Strategic Management of Information and Communication Technology The United States Air Force Experience with Y2K (2007) / Chapter Skim
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2 Managing ICT Complexity
2 Managing ICT Complexity
Pages 37-54
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From page 37... ...
This chapter and the two that follow bring these areas together by looking at the Air Force Y2K experience as a source of information for improving the operational and strategic management of complex and critical ICT systems. This chapter focuses on ICT management challenges stemming from system complexities.
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From page 38... ...
ICT managers recognized that these challenges were not unique and that the difficulties of Y2K management were symptoms of difficulties with the ongoing management of ICT: "These problems were not unique to Y2K. …They exist as part of the normal information technology day-to-day business.
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From page 39... ...
As a result, attempts to carry out a Y2K response strategy based on classification and stratification of ICT systems and problems, though not without some benefit, generally had minimal impact on frontline response activities. Difficulties in breaking down the problem stemmed not only from technical complexities but also from conflicting multiple perspectives and the impacts of nontechnical environments.
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From page 40... ...
Air Force efforts to categorize systems by their mission criticality were hampered by both technical and nontechnical factors. On the technical side, system complexities made it difficult to isolate ownership and roles of specific system features and elements.
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From page 41... ...
Acquisition is a critical ICT activity and organizational component, but it is only one of many perspectives that must be balanced in the management of ICT. First, the FAR definition of desired behavior relied on such words as "accurately" and "properly," which were not sufficiently defined for use in testing and certification.
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From page 42... ...
2.3 The Need to Shift ICT Management Focus from Hardware and Software to Data, Knowledge, and Organizational Goals In addition to definitional issues, Y2K highlighted other ICT complexities that challenged existing management practices. Many of these called for a shift in ICT management focus from hardware and software to data, knowledge, and organizational goals.
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From page 43... ...
Arthur Gross, then Chief Information Officer (CIO) of the Internal Revenue Service, said that combining Y2K and modernization efforts reminded him of the scene in the movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid when Butch and Sundance find themselves trapped by Mexican soldiers on a high cliff overlooking a river.
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From page 44... ...
Data, databases, and the knowledge they represent were increasingly seen as holding a stable central position, with computers and software constantly evolving to assure that people could use the data and knowledge to achieve organizational goals. 2.4 The Need to Align ICT Management with Operational and Strategic Goals The increasingly information-centric perspective of ICT fostered in part by Y2K did not just mean that traditional IT professionals began to view data, information, and knowledge as holding a more central position in their world.
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From page 45... ...
director with a two-to-four-year life expectancy at any one organization…say, "Give me $40 million and I'll disrupt our whole information infrastructure, put all of our current operations at risk and, if I'm lucky, do something no one else has ever done and prevent a problem many people think is not real and will not in any case happen for years, and otherwise contribute nothing to our bottom line?
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From page 46... ...
The overriding lesson was that the organization had to incorporate its management of ICT within its overall operational and strategic management: "The entire information technology portfolio…must be managed by a partnership of business and technical management to create business value. …In most businesses, deciding on information technology capabilities is far too important a strategic decision to be left to the technical people or, worse, to the outsourcer with its own business objectives and need to make a profit…" (Weill and Broadbent 1998)
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From page 47... ...
During Y2K, the need to overcome functional barriers in the management and operation of ICT was particularly evident. As Y2K progressed, issues initially viewed as isolated within a particular technology under the control and responsibility of a particular functional area became increasingly intractable as those issues cut across technologies and functions.
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From page 48... ...
. In part, multiple Y2K guidance occurred because no single functional unit could adopt a response strategy 48
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From page 49... ...
In addition, day-to-day operational issues and functional demands made it extremely difficult for individuals to keep in mind the cross-functional interdependencies of their systems as well as their roles in the overall flow of data and information to achieve organizational goals. Finally, organizational territorial issues and the mechanisms for funding systems worked against a cross-functional perspective, as with MSG: "We really didn't understand the configuration of our system of systems.
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From page 50... ...
2.6 The Need for an Overall Information Strategy Centered on People, Information, and Mission The media portrayed Y2K as an issue centered on computer technology,4 but managers on the Y2K front lines knew that far more was at stake. Previously, they had focused on specific components of their technology; now they were being called on to consider the role of that technology in the overall organizational operation.
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From page 51... ...
. Y2K taught many ICT leaders that they needed to develop an enterprise-wide information strategy that would be aligned with the overall organizational strategy.
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From page 52... ...
. It is no simple task to keep ICT technology functioning effectively on a daily basis, and it is not surprising that ICT managers must often focus on the continued functioning of local clusters of technology.
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From page 53... ...
Nevertheless, without accompanying organizational change, these lessons cannot provide ongoing benefits. It is far simpler to call for an enterprise-wide ICT management strategy than it is to make it happen within a complex, dynamic organization.
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