🚀 go-pugleaf

                           THE INTERVIEW: Article 4
My Message to CEOs
At this point in the interview I discussed with Martin that my message that I
was taking to THE CEO included the following points:
        *       today's enterprise depends heavily upon IT practitioners
        *       the number of mission critical IT projects is rising
        *       something must be done to increase the rate of success
        *       organizations must increase their support for:
                -       continuous education
                -       professional development
        *       organizations should recruit for employees that hold the I.S.P.
                designation
        *       organizations should include the I.S.P. as a desired professional
                designation in their consulting and outsourcing contracts

Martin then followed up by asking if I was implying that individuals with an
I.S.P. designation would do a better job than one without the designation.  I
stated that I was not implying any such thing.  I went on to say that
individuals that have applied for and received the I.S.P. are clearly
demonstrating their visible commitment to ongoing education by doing
everything possible to ensure their skills and knowledge remain current.  In
fact, the re-certification process of the I.S.P. requires the holder to make an
ongoing investment in continuous learning.  Hiring information systems
professionals that take the primary responsibility for their personal
development should be a priority for today's competitive organizations,
both public and private.

Following up on the high degree of systems failures we discussed some of
the key reasons for project failure.  Some of the reasons I mentioned
included: poor project management skill, poor estimating skills, lack of well
defined user requirements, scope creep, lack of user involvement, and lack
of support from the executive.  I went on to state that while there were
reasons for project failure that may be beyond the control of the IT
professional, most of the contributors to a lack of success are within the
influence of senior project  personnel.

Once again, "the Customer" rightfully expects the IT professional to identify
the challenges that will be faced during major projects and then to proceed
to manage those challenges.

My experience is that executives do not want to be surprised by those
challenges.  Identify them up front, do your best to manage them, but above
all, know when to ask for help.  Generally when projects get into serious
trouble, senior project personnel have waited too long to ask for help from
user management or from the senior executive.

My comments on your comments!!
I found it incredible that some of the individuals that took the time to send
me a response on the internet or who wrote to computing Canada thought
the blame for project failure should be laid at the feet of their customers or
the CEO.  To me, blaming the CEO or the user for project failure can
only be justified if they were given the earliest opportunity to influence
project success or to know the implications of their requests.

Our industry will never be viewed as truly professional if we as practitioners
don't take full responsibility for the mission critical initiatives under our
control.

Then there is the reference to architects and the statement that the customer
should not hold an architect responsible for late home renovations or
for over running the estimate.  Well, having just completed a major
home renovation I can state that if the architect allowed me to make
numerous changes and did not advise me beforehand that my changes might
result in a late project or costsly overruns, you bet I would be miffed.  I
expect the consultant or architect to know the process for accomplishing
work and to make sure that any challenges or project risks are identified up
front or as soon as they occur.  As Customer, I want to actively be involved
in any decisions that might jeopardize success.

I stand fully behind my comments that as a senior IT professional we are
expected to provide leadership to the organization and to exercise positive
influence on all IT related initiatives in the organization.  We must
be accountable for our actions and maintain the skills and knowledge
to ensure we are fully equipped to perform the task at hand.

Finally, for those that are relatively new to their organization or to the IT
industry, take the time to learn the business you serve and to establish
critical business relationships with your key customers.  If you do, you will
find you are better prepared for the challenges ahead.


Kevin Brown, I.S.P.
President,
Canadian Information Processing Society