP ? Bridge everything with SOA and Web services? Good question.

- ...And CIO has to use already existing models like ITIL (and others, Cobit, CMMI, ISO xxx, ...)

Searching and Thinking...

I like this one:

MIT's Michael Schrage explains why getting highly relevant results from a search can actually inhibit the iterative process by which we discover and learn.
Idea we have about relevance of our search evolves while searching. Creativity can come from that iterative process too:
I search something, I am partially dissatisfied of the result, that makes me refocus on new idea about my search, I search again, ....

So: If you find what you search immediatly, you stop your brain ! Nice philosophical thought.

You can find there nice high level contributions about searching...
Just took this one too:
Jim McGee talks about the need for businesses to allow employees time to think, and the extent to which thinking can be done in the social public of blogs.

About fast thinking, I adore this fast (at the speed of the brain ), intelligent video from Michael Wesch (Kansas State University) about Web2 (but don't like the music, I stopped the sound...)

Some additionnal comment on it....

Technologies hot news...

What's next after still well living silicium ( yes , 45 nanometers...) to go-on on Moore's law?

Photonic computer is one of the opportunities.

Telephone still moving:

Ultramobile is the keyword. McKinsey (just register!) shows an interesting study about value of mobile phones...

Man/machine interface nice evolutions:

- Flexible plastics, flexible screens, even flexible RFIDs. Why not become invisible, with flexible screen as clothing and a camera behind you, reprojecting background image on the screen ....

- Night vision with new LEDs

and... are you lost in translation?

Mais attention: les technologies portent toujours leurs facteurs de risques !

Innovate ??

Ultimate and permanent challenge for people, companies, societies is to innovate (to survive?)

This week, a lot of point of view on this topic, re-emphasizing some basic evident ideas:

First, innovation in IT is often nowadays coming from "transgressive renegades".
Continuous flow of new emerging technologies allows permanently unsatisfied end-user to invent their way.
A good IT department must consider/absorb these innovations, considered as valid prototypes, and to transform them into reliable professional solid applications...

This idea is not far from the need, for organizations who want to adapt and change, to capitalize on "change agents" (This way is the only way! Organizations, closed in their today's paradigm, cannot event imagine the methods of to-morrow. Fortunately, some people, these change agents, are already in to-morrow's paradigm....)

Not far too from this idea is the search of "bumpy bits"
If the world is flat, seek out the bumpy bits, in an aligned, flat world....

But innovation must be highly stimulated by collaboration, toward collective creativity. That is a new key mission for CIOs...
Some people can think there is a conflict then between IT Governance (driving to a flat aligned world?) and creativity stimulation (subversive guys...). Good debate, where opinions (and experiences) are mixed...

Informal network concept, illustrated by 1993 famous article "The Company Behind the Chart" in Harvard Business Review, still the key condition, following Booz-Allen-Hamilton, for collective creativity.

Some french thinking now...
Les universités, lieu d'innovation, devraient quant à elles être en pointe. Mais...
Le budget de R&D de la Chine, dont les grandes universités s'inspirent du MIT ou de Stanford, va dépasser celui du Japon... qui achève une réforme sans précédent de ses universités... tandis que l'université de Cambridge investit dans des « hedge funds » pour ses placements !!!

Why did I focus on Innovation this week? Just because a friend of mine sent me a personality test, to check if I was really a "strategist" (my official title on my business card...). And guess what? I am not a "strategist", but an "innovator" !!! And you?

Pour les "techies" qui n'ont pas pu aller au CES Las Vegas

Très bonne synthèse des nouveautés technologiques de ce salon....

Miscellaneous news about processes…

- Even if you are not necessarily a military fan, it is evident that DoD (US Department of Defense, may be the bigger worldwide purchaser ) plays an important role in definition of standards, in rationalization of IT.

(Cals, Step, CMMI, ...). This Dod article about processes gives interesting views about defining roles, within an ERP implementation challenge, for Business Process Owners, separating clearly management responsibilities and technical responsibilities....

- About the remanent strategic alignment question: " must we change organization first, an then implement IT solution , or must we facilitate/force changes with IT first" , P,P,P,I, thinks strategy, processes and people issues must be treated before IT solution choice... More complex in real life.

- IT governance and application portfolio techniques not so easy to sell internally in companies...

- Clever way for vendors to (story)tell BPM importance...

Again, some KM questions...

- Is KM enabling more automated decisions? This "old", very good level and still stimulating article on "nonsense of KM", can bring some ideas, with good thinking about what is really tacit knowledge, and a synthesis of a lot of point of views. Nice commentary on it too...

- Sharing calendars and schedule is a good metaphor of som KM challenges

- In the real life, what can be one's personal "rules" for KM? You can apply those one (but who does?)

So much information, so small amount of time to transform it into knowledge, let's go-on zapping !

computers and emotions...

No doubt information and communication technologies, as a major media, can create emotions, through messages, chatting, music and video, ...

But can computer software detect and understand your emotions, and answer to them. Are we, after all those years, close enough from "artificial intelligence" ?

A lot of new experiments these days on that, from neural networks to telephones....

All the chatterbots are trying too the same kind of things from basic Cybelle to sophisticated A.L.I.C.E. (why always female as characters for clever intelligence robots ? )

At man/machine interface point of view, in spite of some random pleasant progress (Wii?) is still at prehistorical age, unable for example to really interact easily without a keyboard, language semantic recognition being still far enough...

Some relations between Marketing and WEB2…

J'était hier à une très stimulante réunion, rassemblant les penseurs avancés (et multi-disciplinaires) français dans le domaine du Marketing .

(Au fait, ne manquez pas le site visionnarymarketing , tout y est bon et sensé, jetez un œil au dossier Marketing des produits ICT, au blog bien vivant...)

Allez donc voir aussi ce site de base sur votre nécessaire bibliothèque de base !!!

La discussion d'hier aurait bien mérité un "bribecast".

Parmi les sujets de discussion et de débats, stimulante interaction avec Thierry Maillet, autour de son livre très moderne et cultivé: Génération Participation .

Partiel, partial et en vrac:

- Débat animé ce soir là entre les optimistes croyant fermement dans une tendance participative montante, dans l'espoir d'une noosphère à la Theillard de Chardin (pour les très très vieux lecteurs, il y en a eu d'autres depuis...) et ceux qui y croient moins, malgré la monté de valeurs nouvelles et les possiblités coopératives offertes par les techniques (Web2 and Co). Les "philosophies" pour le Marketing découlent bien sûr fortement de ces postures initiales.

- Rebonds sur la perception de la rationalité (limitée...) du consom'acteur (terme crée dès 2001 par Thierry) , qui peut certes tout comparer, choisir les prix optimaux, être totalement actif, participer, voire créer le produit (voire la démocratie? ) par sa demande mais qui peut aussi préférer rester passif, dans un confort accepté de manipulation par les marques, les archétypes et standards véhiculés par icelles...

Présentation également par Jérome Delacroix, auteur précurseur sur les wikis

Le débat a beaucoup tourné autour de wikipedia

Le contenu d'une telle encyclopédie universelle est-il de la science (au sens universitaire du terme), c'est a dire étayé, démontré, reconnu à l'intérieur d'une discipline, ne disant sur le monde réel que des choses suffisamment valides (à un instant donné, dans une culture donnée), ou "bottom-up", spontané et transverse, reflétant de façon plus journalistique et événementiel un autre réel, aussi consistant, du monde? Le savoir présent est-il neutre ou suspect?
Joli débat non fini!

Le consom'acteur va-t-il avoir à terme plutôt envie:

scenario a: de participer à ces nouvelles cathédrales du savoir...

scenario b: de pencher pour le N.A.O. ("Narcissisme assisté par Ordinateur"), à travers des blogs, des articles non lus dans l'opulence communicationnelle, ces journaux personnels, ces bouteilles à la mer...

scenario c: de plonger dans les réseaux virtuels, certains visant à créer des clubbismes stables dans des objectifs variés (business, plaisirs, jeux et mondes virtuels à la "second life", ou mouvants et infidèles, conformes à l'esprit initial de Rheingold ?

Là encore, le Marketing doit sans doute regarder ça plus finement qu'aujourd'hui !

Random week-end (fast) web readings...

After conducting this test (takes 5 minutes for the first test..), I must admit I am a typical procrastinator (but maybe you are too...)

(I defer very important thinks to do, creating permanent stress for myself...).

I like this article and formula on the topic.

It is surely too late for me to change !!

My permanent auto-justification is the fact I consider not doing things (at the end, I do some things...) is a way to unconsciously regulate myself, in the increasing stress of solicitation created by new communication world and media.

- A rather good online set of articles on Strategic Planning

- IT Gouvernance: Pénétration d'ITIL en augmentation, et quelques règles utiles pour réussir

- All companies nowadays know that main profit gains can come from supplier side, in a globalized world.

(and ....too bad for some suppliers, many ethics issues, where is win-win strategy?, ...)

This article give some good rules to follow in that perspective:

Strategic alignment, Cross-functionality, Simplification, ICT enabling, Process sourcing (BPO)

KM:

- Killer applications in KM? Good synthesis, but nothing new...

- Information is not knowledge! Wiki example

...and an opposite opinion there...

- As mentionned in my 14/1 contribution, role of KM for economies and ... need of KM adapted to specific cultures...

- About the permanent fight of librarians inside KM strategies...

- Back to basics: Deming on KM and management

- Good synthesis in this short executive abstract of some current IT market heavy trends:

Outsourcing for stable operations, new emerging technologies bundles, software subscription rather than ownership, ...

- Net Neutrality: an permanent issue, not solved...

and...

Some Hi-Tech news for teckies...

- BI (Business Intelligence) data delivered on phones: realistic?

- Moore law again: why not play on connectivity?

- Touch screens for many fingers: applications?

- Bug free software: open source a solution?

Mass Customization news....

Created at the beginning of 90's, Mass Customization is still a heavy trend of the future:

How can a company can offer the high quality/low cost/fast delivery product and service to the market, and, at the same time, customize it perfectly for the client?

How can we play simultaneously a cost strategy and a differentiation strategy?

(french readers can look there to read a short contribution on role of time in MC...)

You will find, in this recent update on the topic:

Page 5: A very nice interview of Joseph Pine II, the author of the initial book on the subject.

Good thoughts about Web2 / Mass Customization synergies, cultural aspects.

Page 8: About personalized newspapers

Page 15-21: Mass Customization and fashion. Key for you life, key for your girl (if you are a boy, otherwise key for you...)

news from the Web...

Par davidjf le 17/01/07 - 15:40

IT ROI, again, a nice contribution with 3 categories of funding for IT applications

Stimulating article from McKinsey, on the old problem of relation of IT department with silos.

This split inside IT between "IT demand" and "IT supply" is a (non perfect!) solution. That clarifies too the business owner location, treats better alignment challenges...

En France, les notions de Maître d'ouvrage (dans les silos), de Maître d'ouvrage délégué (souvent dans les fonctions informatiques), de Maître d'oeuvre (SI) permettent ce jeu...

Predictions 2007 again:

On Data Management: I like the last paragraph about the difficulties to make the bridge between ERPs and old applications, in an SOA view...

Nice survey on IT spendings, with an emphasis on "worker-friendly" tools (PDA's, Wifi, ...)

Another view of CIO 2007 priorities:

with this significant hit-parade: ITIL, VOIP, CRM, Storage, Web services, BI

Hi Tech by MIT

Evolution of bandwith on optical fiber

Personal technology: from social networks by telephone to advanced uses of Google map

Intéressant article sur la nécessité de "vendeurs consultants" pour toute vente technologique; Ce glissement n'est pas récent, mais touche désormais tout le monde...

News from KM...

Good news: Knowledge Management still alive.

In spite of vendors appropriation of KM log ( just type "Knowledge Management" on Google and you will find 90% of the connected sites are selling something, products, tools, consulting, ....), fundamentals of KM are surviving.

Recent contributions:

- Relation of KM with semantic web and web2 (with this permanent problem of the balance between "coding the world" and creativity freedom!). See too that nice reaction on this topic

- Thoughts about economy of Knowledge, stimulating contributions and co

- and, and, and, and, and ....

If you want to follow periodically the trends in KM (or anything else!), a good way is to use Google alert , to receive information in your mailbox...

Try too, through Google labs, to see that KM queries are nowadays

- less "fashion" than 3 years before (because we know enough about fundamentals?)

- that queries are mainly asked now by far east and emerging countries (does that mean that they discover now the concepts, or that innovation by knowledge will come more and more from this part of the world?)

BPM, again and again

a recent contribution with some good references...

Some basics on frameworks, serious or not?

Can management concept be seriously treated?

Real world modelization is useful. It is good to reflect real thoughts by concepts and frameworks. But where is the limit between ready to use, "gadget" concepts and real thinking?
Just look at this site. Not so bad, but ....

Let's take, as a basic example, the famous overused BCG growth/share matrix.
We can go further on that on wikipedia, with a bit more in-depth approach.

Look at this one * (I really like this second degree representation). A good representation of the visualization tools. Try it.

Is that enough to understand, or do we need a full business school education on that?

Basic conclusion:

"The map is not the territory" ( Korzybski, "founder" of General Semantics)

Information (even with a good visualization technique) is not Knowledge!

All those models and frameworks become useful only if you have the opportunity to really use them in real situations, in real life!

* I have been warned of this by this nice forum on intelligence (in french, I am member since years...)

Artful processes (les processus "artistiques")

Long time ago, in the 80's, I was already, as quality director for Sales in IBM France, deeply involved in processes.

At that time, IBM Quality Director, Gilbert Stora*, previously Director of a Manufacturing plant lab, used to say: "Manufacturing processes are OK to control, Administrative processes too, but Commercial processes are too "artistic" to be managed and treated the same way..."

This publication of IBM is reflecting, 20 years after, the same thought, with some advances...
("artful" in english does not exactly mean artistic, but the idea is the same)

The idea to mechanize everything is often stupid.
Some core processes can be stabilized by organization and IT, some must remain enough organic, dynamically adaptable to changes.
Where to put the "cursor", for every process, between what has to be mechanized and what has to remain organic ?
What methodology to use to determine this balance point? How to create a correct bridge between the 2 parts?

Every issue of IBM Systems Journal is exciting, process specialist have to read these recent issues on Business Collaboration, this SOA one, this one one business innovation. Some articles are sometimes too "marketing", some too "technical", but every issue has got at least 1 or 2 stimulating contributions!

* G. STORA, J. MONTAIGNE - "La Qualité Totale dans l'entreprise" (Edit. Organisation 1986)

CIO and 2007

A lot of informations recently published on this theme.

What are the "new" issues and opportunities for CIO's ?

Let's take a quote from this one

Ovum analysts say in their Summit Seven predictions. "Virtualization, service-oriented architecture, management automation and integrated workflow tools will increasingly be coupled with externally provided software-as-a-service (SaaS), utility computing, business process outsourcing and other network-hosted applications and business services to create highly dynamic enterprise service delivery environments."

Not a bad list! but so many challenges inside! Just to take an example, SOA not so easy, and the article warns on that.

(for those who are not SOA experts, a good recent synthesis there)

See too the feelings of James Champy, ex reengineering guru: IT budget growth, but under control, lack of professional talents, offshoring still on, no technological revolution...

I like too the personal analysis of JP Corniou in his blog (e-voeux 2007), reemphasizing some challenges like level of CIO within organizations, need to prove continuously the value generated by IT, challenges of standards for IT, outsourcing and offshoring decisions, cultural and educational aspects, ...

Determine too what kind of CIO you are (business leader, innovation agent, operational expert, turnaround artist) in this nice report with quiz and ...look at global statistical results!

Lean IT vs Service innovation ?

Look at this nice contribution, insisting on the fact processes are first and IT projects are just after.

The last sentences about Toyota sounds nice !

but....

all that concerns organization improvement and optimization.

What about innovations coming from synergy between:

creative new ideas of new services + use of emerging technologies to protect these ideas ?

Systémique de début d'année...

Je viens de tomber à nouveau sur la version électronique du bouquin de base de JL Le Moigne.

Ce fut pendant des années ma bible en systémique.

A lire et à relire!

Pensez aussi à aller de temps en temps sur le site "Modelisation de la Complexité"

(Morin, Le Moigne, ...)

Tout y est bon!

In good "system theory" electronic books, you can too read with profit "Le Macroscope" de Joel de Rosnay, dans sa version anglaise

Une remarquable synthèse de COBIT...

Le site de Michel Volle est toujours passionant !

On trouve ici une bonne synthèse de Cobit, dynamique clé de la gouvernance IT dans les entreprises.

Cobit a pour moi comme grande valeur ajoutée d'appliquer les concepts processus à l'informatique.

On peut néanmoins regretter que Cobit n'insiste pas sur le besoin, à un instant donné, de prioriser ces processus (tout en étant tous utiles, ils ne sont pas tous aussi stratégiques à un instant donné pour une informatique).

Pour les prioriser, il suffit d'estimer leur effet de levier sur la réussite des objectifs de l'informatique, symbolisés par les éléments du tableau de bord de la DSI (sa "balanced scorecard).

On peut alors mieux prioriser les projets visant à améliorer les processus et leur maturité !!!