[188] in I/T Delivery
5 year Delivery/Discovery discussion
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Bill Cattey)
Fri Aug 14 12:18:19 1998
Date: Fri, 14 Aug 1998 12:18:06 -0400 (EDT)
From: Bill Cattey <wdc@MIT.EDU>
To: Greg Anderson <ganderso@MIT.EDU>, delivery@MIT.EDU, fortoul@MIT.EDU,
tjm@MIT.EDU, brendakg@MIT.EDU, mbarker@MIT.EDU, jjv@MIT.EDU,
pbh@MIT.EDU, crockett@MIT.EDU, jlittell@MIT.EDU, eyanow@MIT.EDU,
lisanti@MIT.EDU, ninadm@MIT.EDU, wade@MIT.EDU,
"Robert V. Ferrara" <rferrara@MIT.EDU>
Cc: khiggins@MIT.EDU
In-Reply-To: <v03020900b1f507962e5a@[18.177.0.229]>
Notes from the Discussion of IS Purpose and Strategy
at the Joint Discovery/Delivery Team Leaders meeting.
14 August 1998
--------
WHY? => PURPOSE
What is the purpose of IS:
From the perspectives of:
-Students
-Other I/T at MIT
-Administration
Academic/Faculty
Administrators
HOW => Strategy
~What?
----
Break into small groups to discuss how others perceive us.
Students:
Enable computeer use at all aspects of life -- before, during, and after MIT
What: Personal co-curricular research instruction.
Where: On/Off campus, home.
Faculty/Academic:
Provide assistance with technological change.
Provide good support and service in a timely fashion.
Faculty and Academic are two different foci.
Sometimes they work together.
Sometimes they conflict.
We can provide leverage and mediation when they conflict.
Other I/T:
Perceived as a resource.
We can bring expertise.
Sometimes perceived negatively as roadblocks, or incompetent from past
experiences.
Ideally we would be perceived as setting the example for best processes.
Should be perceived as a can-do organization.
Ideally, represent the broad, strategic *MIT* need. I.E. not confined
to department or IS, but meeting both the strategic and tactical need.
Admin:
Stable operating environment.
Resources: answers, expertise, help, hardware, programmers, people, etc.
Advice and direction for development.
-willingness to understand business.
-attitude
-broad skill set
-I/T strategic direction
-Clarity with regards to responsibilities.
----
Gaps:
MIT's world visibility.
Very big vs. very small.
----
What and how of IS from the IS perspective:
General: Don't put too much hot air in [communications at all levels].
What we want IS to be for us.
1. Highly efficient coordination.
Want to get relevant information efficiently so we know what is going on.
3. Need a clearer way to figure out priorities.
(tatically and strategically)
4. Need a better communication mechanism with the community.
value human relationships.
5. Need a better balance between I/T conservatism, and
over conservatism. (We're in a position to work with newest options.)
We need to use new stuff internally more to become intimately
familiar with new things.
Different parts of the organization are at different levels of this.
6. Our perceptions of ourselves are lined up with our customer perceptions.
Living with frustration of having high ideal but not meeting it.
7. Connecting customer vision with I/T realization os really GREAT -- that's
what we live for.
8. It's our job to work with vendors so that off the shelf fits
better for MIT.
9. Two classes of project:
1. New initiatives where it's OK to fail.
2. Situations where failure is not allowed.
10. Need to modulate class 2 efforts:
Understand when class 1 becomes class 2
If a project is class 2, provide resources to do it right.
If a project is class 2, do things to make it easier to succeed.
Clarify criteria for success.
11. More reliable resource predictions
12. Assistance on setting customer scope and expectations.
13. Better incentives for globally optimal behaviors.
Treat and reward "friends" better.
i.e. those who are exhibiting good behaviors.
(Avoid rewarding bad behavior.)
14. Lead new, larger infrastructure initiatives:
e.g. certificates, xml, etc.
knowledge communication.
15. Make communication a better active endeavor.
reporting seems to be considered an anciliary activity right now.
reduced overhead of communication or mamagement structures.
16. How to achieve alignment -- in many dimensions:
Customers
MIT broadly
I/T @MIT
IS
17. Develop and foster a culture of shared communication
Information rich
Safe, trusting, supportive
collaborative, not competitive.
get better at conflict management <DINKUM>
18. Need an environment that supports whatever [development] as a
long term activity/process.
sustained [development] community
dont mortgage our future.
19. Understand the appropriate "atomic unit" of an activited.
E.G. Institutional levels, smaller levels.
20. Understand implications of "sustainable".
In retrospect, these 20 items represent critical success factors to
acheiving IS strategy purpose.
