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I think the real problem being illustrated here is that the IT side of the shop needs autonomy to do what it knows to be correct somewhat independently of the b

I think the real problem being illustrated here is that the IT side of the shop needs autonomy to do what it knows to be correct somewhat independently of the business side of the shop. Ultimately, trust is what governs how much oversight you should be expected to suffer in an organization. In my shop, I don't have to ask for permission to do anything unless it touches our customers in some way. If I see a machine that is struggling or a SaaS plan that is reaching quota, I simply upgrade. Every now and then someone will ask me about a new bill or increase, but I don't have to subject myself to multiple depositions to move the ball forward. The suits should consider the downsides of creating an environment where one has to plead for permission to conduct the most trivial tech work. How much innovation is going straight into a burning trash can over convoluted change policies that were established in some ivory tower a decade+ ago? Can we somehow reframe the organization in a way where the business is modeled as a customer of the IT team? That seems to me like a much simpler way to think of things, because at the end of the day if the business fails, the IT shop is has no raison d'etre.

vladd 3y ago
If the business is the customer, upgrading a machine increases the customer price hence it requires communication as it changes the benefits/cost value proposition.
- Aeolun 3y ago
  Not upgrading a machine affects quality of service. If they don’t trust that that’ll happen until they can feel the problem themselves, what do they have an IT team for?
- bob1029 3y ago
  The trick is to wrap your technology with a service-style abstraction so you don't have to communicate all of these painful little details. Then, all of those details get rolled up into something like a quarterly report. The terms of this relationship (contract) should be approximately along lines of "you provide us a service with a certain level of quality and in return we grant you an annual budget of $X". At a certain point, having detailed analysis of every last expense will cost you way more money than it will save.

vladd 3y ago

If the business is the customer, upgrading a machine increases the customer price hence it requires communication as it changes the benefits/cost value proposition.

Aeolun 3y ago
Not upgrading a machine affects quality of service. If they don’t trust that that’ll happen until they can feel the problem themselves, what do they have an IT team for?
bob1029 3y ago
The trick is to wrap your technology with a service-style abstraction so you don't have to communicate all of these painful little details. Then, all of those details get rolled up into something like a quarterly report. The terms of this relationship (contract) should be approximately along lines of "you provide us a service with a certain level of quality and in return we grant you an annual budget of $X". At a certain point, having detailed analysis of every last expense will cost you way more money than it will save.