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Solutions Without Technology May 27, 2009

Posted by Chuck Musciano in Leadership, Technology.
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Of the many aphorisms that I enjoy using, one of my favorites is

When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

I pull this one out when someone is using some system in an inappropriate way.  People get so comfortable with their favorite tools, they use them for everything even when a better solution is readily available.

This is an easy accusation for an IT person to make.  Most software systems are so complicated that it is easier for a user to twist an existing system into an unusual solution than it is to learn some completely arcane new system.  People just want to solve problems and get on with their jobs and lives.  I know this is hard to believe, but they don’t look forward to exploring and mastering that latest version of some new desktop application.

Those of us in IT would do well to listen to our own advice.

How many times, when asked to help solve some problem, do we immediately reach for a computer?  Typically, the answer is “all of the time.”  We’re in IT; we know how to make computers do interesting things; therefore every problem can be solved with some technology-based solution.

Wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong.

Many problems do not exist for want of a technology solution.  In fact, many of the day-to-day business problems we encounter are rooted in process, flow, and data collection.  While you can certainly throw software at all of those areas, you can also fix a lot of issues by talking to people, understanding their real needs, and proposing ways to change things in a non-technical way.

Within IT, we have developed a broad range of skills that are not rooted in technology.  Process analysis, data management, project management, user interface design, audit and compliance, risk management: the list is long.  Why, then, when someone is gracious enough to give us the opportunity to help, do we reach for the hardware?  We perpetuate the perception that we are nothing more than geeks, when if fact we have so much more to offer.

I’ve been on projects where the real solution was to have a user interface designer rework a paper form layout.  I’ve seen errant projects saved by sharing good project management skills.  I’ve seen business processes reworked by applying disaster recovery discipline.  In all of these cases, not a single line of code was written in pursuit of a solution.  Instead, IT people spent time listening, sharing, and collaborating to help users do their jobs more effectively.

People in IT chafe at being known solely for their technical expertise, yet we fall into our old habits when confronted with a problem.  We need to follow our own advice, set down the hammer of technology, and look for effective non-technical solutions to many of the problems we’re asked to solve.  We’ll grow in our ability to be of service, and we’ll begin to build a better reputation with our end users.

Chaos As A Service March 13, 2009

Posted by Chuck Musciano in Leadership.
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I recently worried about the potential disconnect between users seeking the latest technology and IT leaders being able to successfully assist them in finding that technology.  If we don’t gain the trust of users before they start buying solutions, they’ll acquire things that will hurt our companies and drive IT staff to distraction.  This all happens with the best of intentions, but is a disaster nonetheless.

Traditionally, buying technology solutions was a complicated affair.  Not only did you have to buy software, you usually had to buy the servers and infrastructure that would host that software.  The complexity of the purchase invariably allowed IT to get involved before the purchase was a done deal.  If nothing else, the size of the purchase would raise flags, and the integration of the solution involved a call to someone, somewhere, who would know how to run the system.

With the arrival of Software As A Service (Saas), technology acquisition is frighteningly simple.  The infrastructure is hosted in the cloud, so users need not worry about buying heavy iron to run their new applications.  The pricing is typically by the month and builds incrementally, so that the initial outlay is so low that no one notices.  Most of these apps run within a browser, so users are up and running quickly.

Proponents of Saas point to these features as the core value of Saas.  No longer shackled by the restrictive concerns of centralized IT organizations, users are free to find and buy whatever tools suit their needs.  This makes users more effective and efficient, and we all benefit.  Right?

Wrong!  Unbeknownst to the user community, there is a method to the madness of a good IT shop.  Believe it or not, people spend a lot of time  making sure that all these tools and systems work together and share information to maximize their value.  They also worry about tiny details like backups, security, business continuity, and disaster recovery.  In some cases, annoying distractions like the SEC and government regulations affect how we integrate and manage systems.

When many users independently acquire many tools, the ability to integrate and manage those tools effectively disappears.  While you may achieve some local optimization for a small group of users, you have eliminated any ability to achieve enterprise-wide integration and sharing.  The value in our information systems is ensuring that accurate, complete information is delivered to the right person at the right time.  If that information is smeared across independent external systems, tying it all back together is simply impossible.

Unfortunately, Saas is sold like snake oil to unsuspecting end users.  Before anyone knows what has happened, users can go to a web site, sign up for a service, and start using it.  Once entrenched, that service is hard to eliminate or replace, and IT plays catch-up trying to extract and integrate the data in the system with the rest of the company.  The cost is enormous and the user irritation is high.

Don’t misunderstand: Saas has value and can provide a cost-effective way to outsource part or all of your IT infrastructure.  But the acquisition of Saas solutions is no different from a traditional system running on your own servers.  It must integrate and comply with your strategic enterprise architecture, along with all your policies on disaster recovery, security, document retention, etc.  Appropriate IT scrutiny of Saas before the purchase leads to clean integration and happy users.

How do you make this happen?  The same way every IT success occurs: good communication with users that builds trust and natural partnerships to find solutions.  Start talking and serving users now, and you’ll avoid chaotic Saas acquisitions later.

Too Many Choices March 11, 2009

Posted by Chuck Musciano in Random Musings.
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The whole “freedom of choice” concept may be over-rated in this new-fangled internet era.

I have a cell phone.  In spite of the innumerable choices available, I have been able to settle on a phone, a Samsung Epix running Windows Mobile 6.1.  Like any thoroughly modern phone, this phone does everything you could possible want, up to and including making and receiving phone calls.

In the course of doing everything except for making phone calls, I tend to accumulate data on my phone.  Text messages pile up.  Pictures, too.  Videos.  Ringtones.  Music.  Email messages.  Calendar entries.  Contacts. Todo lists.  Since my phone runs Windows and Office, even Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents.  For the modern Mobile Compulsive, all this data must be managed, organized, and protected from sudden loss.  Since phones tend to get lost, break, or go suddenly autistic, having some sort of backup plan for your data is a Good Thing.

It turns out that lots of people think it’s a Good Thing, and they’ve all set out to capture this burgeoning market serving the Mobile Compulsive.  The concept is simple: back up all my mobile data, transparently, in real time.  I love this idea, and am anxious to find the solution.  Unfortunately, there are too many solutions, and they are all different.

Dashwire was one of the first of these services to emerge.  It provides a nice interface to your data on their web site, and dutifully tries to link to all your social networking sites.  It also lets you restore your data to a new phone, which is pretty nice.  Unfortunately, the phone client was a bit intrusive and flaky the last time I tried it.

Shozu has perfected the art of grabbing your photos and videos in real time.  It doesn’t back them up directly, but instead pushes them to any of dozens of photo and social networking sites.  It doesn’t handle any other files, and doesn’t  actually store anything on your behalf.

Microsoft’s Live Mesh started out as a PC-to-PC synchronization service, and recently extended the model to include mobile devices.  Live Mesh not only grabs stuff off your phone, it instantly pushes copies to and from any other device in your mesh.  It even provides a desktop view in the cloud, which is clever.

Most recently, Microsoft launched My Phone, which handles most of the data on your phone.  It even handles multiple phones, and collects the data on a nice web dashboard.  It has some of the trappings of Dashwire, but promises more features along the lines of Live Mesh.

Which do I want?  All of them!  Grab everything in real time.  Push it everywhere I want.  Keep a copy in the cloud.  Restore my phone when I lose it.  Provide a stable client with a near-zero footprint on my phone.

What am I using?  All of them!  But not at once.  Instead, I use Dashwire until I tire of the client oddities.  Then I use Shozu until I get too nervous about my non-media files.  I tried Live Mesh for a while, but it doesn’t handle contacts and such.  I’m now toying with My Phone, but am suddenly thinking that Dashwire had it right all along.

Life would be so much easier if there was just one choice, good or bad.  I’d spend a lot less time installing and configuring things, and I’d at least know what to expect from my phone on a regular basis.

It has been suggested that what I really need is a small dose of Xanax every day, and then I wouldn’t care what happened to my phone or its data.  Maybe.  But maybe I should try Paxil, or Zoloft.  Or maybe Cymbalta would be better.   Gaah!

Staying Out Of Holes February 18, 2009

Posted by Chuck Musciano in Leadership.
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Since the dawn of computing, we’ve worked really hard to make technology easier and more accessible.  Computers started out in protected data centers, with mere mortals kept far, far away from actually using the machines.  Today, we’ve pushed powerful tools into the hands of end users that enable them to do all sorts of amazing things on a regular basis.

As users become more comfortable with these tools, they try to acquire more of them.  That’s a great thing, until those well-meaning end users get in over their heads and wind up holding a technology tiger by the tail.

Let’s be honest: computers, especially enterprise computing systems, are inordinately complicated.  They are not easy to buy, install, configure, or maintain.  It takes a a team of experienced professionals to make sure that a company buys the right systems, deploys them correctly, and maintains them for maximum business advantage.  When end users try to take that on themselves, disaster invariably ensues.

Every CIO can tell a story about some non-IT organization that tried to buy some cool system without bringing IT into the picture.  Typically, the first call comes about halfway into the implementation, when the project is behind schedule, the gory details are being exposed, and the poor users have no idea how to get out of the hole they have dug for themselves.  By the time IT gets involved, lots of money and time has been wasted, and the cost of recovery far exceeds the project estimates and often outweighs any potential benefits of the system.

It is easy to blame these scenarios on the users.  The real blame lies with IT.  We need to build trust with our users so that they feel comfortable turning to us when they need a new system or have a problem to solve.  The worst situations occur when IT is so inaccessible and arrogant that users prefer the pain of a bad implementation to the pain of dealing with IT.

Beyond earning trust, we also need to educate our users so they understand why our systems work the way they do, and how we integrate new technology to benefit everyone.  Systems architecture is of little interest to end users, but we must teach them how we fit all the pieces together so they can see how we bring all these conflicting systems together.

Finally, IT brings a lot of non-technical benefits to any technology acquisition.  In my experience, users make a good effort at finding a tool that has the right featurs to meet their needs.  Where they completely miss the mark is with the contract and service details around the purchase.  Users have no idea how to negotiate good pricing, or how to see through the smoke a vendor may be blowing their way.  They don’t know about service level agreements, or good maintenance pricing, or how to write a contract that indemnifies them against a product failure.  They don’t know how to evaluate a vendor for financial stability, or to know if their solution is a risky leading-edge idea or an outdated platform on its last legs.  We know all these things, and we need to provide that assistance to our users.

Like almost every other aspect of our job, it starts with communications and trust.  Begin by reaching out to users when they aren’t facing big problems.  Calmer times give you the opportunity to explain what we do, why we do it, and how we can help.  When users do reach out to us, bend over backwards to help them navigate the world of technology.  Respect their needs and take time to figure out what they really need.  Work hard when users aren’t in a hole, and you’ll eventually keep them from digging a new one.

Computers Are Easy! February 13, 2009

Posted by Chuck Musciano in Random Musings.
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As we all strive to deliver delightful, seamless experiences to our customers, it is helpful to live through a typical “easy” computing experience.  Here was my recent afternoon:

  • To prepare for my taxes, I needed to reconcile my investment accounts.  This process begins by logging into my online account and pulling up the detailed transaction summary so that I can transfer it into Quicken.
  • Since my 401(k) provider does not interface with Quicken (grrr) I need to key all these transactions by hand.  Since I cannot possibly ping-pong between the browser window and Quicken, I need to print out the transaction detail.
  • I notice that IE cannot correctly format the tables in the web page, dropping any row that happens to cross a page break.  Browser issue?  Print driver?  Printer margin?  Who knows? Being a clever computer guy, I elect to paste the tables into Excel, which seems to know how to print tabular information.  I open Excel 2007.
  • Excel announces that it can now integrate with Office Live.  Would I like to try this out? Well, yes, but not right now.  But will I get an other chance?  Or is this one of those “once and never seen again” prompts?  I do want to try this out, so I click OK.
  • Accepting the offer takes me back to IE, where a new tab opens on the Office Live home page.  I am prompted for my Live account credentials.
  • This is a problem.  I have four Live credentials (work, home, Hotmail, and Xbox Live).  I think they are integrated, sorta-kinda, but I am never really sure.  Plus, they all have different passwords that I can never remember.  I elect to try my home account.
  • I can’t remember my password.  After a few attempts, I decide to reset it.  The password reset email arrives and I follow the instructions to reset my password.  In the process, I wonder how many other things I’ve broken by changing the password on this account.
  • I finally login to Office Live, and am put through innumerable setup screens.  Every single site on earth requires a complete profile these days, and, not wanting to appear like some newbie, I create mine.  I know I’ve done this for Live before (and for Xbox Live as well), but Office Live has its own needs.  So I enter locations, addresses, my picture, zodiac sign, what kind of tree I would be if I were a tree, everything that’s needed to ensure that my private Office Live documents will have the proper social context.
  • With all this done, I return to Excel and decide to try this all out.  I click on “Save to Live.”
  • Good grief! Now I need to download the Live plugin!  I click OK, which takes me to the download page.  I complete the download and start the install.  I confirm to the UAC that I am still not a rogue hacker bent on destroying this computer and it starts installing.
  • Turns out the Live plugin needs some obscure Vista patch.  There’s no backing out now, so I approve that as well.  In the course of installing that patch, I am informed that I will need to reboot afterwards. Since patch installation is a highly superstitious process that must not be disturbed, I am afraid not to reboot.  Plus, I’ll get nagged every 10 minutes,  so I give in.
  • The reboot takes forever!  This is one of those patches that realigns and inspects everything on your machine, grinding through the three magical phases as the reboot progresses.  A convenient progress bar stays at 0% for ten minutes and then jumps to 100% just before the end of each phase, so I am kept up to date with its progress.
  • Thirty minutes later, my machine is returned to me.  I now have Office Live integration!  But I am no closer to keying my transactions, or doing my taxes.

Sadly, I know why each of these steps has occured, and why.  But pity the poor user who has no idea what is going on!  I’ve picked on Microsoft in this example, but I guarantee you that we all have deployed systems that have these same arcane, horrific user experiences.  How can we continue to inflict these systems on our users even when we know better?  As we promise better, shinier tools, we keep delivering kludgy systems that frustrate and irritate our users.

We owe our users better.  As an IT leader, what are you doing to turn this around?

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