By Naked CIO, 18 February 2008 11:46
COMMENT
Moronic end users are putting paid to any hope of introducing innovation at Naked CIO's new company. Their resistance to change is also taking a heavy toll on his sanity.
CIOs are often accused of lacking creativity and vision. Actually what they often lack is the will to live - after engaging with operational colleagues to improve systems.
Why is it that after spending a great deal of time specifying requirements the end result almost always looks like what is already in place?
After months of begging me to consider a new system because the one they currently use is broken, users tell me in very specific detail that they would like a system just as broken but in blue rather than orange.
On the other hand, when I present innovations I'm told they are commercially and operationally difficult: "What we do today won't work with the way the new system does it."
Isn't that exactly the point? What part of innovation do these morons not understand?
New exclusive:
The Naked CIO
Where have all the good staff gone?
Innovation is the art of applying new and better methods to solving traditional problems. But they can't see this. To achieve my desired results I have to metamorphose into some new-age therapist and start talking about utopia.
I now have to tell my users, directors and managers not to think of what we do now. Forget about the technology. Think instead how your department would run in a perfect world.
Although of course the perfect world lacks two basic but essential ingredients - users and customers.
I can introduce innovation and continue to drive progress - but the cost to my sanity is beginning to show.
Legacy mindsets are fixed on the processes that are the cause rather than the result of poorly performing systems. The cost of changing these mindsets is greater than the cost of the system themselves.
I suppose the answer lies in being able to promote positive change in organisations. Yet individuals are naturally defensive in the face of change because it means uncertainty and disruption.
Does this mean people would inherently rather have the status quo with unsuitable systems than push the boundaries of innovation?
This mindset is one of the greatest barriers to transformational change. Certainly creative concepts get watered down not because of their inherent potential but because of the users who sap the energy, drive and enthusiasm of those who sponsor the operational change.
So here's the real - but not politically correct - answer: if you want to innovate as well as get rid of the systems causing the problems, perhaps you should consider dispensing with the people too?
If only it were that simple.
Comments
There are 10 comments. Join the discussion
1. Karen Challinor
if you want to innovate try giving people what they need as well as what they want
but thats harder than bleating about how the users aren't doing what you want isn't it
don't just assume that users will all fall into line behind your shiny new systems because you say they are better, there may be very good reasons for "doing things the old way", I see no mention of any analysis of the "old way" to make sure the new system does what the old one did, I see no mention of training for users mentioned either, are they supposed to be telepathic or are we to assume training is a given ?
3 columns to date and every one whines about how someone or something isn't behaving the way you would like, well tough this is the real world deal with it
we all have legacy situations to handle, we all inherit situations we may not like this is the norm, walking into virgin territory and setting things up exactly the way you want and having it all tick along beautifully is very much the exception
start thinking like an IT focussed board level executive and stop thinking like an IT manager ... and a poor one at that judging by the way you try to micromanage everything and everyone
stop whining and start working
2. Austin Holdsworth
It takes courage to admit when something fails and this guy just wants to pin blame on everyone but himself.
I just don't like this CIOs attitude at all.
The end-user is like the customer, they are always right. Something went wrong here, its not clear what happened but its not because the end-user is a moron.
The CIO needs to pinpoint the areas of failure and work it out; training, project management, requirements, product selection, vendor commitment ....
So far the CIO is in danger of alienating him/herself from the the users and thats not a good career move.
3. Ralph Beales
You are clearly a troll. Or you are the CIO of a tiny company, masquerading as a company large enough to require such an exalted personage. (What the hell is a Chief Information Officer for anyway? In old money so a 40 something anglo can understand; is he the IT Director?)
Will you be looking to hang the miscreants, for whom you have the grave misfortune, to have in your employ? Far better than just sacking them. Perhaps a spot of drawing and quartering would also be beneficial.
4. David Bowler
What you are up against looks like stupidity, but is in fact a fundamental principle of change management.
In surgery, a lot of the skill is not in making the necessary improvements in the patient's body, but in keeping the patient alive all the way through the process, moment by moment (there is no other way of being alive).
In Darwinian evolution, all succesful changes have to convey an immediate benefit. Pain today for gain tomorow never happens, because tomorrow is invisible to natural selection.
Also, in the workplace, workers naturally resist change, because they know that most of the cost of change will fall on them individually, in the form of unpaid overtime trying to catch up after a period of disruption.
If you want to change a large and complex organisation, you have to break up the change into small pieces, each one of which has to be seamless and painless, because the organisation has to go on fuctioning at full power while the change is happening.
Think long-term, but everything has to work in the short term. As Keynes said, 'In the long run, we are all dead.' And to quote Eric Clapton,
'If I can't make it through tomorrow,
I guess I'd better make it through today.'
5. Charles Smith
Client buy-In is a precursor of good systems. Break down the walls of the IT citidel and mix with those "moronic" users who after all are the reason why the IT Department is there.
If you want to use the latest whizbang technology try it out in a pilot project first and involve the operational staff in the design and implementation.
The Naked CIO may be right that the new system is like a machine gun at a jousting match, but it will be cold comfort if he/she is scouring the Appointment Ads in the national press.
6. Richard
Yes, this is why RAD can be so effective:
By training - or aptitude - we're accustomed to dealing with abstract concepts, with uncertainty and change.
Many people are not: Obviously, this make them lesser mortals. ;-)
It's often helpful to show such people something more tangible - such as a realistic prototype.
That's why RAD became so popular: It was possible to "lash-up" something quickly which even the most "concrete" thinker was able to understand.
Unfortunately, it also allowed people to believe that solid, reliable systems could be "lashed-up" quickly and cheaply.
7. Chris Stevens
RAD = Instant Legacy Systems
8. Rick Maurer
A big part of the problem could be your line: What part of innovation do these morons not understand?
I know leading change is tough and it can be maddening when you think you’ve got buy-in and then they “want it in blue”.
I suspect it’s something deeper – much deeper. My guess is that they never were convinced that a change was really needed. Therefore, resistance – asking for it in blue, for example – helps stall the onset of a change they never saw the reason for.
9. Ian
Currently working at a very large bank, I overheard one of the engineers complaining, "If I painted the world pink, you would say you wanted it yellow!"
I think that epitomises your scenario. Why not just ask what colour is needed in the first place or offer a colour chart for end users to select from?
This is of course assuming you have the remotest idea what these 'morons' do all day with the tools they have. I would suggest a few weeks shadowing end users, get your hands dirty, go on I dare you. No one knows the job better than they do and empowering them to make change or at least suggest change would be a good start.
Pilot projects get user buy-in and promote ownership of systems when implementation takes place.
Personally, I wouldn't give a hoot what you thought if you referred to me or my staff as 'morons'. There is a great book called 'How to win friends and influence people' that may help you understand what is happening on the other side of the smoked glass window.
10. The Naked CIO
First, I want to thank readers for their informative and - in some cases - passionate comments.
In writing the Naked CIO the premise has always been to highlight some of the challenges we face in our industry, specifically when engaging with business and managing transformational change in a new job, which is the situation I find myself in.
A bit of tongue-in-cheek bravado has been inserted to highlight these challenges - but all the situations are firmly grounded in the reality of my day-to-day job.
The purpose has also been to stimulate constructive debate on how CIOs should confront these challenges, and the comments so far have been very focused on solutions, which I think is great.
The Naked CIO