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BI Momentum - Anticipate the Direction!

April 3, 2008

Our family went south for spring break and I was ready for the journey! Along the way we saw trucks stopped by the side of the road and one of my kids asked what they were doing. I let them know that those truckers were getting some shut-eye and that by law, they were required to rest. She asked my why their engines were running. I told her that they leave them running because it takes too long to start them up - Diesel engines were made to run and you just could not start them like a car and take off. That got me thinking…

Imagine a very large ocean liner sitting in the ocean waiting for the proper direction with engines off…they receive their direction. First, they have to muster the crew, communicate the plan and assign roles (hopefully they have coverage and don’t have to hire anyone - especially those hard-to-find skill sets). Next, they have to take the time to start the engines (there’s a risk here that they might have some problems with their technology or engines, since they were off, their working according to spec is an unknown). Now that their engines are on, it’s not like they can just make that turn towards their new direction.  They have to spend time to reach momentum before they can make a turn towards the destination. That’s a lot of risk and wasted time. Additionally, when that shipped was stopped, you know it was being pushed along by currents and winds – it in fact did not have control over its destination and it was vulnerable to storms.  There was even the threat of being boarded and taken over by pirates!

If that ship had been moving, they would have been able to make the changes necessary right away.  Risks would have been minimized because everything was already up and running.  The crew would have been fully staffed since there were all engaged.  Compared to the ship, the rudder is very small, but it’s this very effective design that controls the direction of the ship.  This represents leadership, but this is the topic of a future blog. 

One negative aspect of having the ship moving and maintaining momentum is the risk of it moving away from the destination – going the wrong way. That’s where the skills of a good captain come in to play. The captain controls this risk by anticipating the direction of the destination. Keeping momentum is mandatory; leadership and experience control risks.

How is your BI momentum?  Is your BI effort like that ocean liner with engines off? 

Are you waiting for tool and database selection or architecture decisions? Don’t, because its not about technology, its about a relationship with the business.  Yes, standards are good, but you must engage the business and keep that momentum.

 

Are you waiting for the business to have a vision?  Guess what, chances are that they will not.  They need help getting to the next level. They are focused on keeping the place running. We (IT) must partner with the business and lead them to a place where they can lead themselves.

 

Are you waiting for the business to speak your language?  Shame on you. J It’s our job to speak their language.  They are the client, we need to engage them on their level – and I don’t mean stepping down.  More accurately, we need to step up…step up to their level of understanding of the business at the most intimate of levels.  When we engage them we not only need to keep up with them, we need to lead them – and this takes skill. 

Are you afraid of starting something that you are not ready for?  ROI is the mediator here and strategy is the context. Either it’s good or its not good.  Either it supports the strategy or it doesn’t.  If ROI says that we should move forward and it fits within our strategy, then we have a fiduciary responsibility to do so. We are bound by ethics to act in the best interest of the company, its stockholders and its customers.  Admittedly, ROI is fuzzy at best – but somewhere, at some time we need to be able to reduce opportunities to value and filter that value proposition through our strategic grid.

 

Activity breeds productivity!

Keep your ship moving, gauge the wind

and reduce risk by anticipating the direction. 

 

 

Happy Sailing,

~ Scott Felten

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Written by Scott Felten · Filed Under Information Technology 

Comments

One Response to “BI Momentum - Anticipate the Direction!”

  1. DAVIDeBOWMAN on April 3rd, 2008 8:18 pm

    Scott,

    Steven Covey, in The 8th Habit, discusses the idea of the “trim tab.” This is a little rudder within the rudder. It allows the captain to set the direction, and keep the ship on more easily keep the ship on the ideal course relative to the surrounding conditions. i see us filling this role for many businesses. By bridging the gap that exists between IT and “the business,” we can help to keep business on course. Another great post. Keep them coming.

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