IT/Business Alignment: Can't We All Just Get Along?

It ought to be simple, says software developer Dan Tienes, but working with IT too often is anything but.

IT departments lose out when staff refer to users as "lusers," and scorn, ignore or treat their customer base like the enemy. That's right - customer base. And the customers? They are too often clueless about the role they play in project failures, and in general, about why IT can or can't do something.

Dan Tienes, a former programmer and current software development manager, is so concerned about this, that he is writing a book, tentatively titled "It Ought To Be Simple: How To Work With Your Company's IT Department," about the failure of IT/business alignment, and how the problem lies more with people, than processes. To get a taste of Tienes' views, read his essay, "I'm An Idiot," and his follow-up piece that responds to the sometime vitriolic peer reaction the original article triggered after it was Slash-Dotted.

Despite having written several essays that have earned him the wrath of some in the IT profession, Tienes says he is ultimately committed to helping IT professionals, and the businesses they serve, to better understand each other. While his book is targeted more at business users, he has a lot to say to the IT rank-and-file and their managers.

For starters, change your attitudes. Referring to users as "lusers" is a self-fulfilling prophesy - if you don't view them with respect, you won't treat them with respect. And that respect is crucial to building good communication and a solid understanding of each others' needs and issues.It's also important that IT staff views users as customers, not co-workers who should know what they know about technology and the company's specific systems.

It's critical that CIOs set the tone here. Consider that IT is a service department in many respects; your mission is to help your business peers accomplish their mission, whatever that may be - cost-cutting, more efficient manufacturing, faster output or the creation of more innovative products. But if you aren't listening, you can't build the systems they need to succeed. If they don't succeed, their failure will boomerang back on your IT department. It's cyclical and very much an existence of co-dependence.

Good listening skills are key, but IT personnel have to do more. They have to make the effort to educate the very people who drive them crazy, or more specifically, to explain, in very straightforward terms, why nothing in IT is as easy as it seems.

Too many IT workers think they shouldn't have to do this. But doing so will not only help IT, it is fundamentally the job of everyone in IT, believes Tienes. If users are making unreasonable demands, offering irrational suggestions or requesting unnecessary or too many changes, then your staff needs to explain why whatever it is they want, or think can be done "easily," can't be done as quickly or easily as they think. The better understanding the business side has of how the IT sausage is made, the better chance IT has of setting expectations and engaging in reality-grounded work. At the same time, IT needs to work on making hardware and software that is easier to use, and more simple to understand.

But too many IT departments don't do any of this, laments Tienes. "The entire time I worked in IT, the business could never seem to understand why things were so complicated - that's where the book's title comes from. People were always saying, "Let's just make this [easy] change, and it never was. I was always trying to explain why it wasn't, and people's eyes would just glaze over. There is a real disconnect between the reality of IT work and the business.""Both sides need to meet in the middle," says Tienes. "If you are a business manager, anything you do related to the internet, it's your responsibility to know, for example, what a firewall is. This deliberate ignorance has to go."

In the case of IT, it's what Tienes called the "culture of contentiousness" and an over-emphasis on hiring the smartest people out there, which has to go. "One of things that really struck me is the bad attitude damaging the profession. A lot of the people [responding to my essay] said, 'We're just reacting to people being mean to us,' which is a really juvenile argument," he said. Another common response was the complaint that "You don't have to be trained to use a computer," as in, you need a license to drive a car.

"You will never make things better if you discount the problem as being because users are stupid," Tienes pleads. "If you really believe users are stupid, you need to find another job."

Clearly, users today are much savvier about computers. But Tienes notes that computers have at the same time become exponentially more complicated, while the number of devices people have to contend with has exploded. "People are more adept, but the complexity curve is gotten a lot higher. Software is [still] not as easy as it should be."

As far as he is concerned, the real problem often isn't user ignorance, it's lousy programming. And he's quick to say he's written his share of crummy code and lousy interfaces, and has spent his fair share of time fixing things he got wrong the first time.In addition to simply building better products, another good use of IT's time lies in figuring out why exactly people don't seem to get simple concepts or functionality, and asking, "What can I do to make it clear?'' So - to use a simple example - if users aren't checking to see that the printer is out of ink, maybe IT needs to find a better way to make it clear to users that the printer is out of ink, he says.Or, if training seems to be the issue, do what your business peers would do. If people aren't getting a basic concept, put together an ROI document: here is how much time we spend teaching people to do X. If we spent a day going over this, look at the time and money we'd save!

So how do you effect this attitude change in your staff? You make it happen in part by altering your hiring and work priorities, according to Tienes.

"There is so much emphasis in hiring on having smart people - we need to temperate it with a little humanity,'' he says, noting that, "We are well past the point in IT where you are locked in a room separate from everything else. It's no longer sufficient to hire the smartest guy or girl and make sure they don't have a public-facing role. You are never going to get to the point where you are integral with the business unless you start working with the business."

This means that when CIOs find IT workers who understand that their number-one priority is not going to be rewiring the closet or disc array, you need to hang onto that person. It also means that CIOs need to find the people in their department who are good at explaining things to the layman, and make sure that they are the face of IT. "It's all about what's important."

It can be really hard to say to some CIOs, "stop focusing on the technical aspects," says Tienes. But, he adds, a CIO should not be tasked with their number -ne priority being what hardware to buy. "You really want to address alignment. Accept Nick Carr's argument that IT in a lot of ways is becoming a commodity, and shift your focus to the business."Related links:

"I'm An Idiot"

"The Idiot Replies"

"Help Them Understand You,"
Editor's note: Tiene's book, "It Ought to be Simple," is a work in progress. His web site - itoughttobesimple.com - serves as a proving ground for some of the ideas that will end up in the finished work. He welcomes feedback from IT pros; if you want to influence what he has to say to the business side about IT, or comment on his essays, you can email your views to [email protected], or comment on his blog.
Are you concerned about the disconnect between IT and business? Do you want to force a sea change in attitudes in your organization? Here's a cheat sheet of "dos" and "don'ts" for users and their IT peers. Let the relationship building begin!:

For users:* Don't perpetuate the IT stereotype that your questions are stupid. "A lot of times I'd hear users say, 'I know it's a stupid question, but . . .,' which predisposes IT people to hear, 'O.k., here is a stupid question . . .'," says Tienes.

* Don't encourage the reasons that drive labels like "luser." Make an effort to gain an understanding of basic computer concepts. Make time for computer training, learn how to use your systems and applications, and be sure to check the obvious before calling the help desk. Ignorance is not bliss.

* Don't assume the changes you seek are "easy" to do. Often, they involve more time, staff resources, or coding changes than you realize, and can be disruptive. Make an effort to understand the process behind your requests to IT, so you can ground your project requests and expectations in reality.

* Understand the impact that request for changes can have on project management and scheduling. If you want changes, be prepared to accept delays. "You can have something fast, or feature-rich," notes Tienes.

* Make up your minds, and stick to it. Constantly changing priorities can drive IT crazy. The issue brings to mind the lament of a web designer team I once worked with, who complained that they were saddled with an 80-item "top priority" list that got changed weekly.* Don't assume "geeks" won't understand your department's function, needs and issues. Make a concerted effort to educate your IT counterparts about your end of the business so that they can better serve you.

* No yelling. Don't take your frustrations out on the helpdesk. They are not the cause of your technical problem; they are there to help you. Treat them as you would like to be treated.

For the IT Department

* Respect users. They are your customers, and they are not stupid. Attitude change starts at the top, so CIOs have to lead by example.

* Practice true IT/business alignment. Educate yourself about the business in general, and the individual department you are assisting in particular. You can't understand their issues and anticipate their needs otherwise.* Share your knowledge. Educate users when they ask questions - don't blow them off, ignore them or blind them with science or jargon. This is an opportunity to build bridges, not showcase your superior technical knowledge.

* Seek feedback. Successful systems and applications don't get built in a vacuum. Even if the department head sits down with IT to work out project specs, that won't ensure that the project meets the needs of the people who actually will be using it. Check in with them at the outset, and throughout the project lifecycle. If something isn't working for them, change it.

* Simplify, simplify, simplify. Complexity is at the root of much of the misunderstanding between IT and business, and also behind much of the angst in the user ranks. Grab every opportunity to find a better, easier way to make things work, and to get things done.

* Give the users what they want, not what you think they should have. Just because you can build something into a system doesn't mean you should. Overly complicating things with fancy bells and whistles can turn off the intended user base, and that's a sure formula for system failure. "Ask yourself, who are you building this for? The users, or a cool new tool you just bought?," suggests Tienes.

* Let it go. Remember, this is not your system; it's the business users' system. If they're happy, then the project is a success.Patricia Keefe