This Focused Performance Weblog is a "business management blog" containing links and commentary related primarily to organizational effectiveness with a "Theory of Constraints" perspective. TOC is noted for its applications in Project Management and Multi-Project Management (Critical Chain) and Operations Management (Drum-Buffer-Rope), as well as in Marketing, Strategic Planning and Change Management (TOC Thinking Processes). If you are on an archive page, current postings are found here.
"a crystal clear understanding of their core business value; the courage to reexamine what they do, how they do it and with whom they do it; and a commitment to careful change management."
Throughout the series, key success factors for the implementation of technology solutions are identified, many of which should be familiar to regular readers of this Focused Performance weblog. Some of them are...
• Addressed most frustrating problem first to show immediate results
• Enlisted powerful constituency before tackling toughest users
• Focused on unarticulated user needs
• Invested users in development process to ensure buy-in
• Reworked an entire process rather than just one piece to ensure speedy data analysis
• Found ways to compromise and balance the needs of multiple constituencies
• Effectively used project management
While I'll admit that this list is a bit edited for emphasis of my point (check out the articles for the full lists), that point is also borne out in the texts of the articles. It ain't just the technology, or even the bit-level techniques of delivering the technology, that drives value in such efforts, but rather, it's the relationship to the business value, the ability to articulate the business value, the partnership between the techies and the business folks, the process/policy/procedural changes that the tech enables, and inclusionary buy-in for effective execution.
"For the Enterprise Value Award winners, "Change management was a fundamental aspect of their overall implementation plan," says Rebecca Rhoads, CIO of Raytheon and an Enterprise Value Awards judge." There was an appreciation for the significance of the cultural changes. Many of the companies brought the [internal and external] customers into the solution and involved them in the problem.""
The examples pointed out in these awards clearly demonstrate that IT solution can "deliver unassilable enterprise value," but that while technical excellence of the solutions is necessary, it's also not sufficient for world class results. Understanding the constraints of the business, assessing the policies and practices that are trying to deal them, and empowering/enabling the people to effectively operate within them or effectively transform them rounds out the sufficiency factor needed to create real value.
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