By: Laurie Weaver
Member Columnist
Have you been trying to work with Information Technology, but your initiatives and patience grind to a screeching halt? Do the terms they use sound like so much gobbledygook? Do you ever get the sneaking feeling that IT professionals just may, in fact, have come from Mars? If so, you've probably run headlong into some common "GeekSpeak" roadblocks. The aim of this ongoing column is to help forms professionals and technology professionals overcome roadblocks by gaining mutual understanding, vocabulary, and context. So if you need help with specifics, or if you'd just like to know more about a techie topic, email or post any and all questions to Ask Ms. GeekSpeak. This month's topic: "Help IT, help you."
"Dear Ms. GeekSpeak, I’m having a hard time getting my IT department to do what I want in a timely manner. Any tips?"
I’m glad you asked that! In my experience, the number one roadblock between business units and Information Technology departments is the failure to bring IT into a project soon enough. This feels to IT rather like it does to a forms department when the forms department is blindsided by a new business rule that impacts several of its forms. A typical scenario is that a business person or department develops a fantastic business idea that has technical impacts and decides to move forward. This information is then given to IT rather like a factory order, (e.g. “Please have this fill in the blank built and implemented by the end of the week/month/quarter.”).
This may result in the business receiving dumbfounded stares, shrugs, or the phrase, “Sorry, we don’t have the bandwidth for that until a year from next week/month/quarter" Bandwidth, in this case, refers to IT having enough time and personnel to accommodate the request. What, you might ask, could possibly cause IT to be so unresponsive? Here are a few possibilities, along with corresponding tips to help you partner better with IT:
- The IT workload may already exceed available resources. Information Technology needs to forecast project needs far in advance, because the number of required workers and corresponding skill sets may vary widely by project. TIP: Contact IT as soon as you begin considering your technical initiatives. It is far easier to get yourself removed from IT’s schedule than to get squeezed in.
- The priority isn’t clear. IT departments often support units and departments across the company. Just because an initiative is very important for one group doesn’t necessarily mean it is the highest priority among those company-wide. TIP: It helps to include priority information, including appropriate sign-offs and backup, along with your request.
- Your request may impact company systems you are unaware of. Part of the comprehensive responsibility of any IT department is to safeguard and support the company’s technological systems. This means making sure that new components and systems won’t break current systems. It is also important to IT that personnel with the knowledge, skill, and time to support the new systems will be available after they’re installed. TIP: Instead of thinking of IT as an implementation division, use IT associates as consultants early on. They have valuable insights into the concerns and best technological practices to aid in your initiatives. Also, you are far more likely to get buy-in from IT associates if they have been part of the process.
- IT may think your solution is not the best technology for the job. It is hard for IT, or anyone else, to enthusiastically jump on board a train if they think its direction is wrong! TIP: Come to IT with the business problem you are trying to solve. Ask for input and advice. To paraphrase the famous line from the movie Jerry Maguire, “Help IT, help you.”
There you have it, some tips to work more effectively with the IT department. Next month’s column will further increase your chances of success with the IT department by addressing how to create effective technical business requirements, so stay tuned. As always, if you’d like to know more about IT or any other “geeky” word or topic, post here, or email Ask Ms. GeekSpeak.
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