Quick Wins in ITSM or Where’s the Gum and String?
Ron, thanks for reading…I read your blog regarding quick wins and ITSM I’m a bit concerned that you left out bubble gum, bailing wire and Velcro (my personal favorites) J Seriously though, in my fifteen plus years Program/Project Management experiences in IT and Service Management and software development, I’ve found the requirement to establish rapid time to value (aka “quick wins”) as simply the “nature of the beast” . This is not some phenomenon unique to Consultants or IT Service Management… It’s a reality - based upon straight up, out of the box project management and large program successes mindful of a corporate bottom line requirement for year to year return on investment.It’s a pretty good practice to put a monkey in the capsule & circle the earth a couple of times before you shoot for the moon.
Of course getting too “quick win”, schedule pressure focused , can also be illustrated with some not so pleasant space program analogies too. IMHO, demonstrating measurable value enables you to continue on a much longer and more valuable journey – whether that’s in ITSM, SOA, large software development projects…or a family journey with the kids. Ok, I’m an idealist at heart, who’s developed some real life scar tissue. I’ve never seen long programs succeed that didn’t’ demonstrate enough wins to keep the sponsors/executives happy enough to continue the funding year in and year out.
Simply put, It’s about balance to me. Of course, like always, your mileage may vary J Scott M. Davis
Process Consultant
Evergreen Systems512 983-6492
Scott, you make a good case but there is no profit or sustainablity in quick wins. I’ll provide this analogy. A few navy recruits were given the task of painting the flagpole at a naval base. One of the recruits dropped the paint bucket on the flagstones. After a hurried consultation, they came up with a quick win. They painted all the flagstones as well, and no-one noticed. Five years later, the latest batch of new recruits were still painting the flagpole and the flagstones.
In most companies these ineffective and expensive quick wins remain indefinitely. I am certain that a Henry Ford type production analysis of IT systems will result in a huge budget cut, as these inefficiences are identified and weeded out.
BTW: I once used a paper clip to …wait, what goes on tour, stays on tour!
Despite Ron’s humorous analogy, quick wins is now the way of the world in agile organizations. Entire programing methodologies are built around it. As long is the project can be properly articulated, quick wins throughout the lifecycle of the program are the way to go.
Consider Rome and Brasilia. Rome was a city built incrementally (think quick wins) over hundreds of years. Brasilia was master-planned from the start. Who the hell wants to go to Brasilia?
Bill