The innovator’s perfect storm: Agile, project management, information security and Cloud
- 06 July, 2012 11:04
- Comments
Organisations that are seeking to successfully drive innovation and underpin business transformation primarily through the use of technology, Cloud in particular, risk missing the mark unless a systemic and integrated view is taken of their intentions.
Nothing comes for free. The fruits of innovation, agility and speed, are typically as a result of a number of factors including: Seeking evidence, not opinions in support of key decisions, and deliberate planning and careful consideration of all the key forces at play, in and around the organisation at the time.
No stand-alone discipline
Specific disciplines such as project management, agile and information security by themselves are self-limiting. Each discipline is only really effective when operated in orchestration with the other key moving parts of the organisation. For example, a highly effective and well governed project management process could deliver a beautiful aircraft on time and on budget, but the problem is that it might not fly.
Agile development, on the other hand, promotes waste elimination and efficiency based on the concepts of iteration and collaboration. The challenge here is that, in certain respects, innovation can be inefficient, and possibly seen as wasteful. On the security and risk front, having an inappropriately meticulous and rigorous focus on risk and information security may give rise to an unduly risk-averse culture that inhibits innovation and ‘pushing the envelope’.
The interaction and co-dependence between the various disciplines should not be underestimated as trivial, localised technology projects.
The evangelists
Each technology has its own purists. These are sometimes termed ‘evangelists’, whose primary purpose is to promote a specific technology solution with a view to broad adoption. They can also act as an inhibitor to effective collaboration within the organisation due to the polarisation of opinions that could arise from their singular view of the world.
Good design
At the core of any successful innovation or business transformation lies good design, be that technical, organisational, structural, or process. Good design needs to occur at multiple layers and requires deliberate and careful orchestration to bring to fruition. The appropriate culture is one of transparency, integration, alignment and collaboration, something that is often in short supply in siloed organisations with a fragmented approach to enterprise wide innovation and transformation initiatives.
Innovation – the CEO’s most wanted for 2012
Adaptability, organisational agility and innovation are currently all on the ‘most wanted’ list of CEOs. In PricewaterhoueseCoopers’ 2012 CEO Survey (PDF), 75 per cent of CEOs plan to change innovation capacity in 2012, of which 24 per cent expect ‘major change’. Paradoxically, the eighth annual KPMG 2012 Audit Institute Report identified “IT risk and emerging technologies” as the second-highest concern for audit committees.
Consider the risks
Organisations (and their customers) demand speed, innovation, agility and value, largely facilitated by technology. However, organisations that adopt new ‘transformational’ technologies, Cloud in particular, without effective consideration of the systemic and longitudinal risks, are potentially setting themselves up for future problems, or not maximising the opportunities, or both. If, however, the organisation suffers from strategic myopia, or the key decision makers are only planning to be around for the short term, then this is not going to be a problem.
Managing transformation successfully requires a realignment and a careful analysis of the interactions between existing and well established disciplines and methodologies, specifically in the areas of project management, agile application development and information security.
Rob Livingstone is an accomplished CIO, author, academic and owner of Rob Livingstone Advisory Pty Limited – a niche independent IT Consulting and Advisory practice based in Sydney with deep expertise enterprise IT. Rob has more than 30 years of managerial experience in the corporate world, half of which as a CIO in a number of multinationals, most recently as CIO of Ricoh in Australia.
Recommended
Join the CIO Australia group on LinkedIn. The group is open to CIOs, IT Directors, COOs, CTOs and senior IT managers.
- Bookmark this page
- Share this article
- Got more on this story? Email CIO
- Follow CIO on twitter
-
Australia Post’s mail business to lose $200 million this year
-
Australia Post’s mail business to lose $200 million this year
-
Microsoft's ambivalence about Office on the Web gives Apple shot with iWork on iCloud
-
3 Lessons Learned From a Failed Customer Feedback Test
-
Online shopping reaches mainstream status
-
Top 10 Mistakes in Data Centre Operations: Operating Efficient and Effective Data Centres
How can you avoid making major mistakes when operating and maintaining your data centre(s)? The key lies in the methodology behind your operations and maintenance program. This whitepaper explores the top ten mistakes in data centre operations. Read now. -
Top Five Reasons Why Customers Deploy a Flash 1st Strategy on EMC VNX Storage
Customers are increasingly virtualising their environments to maximize capacity and cut cost. With only a few Flash drives and the software products in the FAST Suite, EMC VNX customers can realise those same benefits in their storage environment with a Flash 1st data strategy. Download now and find out how customers no longer have to compromise between performance & TCO. -
Moving to a Private Cloud? Infrastructure Really Matters!
The Cloud isn’t about locality. It is about quality of service delivery, cost, and whether the services consumed satisfy our objectives. For the enterprise, you need to select the right QoS to mitigate the inherent risks or you face the problem of losing data and the ability to execute operationally. Read on.
Get exclusive access to Invitation only events CIO, reports & analysis. 
