Bob Lewis - Theres No Such Thing as an IT Project: A Handbook for Intentional Business Change

THERES NO SUCH THING AS AN IT PROJECT

A HANDBOOK FOR INTENTIONAL BUSINESS CHANGE

BOB LEWIS & DAVE KAISER

Theres No Such Thing as an IT Project

Copyright 2019 by Bob Lewis and Dave Kaiser

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed Attention: Permissions Coordinator, at the address below.

Ordering information for print editions

Quantity sales. Special discounts are available on quantity purchases by corporations, associations, and others. For details, contact the Special Sales Department at the Berrett-Koehler address above.

Individual sales. Berrett-Koehler publications are available through most bookstores. They can also be ordered directly from Berrett-Koehler: Tel: (800) 929-2929; Fax: (802) 864-7626; www.bkconnection.com

Orders for college textbook/course adoption use. Please contact Berrett-Koehler: Tel: (800) 929-2929; Fax: (802) 864-7626.

Distributed to the U.S. trade and internationally by Penguin Random House Publisher Services.

Berrett-Koehler and the BK logo are registered trademarks of Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.

First Edition

Paperback print edition ISBN 978-1-5230-9883-5
PDF e-book ISBN 978-1-5230-9884-2
IDPF e-book ISBN 978-1-5230-9885-9
Digital audio ISBN 978-1-5230-9887-3

2019-1

Set in Palatino by Westchester Publishing Services.

Cover designer: Adam Johnson

To the many longtime readers of InfoWorlds IS Survival Guide and its successor, my weekly Keep the Joint Running e-letter. They have, over the years, kept me motivated, honest, and most important, better informed.

Bob

To the second boss in my career, Dave Crowley, who once told me, Kaiser, if you ever stop complaining you will have a great career. Dave was a great mentor and taught me the importance of being open and honest with those you care about.

Dave

The problem were trying to solve.

Intentional business change, banning IT projects, and how theyre two sides of the same coin.

The shift from IT projects to intentional business change starts with redefining shared assumptions, attitudes, and perspectives.

Dont ask about requirements. Ask how business managers want to run their part of the company differently and better.

Agile beats Waterfall for successful project completion. Now, we need to fix Agile so the projects it successfully completes are the right kinds of projects.

IT Operations isnt a business with internal customers. Its an integral part of business operations.

Now that youve achieved competence at intentional business change, youll need to decide what business changes you should achieve intentionally.

Most of the big strategic business threats and opportunities start with newly available technologies. Who better than IT to envision how the business should respond to them.

To achieve excellence in conceptualizing, planning, and executing intentional business change, organizations must be skilled at seven disciplines: leadership, business design, technical architecture management, application development or integration and configuration, organizational change management, implementation logistics, and project management. Heres a quick sketch of each of them.

When it comes to achieving intentional business change, dont listen to anyone who starts the conversation by saying, All you gotta do is

Because you arent an expert until youre FBC (fully buzzword compliant).

Partner at ITDirections (www.itdirections.com) and author of five books, including A Practical Guide to Information Systems Strategic Planning.

Why is this book important? Its because today, technology is at the core of all businesses. It is difficult to find a business strategy or business process that does not depend on technology for its success. In fact, for differentiating, innovating, or disrupting organizations, the business and the technology are typically inseparable. Just look at companies such as Uber, Airbnb, Amazon, Houzz, Netflix, Zipcar, Tesla, Instacart, Salesforce, Facebook, Google, or Apple; it is difficult to see the business and the technology as separate entities. The business is the technology, and the technology is the business.

For decades, IT practitioners have hammered on the idea that the business and IT need to be aligned. In todays world, with technology and the business essentially being one, alignment isnt enough anymore. As Bob and Dave point out, IT cant just be aligned with the businessit has to be integrated into it. Which is why many are coming to see that there is no such thing as an IT project. Theyre business-change projects that are using technology as an enabler.

Digital transformation is the current discussion and hype in the industry. What is Digital transformation? It is nothing more than business change, effectively using technology throughout all aspects and touchpoints of the business.

This book is important because its about change. Companies in all industries and of all sizes must continually change to be relevant and successful. Change must happen quickly, intentionally, and flawlessly. Yet, change of any kind is difficult. Whether you are talking about changing a culture, a business, a business process, a toolset, a skill, a personal habit, or a mind-set, change is tough. There is no surefire solution or recipe for change.

This book provides excellent thoughts and advice for navigating a course of change in your organization. Change in every organization and every project is different. What may be successful in one organization or project could be disastrous in another. This book provides many creative ideas and suggestions for business change.

Bob and Dave have a unique and entertaining writing style. Not only is their writing enjoyable, but they make you think. They make you question the obvious and the not so obvious. They provide original, concrete, and pragmatic suggestions and advice that you can put to immediate use. At the beginning of each chapter, they provide a real-life story, or interlude, to help make the material relevant. At the end of each chapter, they provide a succinct summary of the key points, titled If You Remember Nothing Else, and make it actionable with a section titled What You Can Do Right Now. Whether your job function is in the business or IT, I think you will find thought-provoking value and useful advice in this book that will help you navigate your unique path of, as Bob and Dave call it,