The Next Leap in Productivity: What Top Managers Really Need to Know about Information Technology

2.9. It Is Your Turn to Drive

The French statesman Georges Clemenceau is often credited with observing that "war is too important to leave to the military." Would it be outrageous to suggest that IT strategy is too important to leave to the IT department?

At the risk of sounding cruel and mean-spirited, leaving IT strategy in the hands of the IT department is a little bit like letting construction workers design your house. They might do a great job. They are probably more talented than your architect. They can definitely hammer nails and saw planks of wood better than your architect. So why not hire the construction workers and save yourself a bunch of money?

Because you know it would be a bad idea. How are you and the construction workers going to communicate? What experiences do you have in common that you can use to develop a working relationship? And, by the way, the town building department is going to require an architect's signature on your plans.

How about this for a solution: if you know what you want your house to look like, design it yourself and have your architect check the plans to make sure you have not done anything really stupid or dangerous. By all means, hire the construction workers to build it.

The analogy is far from perfect, but you get the drift. If you are a chief executive or a member of senior management, you already know what you want IT to accomplish. The job of the IT department is executing on the plans that emerge from your vision.

You want results—and ...