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There is a time for everything: a time to grow and a time to optimize. The evolution of business and its IT organization follows a cycle of Optimization – Alignment – Growth. Knowing the timing will avoid unnecessary effort and wasted energy. This time of economic recession is the right time for Optimization. You know it is the time when the Cover Story of a recent InformationWeek.com issue (August 3, 2009) carried the tagline "With growth projects on hold, now is the time to clean up IT operations and drive hard bargains with vendors." You also know it is the time when Forrester, a prominent industry analyst, proclaims "Lean: The New Business Technology Imperative"  as the subject of its upcoming Business & Technology Leadership Forum (October 8-9, 2009).

What is Optimization?

Before we all join the InformationWeek.com or Forrester bandwagon, let me share with you my point of view on Optimization. In a nutshell, Optimization is the process of creating a sustainable peak performance. Cleaning up IT operations is just one aspect of Optimization. Going "Lean" is another one, a potentially misleading one I may add (this is the subject of my next post).

Now how do you create a peak performance? By following the examples of the athletes. Every competing athlete would have one common objective: to peak at the right moment, e.g. at the championship event. In order to do so, an athlete would follow a training regime that includes shedding the fat or eliminating the extraneous movements (Efficiency), while building up the strength and the stamina (Productivity). This is the mechanics part of Optimization.

And how do you create a repeated or sustainable peak porformance? By continuously "tuning the engine" to develop the capability to switch the level of intensity on demand. For the athlete, it means to be able to continue when "hitting the wall" or to forget a dismal performance the day before. For the business, it means to be able to scale up and down the workforce or open and close stores at a moment’s notice (Agility). This is the mental part of Optimization.

Why Optimize?

Growing the business is like winning at championship tournaments. It occurs at repeat intervals (growth cycles) and success does have a cumulative effect (more fame and endorsements for the athletes, more sales and profits for business).

Growth also means spending. Just like an athlete is drained and exhausted after a competition, Business often ends up with depleted Efficiency and Productivity after a growth cycle. Optimization is needed to restore them.

From another perspective, in order to achieve success time after time, Business needs to set new challenging targets (new records for the athletes). Each new target may create a new ball game that needs a revision (if not a total revamp) of the current business plan (training program for the athletes). Optimization is often an integral part of that revised/revamped business plan/training program. 

What happens if you don’t?

In an earlier post (A Darwinian View of a Successful IT Organization), I mentioned a survey by Bain & Company of 500 IT executives and its conclusion about the "alignment trap". According to the survey, a highly aligned but not optimized IT organization spent 19% more and generated 49% less in growth rate than a highly optimized one. Against the average organization, the figures were somewhat better at 13% (more spent) and 14% (less growth) respectively but still negative. That is the business risk of not being Optimized.

In the same post, I also told the story of a firm who grows for the sake of Growth:

"The IT group is highly aligned with the Business in this vision and structures its services accordingly. It means that it offers customized IT Infrastructure Management services to its clients with minimal change to the support model that the client is familiar and comfortable with. The outcome after several years of accelerated growth is that the IT spending rate started to overtake the growth rate because they are forced to maintain different technology platforms, operating processes and support staff for different clients. The sad truth is that this is not a unique case."

In hindsight, we all know now that Growing for the sake of Growth, as experienced by many firms in the pre-recession period, is not sustainable.

What to Optimize?

The obvious place for improving Efficiency is in Spent Management. Back-office services, support functions and general & administrative (G&A) costs are prime candidates. The problem is that many companies wield the ax indiscriminally and some times inadvertently cut deep into potential business enablers.

But beyond Spent Management, there are at least 3 other areas worth considering: 

• Improved Infrastructure Innovation;
• Improved Supply-Chain Management; and
• Increased Workforce Productivity.

In the same Cover Story mentioned above, Guy Chiarello, CIO of JPMorgan Chase, talked about the necessity for Infrastructure Investment: 

"When business is flourishing and demands are increasing, infrastructure has to serve the business in a progressive way (…) If you are in the CIO seat, the most exciting times for infrastructure are in down environments. (…) Companies can come out of this downturn with lower IT infrastructure costs and the ability to execute more quickly as growth opportunities return."

and for "upper-hand negotiations with vendors" that provide an estimated 25% savings now with no clause to ratchet up when the good time returns:

"I won’t pay a dollar more [than I paid] for the last thing I bought."

Looking ahead

In lieu of conclusion, I would like to quote again from the above-mentioned post:

"If you consider the 3 steps of Optimization – Alignment – Growth as a series of short evolution cycles that spiral upward (like a staircase to heaven), you can make small yet steady progress toward Success."

What do you think?

Can you now make a distinction between Optimization and mere Cost Cutting?

Does your IT organization looks beyond the obvious in Optimization?

What are the challenges or obstacles facing a person in quest of success in the workplace? Sometimes, a seemingly simple and straightforward question like this would lead to a deep, philosophical thought on the subject of emotional and spriritual intelligence.

In the recent posts, I have told the story of a young IT manager seeking the secrets of a successful IT Leader. His question "What does it take to become a Vice-president?" has lead to my pondering in Part 1 about the common (and false) association of success with titles and positions in the organization. In Part 2, I shared my answer which was in essence an advice to follow his true calling regardless of the corporate strapping of titles. In this Part 3, I will share with you the rest of my letter. It addressed the second question: "What are the challenges and/or obstacles to becoming a Vice-president?"

I didn’t intend to overwhelm him with a long list of challenges, even if they were all true. I’ve picked instead a few key ones. Here is the text: 

"On Challenges and Obstacles:

- You are your worst enemy. If you under/over-estimate your capabilities, if you set your goals too low or too high, if … then you set yourself up for disappointment.

- Race, religion, age … and all those classic issues in human intercourse are not the obstacle you would face at MyCompany; certainly not any more than what you would expect from a large organization.

- Being cast in a stereotype (e.g. the Asians are good at technical stuff, hence not so good on the management side) is a Challenge. You need to surprise people often enough by tackling issues outside of your (technical) comfort zone to throw them off balance and avoid labels.

- Visibility, a condition for success, is a Challenge. Especially if you are a low-key type of person. You need to learn how to "blow your horn" discreetly and gracefully (e.g. through a client testimonial). You may need to take measured risks from time to time to make people (i.e. your managers) take notice. But don’t be so reckless that you would earn the visibility the worst way.

I trust that this letter will help put you on the right track to achieve you goals."

In retrospect, I still think that NOT knowing yourself is the biggest obstacle to success. NOT knowing who you are (self-awareness), who you want to be (vision), or what you are made of (capabilities) would waste a lot of your energy in false starts, dead ends and leave you with exhaustion, disappointment and quiet desperation. But …

How can you develop a sense of self-awareness?

How can you create a personal vision large enough to draw and sustain your growth yet not too large to be just a pipe dream?

How can you identify and sharpen your capabilities to match your actions with your vision?

Hopefully, you will find the answers in these current and future blog posts.

In the previous post, I told the story of a young IT manager seeking the secrets of a successful IT Leader. His to-the-point question "What does it take …?" has given rise to my pondering about the common association of success with titles and positions in the organization. In this Part 2, I will share with you my answers to his question and invite you to comment on them.

Here is the text: 

"Having said that, here are my views …

On becoming a VP at MyCompany:

- There are a lot of factors involved. You need experiences and a proven track record of successful mandates. You need to demonstrate Leadership skills. You need to understand and personify MyCompany core values such as Entrepreneurship, Quality or Integrity. You also need deep understanding of MyCompany business (its drivers, strategies, priorities …). Last but not least, you need a good dose of luck to be in the right place at the right time, to seize the opportunity when it appears.

- A VP at MyCompany is a person practicing mostly Team Leadership, not the one who cultivates an individualistic, cult-like image. He/she must constantly work with others: clients, members, colleagues, staff … to obtain desired results. Interpersonal skills is a Must.

- Promotion at MyCompany is not associated with Seniority or Length of service. It is based more on Perceived Merits (with all the shortcomings of a Perception). That means your exploits must be visible to many so that when the time comes to pick a leader for a difficult job, your name is called. Matching your success of delivery to expectation, repeatedly, is a sure way to move ahead.

On NOT becoming a VP at MyCompany:

- Not everyone capable of managing a VP-level business unit would become one. You shouldn’t be discouraged if it doesn’t happen or happen not soon enough. If you act as a true leader, you will realize that title is incidental to your true calling. For more explanation on true leader, read about Level-5 Leader from Jim Collins and his Good to Great book.

[to be continued]"

In this part of the answer, I have introduced to Dan several concepts new to him. One was the concept of Team Leadership. The other was the notion of Perceived Merits.

Were they appropriate concepts to introduce to a young manager?

What else would you say to Dan if you were in my place?

I think it’s appropriate to start the new Tao of IT blog with something not CIO-related, at least not as directly as I have been writing so far in the former CIO Assistant’s Blog. The subject touches on the Leadership question but from a perspective of a young IT manager in search of fame and success in an IT organization. This is based on a true story and the post title is inspired by Rainer Maria Rilke’s "Letters to a Young Poet" which I have written about in an earlier post. It began with a leadership question from a young IT manager (let’s call him Dan) who just joined the company I worked for (let’s call it MyCompany). He wrote to me because we both were of the visible minority (i.e. asians in a north american company where a high-level posiiton by an asian was let’s say "unusual"). In fact, there were two questions:

"What does it take to become a Vice-president at MyCompany?"

"What are the challenges and/or obstacles that you have faced in your success of becoming a Vice-president?"

Here was the first part of my reply to him:

"Hi Dan, It’s my pleasure to provide answers to your questions on Leadership. It’s a subject close to my heart and I do share my views freely with those who have an interest. But before answering your questions, I would like to make some observations about the way the questions are framed: – Attaining the VP position at MyCompany doesn’t mean that you are a true leader, or vice versa, not attaining the position doesn’t necessarily mean that you are not a leader or do not possess "leadership material". – Likewise, becoming a VP may or may not be the ultimate goal. So yes, you can talk about "success" in the former case but it becomes less relevant in the latter. [to be continued]"

I select this episode to highlight the fact that most young people, IT people included, associate success at the workplace with high-ranking positions. The way that Dan phrased the first question was interesting in itself. He didn’t ask in a generic way "How can someone become a VP?" He didn’t ask neither in a prescriptive way "What are the critical sucess factors of becoming a VP?". Instead, he asked in the most direct way possible "What does it take …?" The question almost hinted at a pat yet fully expected answer: "Whatever it takes." I wonder if today’s aspiring IT leaders pose similar questions about Success? Or do they become less and less interested in the rat race to the top? What would be your answers to Dan’s questions? [Update] Part 2 and Part 3 are now available.

I am happy to announce that the CIO Assistant’s Blog now officially becomes Tao of IT. This is an attempt to merge the blog (with a specific target audience of CIO’s) and the website (with the larger theme of balanced living – Tao of Living) into a single entity. This change is part of the evolution of my journey on the Web, from a rather exclusive and personal blog to a more inclusive public source of inspiration and assistance.

Within the new Tao of IT, you will see a brand new Services section and an enhanced Resources section. As for the Blog itself, it will be expanded to cover a wider range of topics delving in a more balanced view of life (i.e. beyond the professional interests of IT Leadership and Management).

There will also be more participation from other guests. The first guest post (The Evolution of One by Faith Fuqua-Jarvis) has received the second highest number of views, attesting to the quality of the post and the popularity of the concept. A second guest post will appear soon and will become a regular feature of the site.

Thank you for your continued readership. Any suggestions to make this Tao of IT site your enjoyable source of reference and entertainment are greatly appreciated. Please leave a comment here or write to us directly.