Building Highly Effective
IT (HEIT) Organizations
Craig W. Ethridge
Practice President | CIO | Group Vice President
https://www.linkedin.com/in/craigethridge
where I’ve worked & what I’ve done
DEVELOPER ANALYST CONSULTANT ADVANCED TECHNOLOGIES MANAGER ACQUISITION LEAD DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR
VICE PRESIDENT ECOMMERCE ENTERPRISE ARCHITECT
DIRECTOR ECOMMERCE
BUSINESS MANAGER PRACTICE PRESIDENT GROUP VICE PRESIDENT IT OPERATIONS DIRECTOR CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER
VICE PRESIDENT APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT
inCompass
IT team’s organized and equipped from an understanding of their Business Partners’ Goals and Objectives.
Time-aware delivery, with focused team members, regularly interacting with their Business and Mission Partners, providing faster delivery of effective technology solutions.
Continuously embracing change to support our Business and Mission peers as they respond to market opportunities.
Quality is critical in providing solutions that can be trusted and relied upon.
Adhering to each of these principles will provide higher value at lower costs.
Each individual brings unique strengths that are key to the success of the team - and each individual is ultimately responsible for the team’s success.
my HEIT principles
Business Aligned Development Teams and Business aware IT
Op’s
Effectiveness over Productivity
Visible and Valued
Work
Time bound work streams
Build leaders and more engaged teams through continuous,
informal, and unique learning experiences
Flat and fast
organizations
creating HEIT
Fragmented in attempt to organize by diverse technologies.
Ineffective processes, poorly managed. No sense of urgency. No roadmaps of next things needing to be accomplished.
Everyone’s accountable and responsible, meaning no one’s accountable or
responsible. No vision to motivate team members.
Entrenched lack of processes. Individual knowledge vs tribal knowledge.
IT perceived as too expensive. No sense of TCO and Value - make technology investments difficult
to evaluate.
No strategy, few processes to insure consistent results. Little accountability for externally provided solutions.
Initial Assessment
measuring HEIT
IMPROVED. Five teams created, aligned, and supporting Membership, , Finance, HR,
eCommerce, Masterfile/DG, Phy. Engmnt, and Corp. Web.
Corp. Web Biz Leader loosley defined. Publishing area provided limited IT alignment/support.
Business Intelligence/DW not staffed. CIO Office services not invested.
IMPROVED. Agile influenced processes showing results in eCom, SSO, and Phy. Engmnt. Roadmaps have been initiated in several areas, but Product Owner accountability lacking and Road-mapping still an immature process.
IMPROVED. Leadership changes showing good results. New Hires and
Interns raising energy level. Roles and Responsibilities need more work.
UNCHANGED. Entrenched lack of processes. Individual knowledge vs tribal knowledge.
UNCHANGED. IT continues to be perceived as too expensive. Focus on reducing people expense may
be increasing TCO and creating poor technology investments.
IMPROVED. Moderate improvements resulting from production stability focus. Still no strategy, and few processes to insure consistent results. Little accountability for externally provided solutions.
Six Month Assessment
measuring HEIT improvement
Questions:
1) The IT organization meets expectations regarding the functionality of delivered projects.
2) The IT organization understands the business objectives associated with projects.
3) Business units and IT assume joint accountability for defining solutions that best meet our needs.
4) Business units and IT meet expectations regarding time to market for projects.
5) The IT organization meets expectations for the quality of delivered projects.
6) The IT organization communicates relevant issues in an appropriate and timely manner.
7) The IT organization is proactive in providing ideas to improve current business processes and/or technology Solution
8) The IT organization demonstrates a can do attitude, flexibility and responsiveness whenever necessary for urgent projects.
9) The IT organization builds trust and credibility to strengthen the partnership with Business units.
10) We look forward to working with the IT organization on future projects.
know your business partner’s perspectives
look for and create triggering events
Application Health Assessment
create opportunities, not titles
Team Member Insights
2 Use Qualitative and Quantitative measures
1 Create a set of principles that remain constant and contribute to your organization’s success
3 Look for and create Triggering Events that highlight and accelerate the need for change
5 Tell your story
4 Create fewer Leadership titles and more opportunities
takeaways