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Continuing this thread, here are some more “rules” about IT we need to rethink.

“Rule” #5: Cathedral

This rule states that, assuming it is managed properly, IT is orderly. If you have the right processes and methodologies in place, everything runs smoothly; conversely if things are not orderly, you must not be following the right processes and methodologies. Proponents of this rule use it to discredit IT shops that seem not to do things consistently.

The Reality: Bazaar

IT is chaotic. Building or implementing a technology solution on its own can be a very complex task; it’s made more difficult by the fact that business requirements often change, and in government the political cycle can throw the best-laid plans into turmoil. The trick is to architect the IT function so that it uses change strategically rather than trying to work against it. One way to do this is to plan projects with short deliverables, so that you provide business value quickly, rather than try to design “the right thing” for a year before you start creating it. If we treat IT as a cathedral, it will never be built.

The truth is, there are no “right” processes and methodologies for managing IT. There are a lot of good practices, lessons learned, and some basic principles (such as those in this blog thread) that can be followed. However, there is a tradeoff: the more time you spend refining your processes, the less time you are spending providing real value to the business.

The Lesson

The constantly shifting nature of the technology marketplace can and should be viewed as a good thing, not something that you have to overcome. If you see chaos as an opportunity to provide even better service to your customers, you will be better positioned to ride the wave rather than have it swallow you.

“Rule” #6: Disparity with the Private Sector

This rule states that government is behind the technology curve relative to the private sector. Proponents of this rule argue that the private sector is more innovative and can attract better IT talent than government. This rule is sometimes pointed to when discussing government IT project failures.

The Reality: Parity with the Private Sector

The reality is, government is implementing some of the more innovative technology solutions. When you look at some of the work being done to make more data available to citizens, VA’s “Blue Button” project, new websites like healthcare.gov as well as hundreds of cutting-edge projects at the state and local government level, it’s clear that government is catching up.

We’re also catching up in the workplace: a recent Robert Half poll showed that 52% of businesses block social media sites in their offices, despite the perception that the private sector is at the forefront of such technologies. Here at OPM we have opened up access to many of these sites, and our adoption of wifi and consumer client devices demonstrate our commitment to helping employees be productive and keeping government at the leading edge of technology. Government IT salaries are also getting closer to what’s available at private companies, and more and more young people are becoming interested in government service as a way to make a difference.

The Lesson

We need to stop thinking of government as behind the times, and actively work to show off the good work that we do. President Obama’s desire to “make government cool again” is a big step in the right direction.

The six “rules” of IT discussed in this blog thread are hopefully a call to action. Here at OPM’s CIO office, we’re thinking differently than in the past about what it means to provide technology services to the agency. Our goal is to be more forward-looking, more customer-focused and more open; not to be gatekeepers or naysayers or in general prevent OPM from being the best agency in government.

What rules would you add to the chopping block? Post your comments on this blog!

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Read Part Two

Continuing my first post, here are some more “rules” about IT we need to rethink.

“Rule” #3: Outsourcing

This rule states that government is not “good at” IT. Projects will be more successful and cheaper if we outsource them and just manage contracts. Proponents of this rule point out that government is not in the business of technology, and government shouldn’t try to do something when there are private companies that have devoted themselves to it.

The Reality: Smart Sourcing

The reality is, some things are cheaper and tend to be more successful when done in house, and other things work better when outsourced. Government agencies are large enterprises, just like Fortune 500 companies. Like those companies, agencies must understand the tradeoffs between bringing on a contractor to perform work and doing the work with in-house resources. The role of the CIO is to help the agency head navigate this decision process.

An interesting example is cloud computing. The theory of cloud computing states that by leveraging large-scale, Internet-based multi-tenant infrastructure, cloud customers can benefit from reduced costs and a built-in upgrade cycle. This can often be true, but it’s non-exclusive: cloud computing technology is available to organizations and companies that can be placed inside their data centers. In particular, server and storage virtualization make use of the same principles as “traditional” cloud computing, reducing costs for agencies by making better use of hardware resources. CIOs understand this, and when deciding on how to reduce the costs of operations it is imperative to look at all options, both internally and externally hosted. One size does not fit all.

The Lesson

When working to reduce the cost of IT, don’t assume that an outsourced option is always the cheapest or best alternative. Look at all the factors – to include long-term organizational development, security, complexity and business requirements as well as cost – in order to have the full picture, as you make critical sourcing decisions.

“Rule” #4: Expensive

This rule states that IT solutions necessarily cost a lot of money and take a lot of time to implement. Proponents of this rule say that this is why companies with bigger budgets have better IT systems. Furthermore, if a solution is not expensive then it must not be very good or must not scale well to large numbers of users.

The Reality: Cheap or Free

The reality is, IT solutions do not have to be expensive. Many technologies go through a process of commoditization, whereby the cost for a type of solution goes down as there is more demand and more sources of supply. Companies and government agencies often get locked into a mindset where they substitute cost for success (otherwise known as the “nobody every got fired for buying IBM” mentality). However, this is lazy thinking. You have to keep abreast of changes in the marketplace and be prepared to move when it’s better for the agency to do so. Otherwise you get stuck with the most expensive solution every time. This is exacerbated by the flip side of the commoditization curve: companies who developed products when a type of technology solution was new tend to play a defensive strategy later on in order to maintain their profit margins. They lock their customers in, making it difficult to defect to another product while at the same time raising their license fees. If you don’t actively and continuously evaluate established technologies you can get bled by rising operations costs.

On the scale question, it’s useful to point out that some of the most popular services in the world run on open source (and largely free) software: Google runs its servers on Linux, a free operating system; Facebook and Wikipedia make the software running their services freely available for others to use; and Second Life runs on MySQL, a free database system. If these companies can do it, can’t a government agency?

The Lesson

Don’t assume that only the most expensive solutions (often those with the slickest marketing materials) are the best. Take the time to understand fully your business requirements, and also to understand the underlying technologies behind a particular solution. It may be that open source components cleverly stitched together will work as well (or better) than a costly vendor product that seems to do everything as if by magic. Remember that a PowerPoint presentation is not the same as a working solution.

Next time I’ll write about order vs. chaos, and parity between government and the private sector.

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Read Part Three