"The IT Value Matrix:" Play Offense, Not Defense

I haven't written about IT lately, but do not infer that I doubt or gainsay its bedrock role in our lives and work; it is as essential as air and sunlight.   But since "Adam Smith, Esq." is not a tech-centric site (there are many amply capable incumbents in that area, such as Jeff Beard, Ron Friedman, and Dennis Kennedy), I only focus on IT when there's management-side news.

And there is:  CIO Magazine has come up with the "IT Value Matrix," after 18 months of collaborative effort, as a tool to let IT stop being defensive about what it costs the firm and go on the offense by articulating the value it provides.    This is how it works:

"The matrix identifies approximately 130 components, grouped under three key practice areas—stakeholder alignment, communication and the CIO role. It’s organized for drilling down from general to specific. For example, to achieve stakeholder alignment, CIOs need both knowledge and action. To learn what type of knowledge, you drill down one level and find four types: stakeholder analysis, political and cultural issues, technology trends and business dynamics."

You can order a poster-sized copy of it here ($14.99 for shipping/handling).

In tandem with the Matrix, the CIO executive council developed "Seven Keys to IT Leadership," which are estimable:

The principles are as follows (emphasis supplied):

1] The primary goal of IT is to align with major enterprise objectives. Every initiative must be clearly tied in a provable way to business value.

2] Because all major business initiatives are dependent upon technology, the CIO must have a voice at the table at which key business decisions are made.

3] The CIO is responsible for understanding a business’s complexities, influencing peers and presenting technology strategy in terms the business can understand.

4] Technology leaders are agents of change. Transition is our stable state.

5] Communication and relationship building are as important to IT leadership as technology skills are.

6] Successful technology leadership must strike a balance between competing forces: short-term versus long-term, technology versus business focus, leading versus enabling.

7] The CIO is responsible for cultivating technology leadership at all levels.

My favorite of these is #3:  In fact, I would re-rank it as #1.   Prerequisite to the CIO doing anything else whatsoever is understanding the business of a law firm, and describing technology in business, not tech, terminology.

In short, one of the clearer manifesto's of how IT can fit within an organization and be appreciated for what it does.

Try some yourself.