The Dangers of Going It Alone

KI's Petit was happy to have created her first IT strategic plan in 2003 but she knew it wasn't ideal. She had come up with her own idea of what IT should focus on, with little business input.

"The first pass was really just internal to IS in order to create some principles for how we wanted to operate and specific objectives," says Petit.

But, as Orlov warns, "IT strategic planning can't be done in a vacuum. The CIO can't just have an offsite and brainstorm what to do." Petit understood that and has been trying to tie IT's strategic plan to business goals, such as they are. "It was a tough transition to make," admits Petit. "But the IT strategic plan is more or less the only vehicle we have to communicate the value we provide to the company so we don't want to be seen as off there on our own island doing our own thing.

"A better model would be to work with functional leaders and get their take on what we should be doing," Petit acknowledges.

Petit's not involved in crafting business strategy, but she's got a way around that. "We've built a stakeholders' chart and we've starting meeting with them. We ask them: What are you measured on? What affects your business? We're getting more two-way communication going." Contrary to popular belief, a CIO doesn't have to have the proverbial "seat at the table" to involve the business in IT planning. In fact, says Cullen, involving the business in IT strategic planning "is a way to earn that seat".

"One of the big mistakes made when it comes to creating an IT strategic plan is that people model it after a kid who goes off into his bedroom to do his homework and then shows it to his teacher the next day," says Gartner's Aron. "You have to engage the business throughout the process of creating the plan."

Lin has created IT-business partner roles at Dolby to get input on strategy year-round. "It happens not just on the executive levels but throughout the company. And not just once a year at budget time," says Lin. This year IT wanted to set IT infrastructure standards for the company as part of the annual plan. "Instead of IT making the decision, we asked the business infrastructure steering committee to delegate people to a standards subcommittee," Lin says. With that kind of model, Lin no longer has to sell his strategic plan to the business. "Now, the committee we present it to is actually involved in creating it," he says.