G E T T I N G P R E D I C TA B L E .

C O M

How Internal Pressures Can Implode an

IT Organization
By David Katauskas, Senior Software Architect

When an IT Group Unravels

Many of us have gained valuable insight from articles about lack of business-IT alignment. But what about an IT
organization that is misaligned with itself? How prevalent is this and what causes it to happen? There are many kinds of
organizational pressures that can cause this to occur. Over the next two weeks, I will reveal how IT can implode from within.

This week, I’ll talk about what leads up to an IT organization becoming internally misaligned. But first, let’s define what
“misaligned” means. It means that groups or individuals think that they are all focused on the same agendas, have the
same motivations and are marching to the same objectives and goals, but in reality, they are not.

Think of a deep sea submersible designed to withstand immense pressures. During a deep dive, all it takes to implode that
submersible is a single breach that isn’t discovered until it’s too late. Similarly, an IT organization may be designed to be
resilient to pressures and stretching, but may have weaknesses that eventually reveal themselves and result in implosion.

So What Causes an IT Team to Become Misaligned … With Itself?

I’ve been hearing a lot lately about how IT should actually be a part of the business team and not exist as a separate
entity. In reality this is not actually practiced in many organizations. For the most part, IT exists as a separate, autonomous
organization. Given that this is the norm today, this post will assume that situation.

There are cases when business provides exactly what an IT organization needs to deliver value. Yet, despite that clear
direction from the business, the technology group still fails to deliver. What resides at the core of this issue? Why do we
still see technology groups with silo mindsets, separate agendas, different motivations, and little, if any, insight into what
makes the other groups tick? I believe it all starts with a lack of understanding of how to unite these technology groups and
individuals into a single, cohesive and effective functioning organization.

Separate, non-transparent, or seemingly conflicting agendas and motivations can kill any alignment within a team. Like
functional groups looking to gain a competitive advantage or reduce operational costs, the technology groups are trying to
manage technology costs in real-time, reduce risks, deliver value and leverage centralized technologies to support and keep
pace with functional changes. Notice any real similarities in what drives groups described here? Neither do I.

I’ve never met a technology group that didn’t have the desire or best intentions of providing superior value to the business
and the company. Unfortunately, passion alone will not cut it in today’s market. In fact, this passion can actually be the
catalyst that exposes the IT team’s potential to implode. And that’s a good thing. It allows us to see the signs before the
damage actually happens.

Is This IT Team Ready to Implode?

Have you ever been in a situation where the business summoned IT to deliver some seemingly ambiguous value on some
seemingly arbitrary date? Or perhaps the business drivers weren’t communicated to everyone. You might have even
wondered why an initiative was chosen and given to IT in the first place.

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An IT organization may hear something like this: “The business has a strategic initiative to enable our partners to integrate
into certain aspects of our operations. This will allow us to reduce costs by 3%. We need to provide them with access
and limited control over certain portions of our systems and we need it no later than March 15th. IT, please deliver this
objective and start development next week.”

In this scenario, commitments were made without the technology buy-in. Technology teams often ultimately say, “We will
start next week and figure it out as we go. It sounds aggressive but it should be ‘do-able’”. The functional group interprets
this as a commitment from the technology group. However, without more clarity around a vision of success for this project,
the business will probably not get the value they need to satisfy their agenda. And, IT will most likely be held accountable
when they don’t deliver. Everyone loses.

Although the IT team had a desire and passion to help, they also set themselves up for implosion on the project. They
accepted the cards they were dealt without saying “In addition to what you have provided, we need X to be successful”.
In other words, they set themselves up for failure rather than move forward informed and empowered to deliver on
expectations.

Next week, I will dig deeper into some of the specific pressures that can cause a team to implode and how to meet the
challenges.

Has your team ever come close to implosion? What cause did you identify?

About the Author

David Katauskas, Senior Software Architect

David Katauskas is an accomplished software veteran with deep expertise is in application architecture, framework
development, system design and development process enhancement. David has enabled many government, corporate,
and start-up organizations in diverse industries achieve their business objectives by leveraging software.

Prior to his role as Senior Software Architect for Geneca, David was Chief Technology Officer at Retail Vision Systems,
an innovative leader in the retail merchandising software industry, and Director for the Professional Services Division at
Advanced Distribution Solutions. At custom software development firm, Geneer, David was a Senior Application Architect
and served as a leader in the Geneer Labs Group. Currently, David leads educational workshops on architecture and
business and is a member of Geneca’s Architecture Review Panel.

About Geneca
Chicago-based custom software development firm, Geneca, helps its clients meet their business challenges by bringing
predictability to the software development process. Getting PredictableSM, Geneca’s pioneering approach to Requirements
Definition and Management, has an outstanding success rate in helping its clients drive clear business alignment by
identifying project objectives and success criteria. Learn more about Getting PredictableSM and Geneca’s other software
services at www.geneca.com.

This blog was originally posted on www.gettingpredictable.com on September 14, 2010. Visit www.gettingpredictable.com
for more information and to engage in the conversation.

Geneca Headquarters Voice: 630 599-0900 General: info@geneca.com

1815 S. Meyers Road, Fax: 630 599-0908 Sales: sales@geneca.com
Suite 950 Toll Free: 877 436-3224 Careers: jobs@geneca.com
Oakbrook Terrace, IL 60181 www.geneca.com Press: press@geneca.com

© 2010. Geneca LLC. All Rights Reserved.

 G E T T I N G P R E D I C TA B L E . C O M

How Internal Pressures Can Implode an

IT Organization, Part 2
By David Katauskas, Senior Software Architect

Last week, I talked about some of the organizational mindsets that lead to misalignment within an IT team. This week, I’ll
look more closely at some of the specific pressures that can cause problems for the team and impact IT team performance.
These are based on some of my own experiences in my role as an Architect.

Team Silos and Lack of Communication

Larger IT organizations often contain splintered groups that focus on either specific functional or technological areas. These
groups can easily become silos. This can result in redundant efforts and solutions, dissimilar technologies, or disjointed
entry points for business requests. More importantly, these silos may not easily communicate, inhibiting collaboration.
Probable result: If a technology group makes changes and deploys, they run the risk of clobbering another team’s systems.
Usually, they won’t know about it until production issues arise. The teams are neither in alignment on technology, people or
process. This has the potential to bring progress within the IT organization to a standstill.

Pressure to be Bleeding Edge

Have you ever witnessed a technology team adopting new technologies for the sake of being bleeding edge? This desire
to be bleeding edge is another factor that can cause pressure on the IT team. There are certainly many cases where
new technology solves problems and creates additional efficiency. But what about the team that wants to utilize a new
technology only for the sake of playing with new technology? It may perform the same function as the current technology,
but just does it in a different way. Is there any value in that? Does it help attract talent? Can it be adopted and integrated
without any additional effort? Does it position the team to becoming more nimble? Does it align with long-term objectives of
not only IT but the organization as a whole?

If some members of the team answer “yes” to these questions and some answer “no”, then the use of some new
technologies can cause misalignment on the IT Team. They may either have conflicting agendas or may just be out of
alignment with how they need to accomplish the task-at-hand.

Teams That are Always Stretched

Stretching from time-to-time can be very healthy. It keeps a team aware of their limits and capabilities. It also helps a team
to gel and rally around an effort that has a sense of urgency. Then, during the non-stretch times, it allows the team to
think strategically, place more focus on refactoring which will allow it to scale for the next stretch. On the flip side of that,
a team that is never stretched can have morale issues and may not deliver value at the velocity that is expected. But while
the resulting atrophy isn’t healthy, teams that are always stretched are in worse condition. Stretching can result from task
overload, following an antiquated process, working with unfamiliar technologies and working toward an unrealistic goal.

In any of the situations above, design and development decisions are usually made with the highest priority being: “Get this
pain away from me as quickly as possible”. Decisions consistently made in this mode, usually create technical debt. If an IT
organization consistently resorts to short term fixes, it compromises its potential and future progress and we begin to see
implosion at the organizational level — not a sustainable plan.

What are some of the pressures has your IT team faced recently?

Next…

Next week, I will delve into some of the approaches that can be used to rectify these situations or prevent them from
happening in the first place.

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About the Author

David Katauskas, Senior Software Architect

David Katauskas is an accomplished software veteran with deep expertise is in application architecture, framework
development, system design and development process enhancement. David has enabled many government, corporate,
and start-up organizations in diverse industries achieve their business objectives by leveraging software.

Prior to his role as Senior Software Architect for Geneca, David was Chief Technology Officer at Retail Vision Systems,
an innovative leader in the retail merchandising software industry, and Director for the Professional Services Division at
Advanced Distribution Solutions. At custom software development firm, Geneer, David was a Senior Application Architect
and served as a leader in the Geneer Labs Group. Currently, David leads educational workshops on architecture and
business and is a member of Geneca’s Architecture Review Panel.

About Geneca
Chicago-based custom software development firm, Geneca, helps its clients meet their business challenges by bringing
predictability to the software development process. Getting PredictableSM, Geneca’s pioneering approach to Requirements
Definition and Management, has an outstanding success rate in helping its clients drive clear business alignment by
identifying project objectives and success criteria. Learn more about Getting PredictableSM and Geneca’s other software
services at www.geneca.com.

This blog was originally posted on www.gettingpredictable.com on September 28, 2010. Visit www.gettingpredictable.com
for more information and to engage in the conversation.

Geneca Headquarters Voice: 630 599-0900 General: info@geneca.com

1815 S. Meyers Road, Fax: 630 599-0908 Sales: sales@geneca.com
Suite 950 Toll Free: 877 436-3224 Careers: jobs@geneca.com
Oakbrook Terrace, IL 60181 www.geneca.com Press: press@geneca.com

© 2010. Geneca LLC. All Rights Reserved.

 G E T T I N G P R E D I C TA B L E . C O M

How Internal Pressures Can Implode an

IT Organization, Part 3
By David Katauskas, Senior Software Architect

Know where you are today. Be clear on where you’re going.

Last week, I talked about some of the many organizational pressures that can implode an IT team. In fact, some of these
may apply to other parts of the organization as well. This week, I’ll take a look at an approach that can shed light onto
solving these issues.

It’s All About Perspective

The ability to look inward in a truthful, non-self-serving manner is a phenomenal attribute to possess. The same holds true
when looking at an organization that you’ve helped create. Allowing myself to pull out from working within the team to
working on the team has afforded me valuable insights. This ability to change perspectives is the best way to look around
and objectively survey the landscape.

Once I change my perspective, the focus becomes applying a very simple approach that has been invaluable to me over the
years. Three steps: Where do we want to be, where are we now, and how do we get there? In that order.

Where Do We Want To Be?

What may have worked well a few years ago may not be the optimal solution for today. This is simply because our
surroundings continually change. So, resetting the baseline and re-establishing alignment can be a continual process.
Understanding how the organization will be measured and knowing what problems you’re trying to solve today will be the
starting point to crafting your solution. Not knowing where you want to be is like driving a car with a blindfold. You’re bound
to hit something and you won’t get anywhere.

Getting the right group involved is a great way to start the alignment process. During that process, it may become clear that
others have different agendas, goals and ideas on how something should be implemented. Facilitating this group alignment
on where the organization needs to be and establishing a common vision will allow everyone to head in the same direction.

This is also the time to make sure your goals will solve the problems as they are perceived today. If silos exist or technology
is scattered as I described last week, then perhaps one of the goals is to look at how to create horizontal technologies that
can be shared amongst the silos. The goal could be as simple as creating a shared platform which has an added benefit of
getting the teams communicating more.

Where Are We Now?

This is where taking a step back is the most helpful. Being immersed in something for an extended period of time gives us
a single perspective of what we know to be true. Because many teams have a lot of knowledge about what already exists
(after all, they live it every day) it can be tempting to breeze through this phase. Do not breeze. Do. Optimally, document
the enterprise architecture of the technologies, processes and roles that exist. You will most certainly uncover some
interesting aspects of your surroundings that were previously based on assumptions. If you have found this to be true in
your experiences, please share in this blog discussion!

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How Do We Get There?

This is the part where a roadmap is created. This is typically the most difficult phase. It has been equated to creating a
solution to changing the tires on a moving race car. It can be difficult, but do-able.

Not only is this the most challenging phase, but it’s also my favorite. This is also the same phase where you should
consider inviting the solutioning team from the first phase. They are invested in the destination, so it only makes sense
that they should have some passion and energy around getting everyone else there. Don’t go it alone. Following this
approach, you will begin seeing a team start to craft a common vision and a plan that is designed to accomplish what may
have previously been thought as impossible.

The Bottom Line

Continually measuring and re-aligning has helped me immensely in preventing my teams from imploding. This is not a
tool that gets used once and discarded. It’s designed to be used continually. The frequency will be determined by the
velocity of change in your organization.

Discussion
• How have you had to cope with organizational pressures and how did you get started toward resolution?
• How did you engage the right people for the solutioning phases?
• What obstacles did you overcome?
• What other pressures have you seen implode or hurt an organization?

About the Author

David Katauskas, Senior Software Architect

David Katauskas is an accomplished software veteran with deep expertise is in application architecture, framework
development, system design and development process enhancement. David has enabled many government, corporate,
and start-up organizations in diverse industries achieve their business objectives by leveraging software.

Prior to his role as Senior Software Architect for Geneca, David was Chief Technology Officer at Retail Vision Systems,
an innovative leader in the retail merchandising software industry, and Director for the Professional Services Division at
Advanced Distribution Solutions. At custom software development firm, Geneer, David was a Senior Application Architect
and served as a leader in the Geneer Labs Group. Currently, David leads educational workshops on architecture and
business and is a member of Geneca’s Architecture Review Panel.

About Geneca
Chicago-based custom software development firm, Geneca, helps its clients meet their business challenges by bringing
predictability to the software development process. Getting PredictableSM, Geneca’s pioneering approach to Requirements
Definition and Management, has an outstanding success rate in helping its clients drive clear business alignment by
identifying project objectives and success criteria. Learn more about Getting PredictableSM and Geneca’s other software
services at www.geneca.com.

This blog was originally posted on www.gettingpredictable.com on October 5, 2010. Visit www.gettingpredictable.com for
more information and to engage in the conversation.

Geneca Headquarters Voice: 630 599-0900 General: info@geneca.com

1815 S. Meyers Road, Fax: 630 599-0908 Sales: sales@geneca.com
Suite 950 Toll Free: 877 436-3224 Careers: jobs@geneca.com
Oakbrook Terrace, IL 60181 www.geneca.com Press: press@geneca.com

© 2010. Geneca LLC. All Rights Reserved.