Oops, we outsourced innovation!
Everyone’s overwhelmed keeping up with the routine. We’re all managing email, upgrading file servers, customizing widgets for departmental apps, re-imaging and troubleshooting desktops, blah blah blah. When we hear about something new or cool or exciting, it’s hard to find the time to pilot it, let alone making the infrastructure shifts that are sometimes necessary to accommodate it. Infrastructure shifts? Like changing identity management systems, or file systems, web servers, etc. These are big projects which, when done successfully, are completely invisible to the end user yet result, eventually, in a much better, more responsive, more stable, more attractive environment.
So we scrounge for our meager crust of IT daily bread while the coolness seems to be the province of the Google guys getting massages as they master plan our universe. Damn them! And then because we’re cleaning crumbs, we miss all the fun, and before we know it, we’re paying others to do the fun stuff while it’s still the same old, same old.
NOOOOOOO!
Outsource the utility. Insource the fun. This will make the IT staff happy. Happy IT staff will mean happy customers. Trust me. Your customers take cues from the IT staff because they themselves don’t know much about technology and so want to look tech savvy and so readily adopt the demeanor of their trusted local IT guru. If they have one. (Step one: make sure your IT staff identify more with the customer than they do with the IT organization. Let them rise up against you, evil CTO, so they can partner with the faculty, students, and staff, and thereby more easily shape our customer attitude…[evil laughter]) .
I think customers will put up with some short term utility fluctuations if they feel they’re part of something exciting and cutting edge. I know cio.com and others say you need to get your operations in shape before you can be innovative, but I don’t think we can afford to waste time to get it to perfection. Get your operations in an okay state–get them to where you can dump them at some outsourced border and run towards the innovative–that which will distinguish you from your peers, keep your staff (your most expensive resource) engaged, and which will make those in your community who are always looking toward the future excited. Face it, you can’t please everyone anyway. I’d rather annoy the Luddites while striving for excellence than sink everything to the lowest level.
So, yeah, anyone want to take over our mail service? 🙂
yu said:
Apr 03, 08 at 8:05 pmCool, sounds like you are talking about our dept:-) Having fun and doing cool things are definitely important for IT managers and staff. Fun support staff makes fun customers.
bendy said:
Apr 04, 08 at 4:51 amExcellent little manifesto. I think working behind the scenes, one can get a little obsessed with uptime and transparent migrations. End users don’t really seem to expect 99.999% uptime, and don’t necessarily experience it even if it exists in the server room: sometimes things don’t work for them, and thus begins a trail of thinking: _ Is it me? am I doing something wrong? No it worked yesterday. Is this computer having a problem? Is it the network…_
Local IT is only one stop on that trail, which runs from the keyboard using the software to the keyboard that coded the software. When someone stops you in the hall and says *Were there network problems this morning? I couldn’t tell if it was me or everyone?* they are usually satisfied with either answer.
Celeste said:
Apr 04, 08 at 7:13 amGood for you. I got so tired of doing all the drudgery, the janitorial work of IT, and never getting to do anything shiny. Which is why I resigned this week.
Keep your IT staff happy with the fun stuff. Amen!
Sukey said:
Apr 04, 08 at 12:01 pmI think these “outsourcing innovation” concerns are true, too, albeit in a different way, in the k-12 instructional environment.
It’s so hard to bring in new tech stuff that can actually make student learning more fun (at least, if by “fun” you mean multiple database searching, sharing Google.docs, & linking articles onto your wikipage) when you’re overloaded with administrative minutiae like getting a bunch of hyper and/or bored kids to set-up their user names and passwords.
g-bot said:
Apr 04, 08 at 3:22 pmThe Google will gladly take on your mail.
In my organization here’s the flow of innovation (yummy KPI if you can track it):
Idea originator (inside or outside the company/department/shower)->Paid staff->Intern->off-shore->automation.
At each node assess risk management and SWOT (SWAK) for whether the entire bowl of squid soup can/should be outsourced (legal, top brass, operations who manage the outsource relationship).
Anyway, glad the CTO can tell where you add value, keep talented employees and streamline business. Hmm is it really about technology after all? I mean, There’s not a Chief Garbage Can Officer is there?
g-bot said:
Apr 04, 08 at 3:33 pmalso, has the first commented never seen a default WP install or is he spam probe?
admin said:
Apr 04, 08 at 5:51 pmg-bot: Spam probe–I deleted the comment. Celeste: CONGRATULATIONS on making a change! I hope it all works out for you.
Good comments, all. Bendy and Yu: I think you’re right about working with the customers–if they trust you, then they will be satisfied with some glitches when they feel you’re competent and that you understand what good service is.
And it’s not about the technology: you’re right g-bot. The CTO title is a little archaic, I think. It’s about the process to the product, delivering the right stuff at the right time in the right way, for whatever your organization’s value of “right.” CEO? Chief Effect Officer?