lean4it

What is IT Value?

Every so often, one should tackle a Big Question. 

While the first (2006) edition of my book featured an IT value chain, I realized that I needed to think more deeply about IT value in the second edition. One new set of influences was Lean thinking applied to IT management. I'd read The Goal, other Goldratt books, and much Lean material. In particular, I was thinking about the following classic passage from The Goal, in which the protagonist (Alex Rogo) is asked:

...tell me, what is the goal of your manufacturing organization?" he [Jonah] asks.

"The goal is to produce products as efficiently as we can," I tell him.

"Wrong," says Jonah. "That's not it. What is the real goal?"

When positive feedback isn't

I've been poking around at systems dynamics for a few years now. Currently studying John Sterman's Business Dynamics. 

One of the first topics covered in all the systems dynamics discussions I've seen is the correct use of the word "feedback." As Sterman states:

In common parlance the term "feedback" has come to serve as a euphemism for criticizing others, as in "the boss gave me feedback on my presentation." This use of feedback is not what we mean in system dynamics. Further, "positive feedback" does not mean "praise" and "negative feedback" does not mean "criticism." Positive feedback denotes a self-reinforcing process, and negative feedback denotes a self-correcting one. Either type of loop can be good or bad, depending on which way it is operating and of course on your values. Reserve the terms positive and negative feedback for self-reinforcing and self-correcting processes, and avoid describing the criticism you give or receive to others as feedback. Telling someone your opinion does not constitute feedback unless they act on your suggestions and thus lead you to revise your view. 

Tonight I tweeted the following: 

Businesses seek to stimulate positive feedback loops. Engineers try mightily to avoid them. Essence of the IT/business divide?

This tweet was asking for trouble, and I got it: