Strategic Management of Information and Communication Technology The United States Air Force Experience with Y2K (2007) / Chapter Skim
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3 Aligning Organizational and ICT Strategies
3 Aligning Organizational and ICT Strategies
Pages 55-92
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From page 55... ...
To meet this need, we've modified our command organizations to take full advantage of air, space, and information expertise." With slight modification, this Air Force vision statement could serve equally well as a vision statement for managing ICT: We operate ICT systems optimized for their environments, but the art of managing ICT lies in integrating systems to 55
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From page 56... ...
The remainder of this chapter explores specific organizational lessons of the Air Force Y2K experience that clarify and expand on the art of managing integrated ICT systems. These lessons are discussed under the following general headings: 3.1 Balance Central Management and Local Execution 3.2 Consider Evolution of the Problem over Time 3.3 Clarify Ownership and Responsibility 3.4 Consider the Impact of Local Diversity 3.5 Consider the Role of Local Autonomy 3.6 Build Trust Between Local Administrators and Central Managers 3.7 Strengthen Horizontal Relationships across the Organization 3.8 Overcome Funding Disincentives to Working across Organizational Boundaries 3.9 Clarify the Appropriate Level of Central Guidance and the Role of Central Administrators 3.10 Address Cross-boundary Issues in Life-Cycle Management of Systems 3.11 Tackle the Huge Informational Effort Needed to Support Management of Integrated Systems 3.12 Address Issues of Organizational Culture 3.13 Empower Permanent Organizational Entities Focused on Cross-boundary Issues 56
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From page 57... ...
. During Y2K, many complicating factors made it difficult to implement and effectively employ standard Air Force management practices based on central guidance and local execution.
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From page 58... ...
Rather than evolving from central awareness and management to local execution, the Y2K experience -- as with most large ICT problems -- evolved from local identification and action to central awareness and management (AFCA)
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From page 59... ...
While problem-solving activities such as the Y2K effort tend to evolve from local recognition and activity to central management, large ICT initiatives tend to follow a reverse evolutionary pattern, one that more closely resembles the manage globally, execute locally principle. Nevertheless, the initiative's pattern of central management to local execution generates its own set of tensions between central and local units.
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From page 60... ...
. In addition, like their OCONUS counterparts, CONUS bases could interpret central ownership as meaning that primary responsibility for assessment was not with the local units.
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From page 61... ...
During Y2K the effort to provide central guidance was greatly complicated by the diversity of local ICT conditions. Even central management of a specific piece of software with a common function had to account for complications that could stem from differences in local and mid-level management.
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From page 62... ...
(See further discussion of ICT funding in Section 3.8.) Where central funding does not accompany central guidance, local units may be unable or unwilling to follow that guidance.
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From page 63... ...
. Sometimes, questions about central guidance are raised by the use of less formal, individualized communication channels that appear to be quicker and more reliable to local ICT managers.
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From page 64... ...
In such cases, it is important to consider whether central guidance is being issued at an appropriate level, focused on enterprise-wide organizational goals that allow for a greater diversity of local execution to achieve those goals. (For further discussion of this issue, see Section 3.9.)
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From page 65... ...
One conclusion is clear, however: within ICT, numerous conflicting and interrelated factors make it difficult to anticipate what will happen when central policy meets local execution. This unpredictability greatly complicates central ICT management activities in such areas as configuration management and version control.
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From page 66... ...
The Air Force Communications Agency's (AFCA's) sense of "almost anarchy" when ICT policy must operate across organizational boundaries is revealing, particularly in light of an analysis of the continuum of organizational approaches to controlling information (see Figure 3-1)
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From page 67... ...
revealed some of the multifaceted strain that results when ICT policy makers attempt to work across organizational boundaries without strong existing relationships and cross-functional communication mechanisms. Without such mechanisms, it is extremely difficult to develop clear, shared enterprise-wide strategies and tactics.
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From page 68... ...
The answer we got back was "we're out of money so don't bother." So even though we may have a bug and even though there may still be Air Force policy out there that says scan every 6 months through the end of 2000, it isn't going to happen because there's no money. As discussed in previous sections, some of the tensions manifested in this exchange are between central policy and local execution (although earlier we often saw 68
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From page 69... ...
3.8 Overcome Funding Disincentives to Working across Organizational Boundaries As shown in Section 3.7, funding is one of the more visible sources of ICT tensions. As with other ICT-related tensions, funding issues generally represent competing desirable ends.
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From page 70... ...
One such issue is the need to gear central ICT guidance to an appropriate level: if too high, there may be a disconnect with local execution; if too low, local executors may be overburdened and have little room to adjust for individual circumstances. During Y2K, the subtleties involved in gearing central guidance to an appropriate level were further complicated by the increased involvement in ICT decision making of higher-level administrators with little or no ICT management experience.
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From page 71... ...
. Central management of ongoing ICT practice is a highly problematic activity.
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From page 72... ...
(AFCIO/AFY2KO) Thus, central guidance needs to strike an appropriate balance between generating and maintaining an enterprise-wide information strategy and fostering individualized local execution of that strategy.
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(USAF 1997) Despite the perceived importance and magnitude of the validation phase, the complexity of testing and diversity of local conditions made it difficult to generate specific central guidance on validation.
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From page 74... ...
When these tools were employed at Air Force central ICT facilities, the need for specialized system knowledge was demonstrated again. SSG tested our software for Y2K issues and … they did find some.
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From page 75... ...
. Some ICT managers see the increased focus on centralized testing and certification that came out of Y2K as positive, and they want to build on it.
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From page 76... ...
(AMC/SCA) Like many other issues raised by Y2K, the topic of certification and testing likewise calls for ongoing organizational mechanisms that support cross-boundary communication and coordination.
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From page 77... ...
(SSG) As with certification and testing, the increased focus during Y2K on version control and configuration management contributed to an increased effort to centralize these activities.
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From page 78... ...
. Central units could be equally frustrated, which often led to tensions between central guidance and local execution.
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From page 79... ...
Or perhaps all this change is not so clearly beneficial to users. Perhaps the drive to stay current with technology through constant change is driven more by the ICT industry and central ICT managers than by obvious benefits to local operations and users.
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From page 80... ...
The pressures of the Y2K threat, however, coupled with ongoing operational demands, left little time or energy for leveraging this effort into an ongoing means of addressing comprehensive ICT informational needs. "The databases could possibly be used for version control, configuration management, and information assurance, but…[staff]
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From page 81... ...
. Some people see critical infrastructure protection and information assurance activities as the natural homes for these informational efforts (see further discussion in Chapter 4)
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From page 82... ...
. The barriers to effective data gathering were not limited to the Y2K effort; they continue to complicate ICT informational activities to the present.
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From page 83... ...
Perhaps the most visible cultural differences during Y2K were those between acquisitions and computing. Even at the top level of management, the Air Force Y2K effort was split between these two perspectives.
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From page 84... ...
During Y2K, SC provided leadership and support to the various Y2K working groups that tackled the frontline efforts at bases and facilities across the service. Counter to the acquisitions' perspective, those with a more computing perspective saw Y2K as a demonstration that central developers often fail to adequately consider the realities of local conditions and ongoing operational and maintenance issues (374th AW/XP, AFY2KO)
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From page 85... ...
This impact could be both positive and negative. On the one hand, Air Force units on a base that hosts a MAJCOM headquarters, for instance, increase their likelihood of informal interaction with that unit and, therefore, access to central guidance and related communications.
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From page 86... ...
To accomplish this, the "space between" requires an organizational home as well. 3.13 Empower Permanent Organizational Entities Focused on Cross-Boundary Issues Once Y2K was perceived to be a general, widespread threat to ICT infrastructure, many organizations found it necessary to establish temporary organizational entities to spearhead their Y2K response efforts.
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From page 87... ...
. Many ICT managers who went through the Y2K experience came to recognize the necessity of permanent organizational entities focused on enterprise-wide, holistic aspects of ICT systems.
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From page 88... ...
Because so many ongoing ICT issues were interwoven with the Y2K effort (for example, version control, certification, system ownership and responsibility, configuration management, system maintenance, continuity planning, security) , there was a relatively brief time during Y2K when the AFY2KO became the Air Force's home of enterprise-wide ICT management.
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From page 89... ...
Thus, many CIO offices centered their information and knowledge management activities on standardizing and keeping up with new information and communication technology. This focus was not only aligned with existing ICT units but also was economically beneficial to the many technology companies with products in this area.
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From page 90... ...
Under the CIO's guidance, a cross-boundary entity defined to represent the relevant organizational perspectives on an issue becomes the POC. Only such an entity, acting with the guidance and authority of the CIO's office, can take on the delicate task of balancing the competing organizational goals that surround a cross-boundary ICT issue.
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From page 91... ...
Managing ICT systems means managing risk. In battling the risks of Y2K, there were lessons for the current struggle with risks associated with information assurance, critical infrastructure protection, and security.
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