10.1 Not it, not business processes, but organizational culture  (Page 12/13)

And finally, the values described sound very much like the principles of the Agile Manifesto ( (External Link) ). While agile methods are usually associated with software development, how do you feel they might apply to the general field of IT project management and the various practices mentioned: COBIT, ITIL, PMBOK?

Craig, thanks again, I could go on and on-lots of neat stuff–you really have me thinking.

Patrick

11. craig perue - july 6th, 2007 at 2:01 pm

Thanks for more useful questions Pat.

What methods did you use to understand and develop your IT portfolio (even distance learning), especially considering the previous deployment of WebCT, where, after considerable time and effort, you where informed that the University simply could not afford that many licenses?

At the outset I used strategic analysis and planning methods such as SWOT analysis, forecasting, and the Balanced Scorecard but it was Service Level Management as defined in ITIL v.2 together with the Management Guidelines of PO3 (Define Technological Direction) in COBIT that were most helpful. Seeing the organization as the Executive Management team, faculty members, students and non-technology staff saw us – as a bunch of services (and costs) was important – so we created a Service Catalogue for dialogue with our clients, with a lot of ancillary data for internal management use (such as associated human resources, profitability etc.). Corresponding to the Service Catalogue, the Architectural standards would usually be the basis for beginning discussions about specific technologies with IT staff.

Was that a reference point through which you demonstrated the need to better understand, perhaps not only your IT portfolio, but institutional goals and business processes as well (understanding the hesitance to preach or criticize)?

Yes, it certainly was a major reference point. I think a lot of IT organizations have been battling with IT-business alignment in recent years. The buzz around IT governance and enterprise architecture, and the emerging prominence of frameworks such as ValIT and TOGAF , and new journals such as Microsoft’s The Architecture Journal attest to this. In the early days I did make a presentation to the IT Management team in which I suggested that we needed to do some soul-searching just as you have stated. I was gratified when I found an acronym I had coined to describe our core business processes (TLAR – for Teaching, Learning, Assessment and Research) started showing up in various discussions across the campus.

I am also very impressed to hear of your, what might be called “institutional values.” I was wondering if you could give some examples of specific instances where these principles came into play, either with existing faculty/administration/IT staff (those who pre-dated your arrival) or with regard to a project?

The deployment of OurVLE itself is probably the most visible example I can think of on this campus, where the right approach in deployment was critical. There was an immense amount of initial resistance from both IT staff and from faculty to the deployment of OurVLE for several reasons including: