Should the IT function be a factory?
Given the extent that organisations rely on IT, one would hope that the processes for developing and delivering the associated services ran in a predictable manner. This suggests a factory model and thus the aim is to continuously focus on efficiency with the end game being total automation.
This is the preferred model for technology management. The question is whether the CIO wants to preside over a factory. Surely a lab or studio would be more fulfilling?
A creative approach to IT is likely to be where the real value in having an IT function resides. Stretching the technology, the IT staff and the organisation by pushing technology innovation to the limit strikes me as much more fulfilling.
As technology management gets sucked into the Cloud perhaps the CIO can reinvent the IT function as more of an avant-garde art house a la Andy Warhol’s Factory of the sixties.
In today’s terms this might be called an innovation centre. However the focus needs to be on fearless unfettered creativity, not on slightly shinier versions of what the users already have.
