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|In: Shadow IT|Last Updated:

Professionals like do-it-yourselfers. Undoing a bad job and replacing it with a good one is, after all, more profitable than starting from scratch.

Not that all do-it-yourselfers are hopeless (or, for that matter, hapless). The trick for those of us who engage in DIY is knowing when a new project is a reasonable stretch and when our daydreams of the perfect installation crash into a needed skill that, like soldering copper pipes with a blowtorch, is just too terrifying to contemplate.

Add to that an entire industry devoted to making DIY projects less daunting — a recent successful adventure with digital door locks comes to mind — and the equation becomes more interesting.

This being KJR we aren’t, of course, talking about home improvement. We’re talking about office improvement through the deployment of so-called “shadow IT.” One difference … no analogy is perfect, after all … is that unlike home improvement failures, where professional plumbers, electricians, and dry wallers are happy to get paid for fixing someone else’s mistakes, IT professionals aren’t usually too thrilled when they’re called in to deal with DIY software gone wrong.

Which isn’t to say trying to stomp out shadow IT is a good idea, any more than trying to stomp out DIY home improvement would be a good idea.

As is so often the case, good policy starts by recognizing that different groups have different priorities.

With home improvement, the goals for a typical DIYer (aka me) are, in descending order of importance, (1) saving money; (2) getting a warm feeling of accomplishment; and (3) receiving admiring compliments from friends and family.

Home improvement professionals, in contrast, most likely want: (1) profitable income; (2) repeat business; and (3) referrals.

Software DIY? My informal experience tells me the DIYer’s goals are quite parallel — to get: (1) the benefits of automation sooner rather than later; (2) a solution that’s tailored to fit the situation without having to explain what’s needed in detail; (3) admiring compliments and all that.

IT’s goals when implementing software are a bit different. In particular, IT wants (1) easy and maintainable integration; (2) solutions and the platforms they’re built on that aren’t going to vanish from the technology marketplace, provided by (3) vendors that also aren’t going to vanish from the landscape; and, oh, by the way, that (4) do enough of what business requesters want that they can live with the gap, without demanding a lot of tailoring or customization.

That’s quite a mismatch. But the mismatch between DIY IT and IT-led implementations isn’t a problem. It’s a place to start.

Bob’s last word: That two groups have different goals isn’t an insurmountable problem … unless, that is, the groups have no interest in achieving any goals other than their own.

What we typically have is mutual distrust and fault-finding. What we need is a methodology that accommodates both IT’s and business DIYers goals.

Bob’s sales pitch: It doesn’t address this issue specifically, but I think you’ll find chapters 4 and 5 of the KJR Manifesto helpful, and not just for dealing with shadow IT.

They’ll help any time addressing two groups’ distrust is where you need to start.

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|In: App Dev Methodologies|Last Updated:

There’s no such thing as an IT project. There is, on the other hand, such a thing as There’s No Such Thing as an IT Project: A Handbook for Intentional Business Change. It’s now officially available for purchase (or will be tomorrow morning). Humility prevents my coauthor, Dave Kaiser, and me from telling you it’s the most important business book published this year.

It’s a good thing we’re so humble. Or maybe not, because if you have anything to do with making business change happen … intentional business change, that is … you need this book. And I hope you’ll forgive a bit of hard selling because if you want the organization to change you’ll want your peers and collaborators to understand what it is you’re doing and why.

What’s the book about? It’s about 180 pages long. It’s about eighteen bucks … a dime a page … if you want the Kindle edition, more if you want crushed trees smeared with ink, and if you do, consider buying it straight from our publisher (https://www.bkconnection.com/books/title/Theres-No-Such-Thing-as-an-IT-Project ).

It’s about the difference between “implementing software” and something useful coming of it.

It is, we think, comprehensive without being tedious; practical and pragmatic while still presenting big ideas; clear and concise without being humorless.

If you’re a long-time KJR reader you’re familiar with the mantra, for example from this ten-year-old evergreen from the archives – https://issurvivor.com/2009/12/07/someone-elses-problem/ .

Now, instead of having to root around in the archives to pull everything together you’ll find it all in one place.

That’s how KJR works. You get a concise account of a narrow slice of a big topic once a week, out of the goodness of my greedy little heart. You get a complete view of subjects that matter from the books I publish from time to time (look here if you want to know what else I’ve written over the years: https://www.amazon.com/Bob-Lewis/e/B001HMOX0I/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1 .) It’s one way you can support KJR — something readers ask from time to time.

If you like the ideas and need help making them real, give me a shout. https://issurvivor.com/contact/ . With many consultants you don’t really know what you’re getting into. I am, more or less, an open book.

Well, 12 open books, but who’s counting?

Oh … one more request. Books aren’t real until they have a bunch of Amazon reviews. So I’m asking you to write one — preferably after you’ve read the book (as a consultant I have a strong sense of sequence).

If you like the book, please say so and explain why. And if you hate it, please explain that in a review as well. I’m not trying to put my thumb on the scale — I like good reviews as much as the next author, but it’s more important for the book to be real.

And don’t worry. Unlike public radio, I’m not going to hold KJR hostage until enough of you have bought the book.

I might badger you about it from time to time, but I won’t fill more whole columns pleading with you and your fellow readers to satisfy my deep craving for attention. Dave and I hope you enjoy the book and, more important, find it useful. We won’t know, though, until we read your review.

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