Question:
How should we manage change in our IT infrastructure to minimize risk?
Our advice:
The change-management process should apply accepted project-management
techniques to changes or modifications to any of the IT infrastructure or
applications. A good change-management process includes:
Planning:
The change-management plan answers the "why, what, where, when, who and how"
questions. A well-documented (not necessarily long) rationale, with a plan for
implementation, communication, and impact analysis, is essential to the change
process. IT organizations should develop a model or template plan to ensure
consistency among groups and projects.
Communications: Communication with internal (to IT) and external (within
the enterprise) organizations that will be affected by the change is essential.
Poor communication is the bane of IT management. Communication plans should be
developed based upon impact analysis, and delivered in the most suitable media
available.
Categorization Of Changes: Categorization of different types of changes
can help in deciding how much caution, communication, management, planning,
testing, etc. is appropriate for a change. For example, changes could be
categorized as High Risk, Medium Risk, and Low Risk, based on a matrix of
evaluation criteria. The categorizations used should be aligned with the
dynamics of the business.
Testing: Testing is an essential prerequisite to any change. The nature
and amount of testing should be determined during the planning stage, based
upon the type of change and impact analysis.
Timing: The best time to apply change depends on the nature of the
business, hours of operations, time zones, the expected impact, and risks
associated with the change.
Post-Change Monitoring: Monitoring patterns in change-related problems
can help the IT organization identify problems with the change-management
process itself, so it can be improved.
-- Humayun Beg
What does a CIO have to
do to establish a leadership-development program for the IT organization?
How do I develop a information-technology plan when the company itself
doesn't have a strategic plan?
What are the most
productive tasks an IT leader can focus on?
After three years of downsizing and cost cutting, how do I motivate my
management team and build a high-performance organization?
As the economy turns
around, what IT skills will be most in demand this year?
How should we manage change in our IT infrastructure to minimize risk?
Several weeks ago, you wrote
about when a project-management office makes business sense. What is the
appropriate design for a PMO?
The economy seems to be picking
up. Looking ahead, how do I retain good IT people in the face of an improving
IT market while my budget remains under pressure?
What IT skills will be most in
demand this year?
How do I objectively
evaluate the readiness of my organization to support emerging business
requirements?
What cultural and people factors
are important to consider when building IT capabilities to support
manufacturing factory and retail operations in China?
How could the Project
Management Institute help us effectively manage real-life IT projects to ensure
success?
How do we make our
communications proactive, rather than only getting to them when there's a
crisis?
What are the critical
success factors to achieve and maintain strategic alignment?
How can we develop an enterprise architecture across disparate business units?
How can I develop a
long-term information-technology plan when my company doesn't have a strategic
plan?
What attributes and
features should we consider when selecting IT asset-management software?
As an overworked IT manager,
what can I do to reduce my workload while maintaining high availability and
good security?
We're under management pressure to
outsource application development and to cut staff, but I'd rather get more
value from our existing staff, who know our business. How can I broaden their
skills?
As business picks up, what should I do to rebuild my organization, tactical
plan, and internal-management processes?
We have a strong team that
I'd like to make stronger. How do I instill more leadership qualities and
skills into my team?
What organizational structure would be most effective for
information-security governance?
How can we achieve effective
process ownership within our IT organization?
What organizational,
people, and process issues should we consider when setting up a telecommuting
program?
We've cut staff so much
in the last four years that I'm wondering if I can afford (from a work
perspective) to take vacation this summer. What can I do to reduce the chance
of something unraveling catastrophically while I'm away?
A few weeks ago, writing
about creating a vision statement, you said "seek expert facilitation to reach
a vision supported by all." Where can we get this expertise?
We know that we could
save money by consolidating servers currently scattered across business units.
How should we address the political issues around getting the business units to
give up their servers?
What level of IT spending is appropriate for a midsize to large financial
organization?
How should we assess our
IT organizational structure and processes?
How can we retain good IT people
in the face of an improving IT job market?
How should we determine the
appropriate network-support staffing level for a 10,000-node network?
What strategies are most
successful in a "political" organization?
How can one reduce
behaviors that are wasteful of IT resources?
How can we raise the IT knowledge of non-IT employees?
I'd like to establish a
management mentoring program within my organization. How should I start?
How should we deal with
the cultural and skill-set changes needed when moving from mainframe-based
applications to client/server and Web-based applications?
We're considering setting up
our own IT-abuse investigations group. What issues should we consider in making
this decision?
How should we assess and set priorities for our IT project portfolio?
What features should we
consider when selecting portfolio-management dashboard software?
How do we minimize the
negative impact of project cancellations on IT staff morale?
After three years in my current CIO position, I still find myself out of the
loop when it comes to strategic business decisions. What can I do about this?
Many large companies have a
project management office responsible for portfolio and program management.
When does a PMO make business sense?
After the extended economic downturn, we need to create a new vision for the
organization. How do we do that?
What technical and
security issues should we consider when setting up a telecommuting program?
How do we change IT from
reactive to proactive in a change-resistant corporate culture?
How can the CIO shift
the IT organization's mindset from service delivery to value creation?
What criteria should be included in the due-diligence assessment of IT at an
acquisition candidate?
How do I establish my
credibility with the CEO, chief operating officer, and CFO?
How do I motivate my
technical staff to cooperate with staff from our offshore outsourcing vendor?
|
