[238] in magellan
Cutter Research Briefs: Key Technologists: Who They Should Be
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Greg Anderson)
Tue Jul 27 12:07:14 1999
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Date: Tue, 27 Jul 1999 12:07:00 -0400
To: magellan@mit.edu
From: Greg Anderson <ganderso@MIT.EDU>
Good afternoon,
Thought some of you would find this interesting.
Greg
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Welcome to Research Briefs from Cutter Consortium, the weekly e-mail
service for IT professionals, provided free by Cutter Consortium.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
KEY TECHNOLOGISTS: WHO THEY SHOULD BE TOMORROW
A critical issue for companies competing in today's e-business
economy is identifying and finding the right IT professionals to
help their business grow. To do this, companies need to transition
from "systems" professionals to professional information
technologists who:
* Understand the interrelationship between business strategy and
information technology
* Understand the emerging technologies and how IT can support their
integration into the company
* Have new skills such as project management, applications
integration, IT systems engineering, and subcontractor
management
Here is a list of the range of necessary IT skills:
* Project management: requirements management, risk management,
integration management, customer management
* Systems integration: systems engineering, top-down design, tradeoff
analysis, measurement
* Design: database design, architecture design, application program
design and specification
* Implementation: programming skills, shrinkwrap usage/consulting
skills, database management skills, computer set-up skills
The first step in aligning your IT personnel with the IT skills you
will need in the next three to five years is to assess your existing
strengths and weaknesses. After that, you can begin developing plans
to grow the inhouse talent most likely to evolve, and recruit the
talent that can carry you into the 21st century.
In addition to developing new relationships with universities and
training resources, you will need new employment models, new
incentives to grow, and a new set of job descriptions -- for example,
the "technology strategist" with knowledge of business strategy,
technology strategy, system requirements, system specifications,
project management, subcontractor management, statement of work
development, requirements, management, and technology forecasting.
The new order of business involves moving away from positions such as
team leaders, systems designers, and programmers, and moving toward
technology strategists, systems integrators, and technology
consultants. In practice, this means imposing new competency filters
onto the recruitment process, changing the incentives practice (those
who exhibit the "right" behaviors get the rewards), publishing the
new rules, and assessing the costs/benefits of co-sourcing, selective
outsourcing, and "extreme" outsourcing for personnel skill sets.
--Steve Andriole, Senior Consultant, Business-IT Alignment Advisory
Service
http://www.cutter.com/consortium/consultants/sabio.html
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
If you'd like to comment on today's Research Brief, send e-mail to
research@cutter.com, or send a letter by fax to +1 781 648 8707 or
by mail to Research Briefs from Cutter Consortium, 37 Broadway,
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