IT Development - Who Makes the Decisions (process / tools)?
I tend to break IT Development conversations into 2 metaphors Elephants or Cats.
IT Development focused on Elephant management...
These are organizations that leverage Large Platform (mostly on-premise) apps that have millions of lines of code, 1000's of features, 100's mission critical dependencies in the data center and typically schedule large "upgrade" efforts every 2-4 years to help the business with stable growth.
Elephant IT Development decision making...
It tends to be left up to Sr IT Development Management teams (who raise from the ranks of a specific era).
And whose decisions are normally best served by "waterfall" best-practices, sustainability and scalability issues.
Elephant tools for IT Development tend to focus on...
- driving well-coordinated orchestrated and sub-project assembly of many efforts over long periods of time
- needing layers of specialty quality control processes (projects, release, operations) along the way
- requiring BIG Operations Systems Management platform, designed to "corral elephants and infrastructure impact"
Elephant tool value:
The value of the tool needs to control and coordinator the people and projects to deliver "BIG Change"
- Code is often a means to an end..."it's a bit like lettuce, it's value fades over time"
Company's measure of Elephant IT Development processes:
- Measured on how "BIG Applications" are graceful introduction, leveraged and supported in complex data centers
Business's measure of Elephant IT Development processes:
Kind of understanding the sausage-making process, "I am not sure I want to know whats inside."
Elephant IT Development Vulnerable:
Tends to make the business "wait" long-periods of time for dramatic changes.
Big projects tend to have delays, experience budget over-runs and create operational maintenance challenges
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IT Development focused on Cat management... (I'm borrowing the EDS' image of cat herding)
These organizations value and leverage small agile efforts (embracing Cloud and mobility) and making smaller changes more often.
Their Application efforts leverage modern code languages with...
- fewer code-lines (more common services),
- focus on business prioritized single-feature function releases,
- with fewer critical (disruptive) dependencies
- and they leverage staggered release efforts over time to make big (sometimes unnoticed) changes for the business.
Cat IT Development decision making...
It tends to be mostly driven by business demand, but the business and management teams tend to allows development teams the flexibility to select agile tools needed by the "project-type" and environment destination (cloud, mobile, etc.) within the company's guidance. A "project-scope and Cloud-type should self-determine different tools needed be a team.
Cat tools for IT Development tend to focus on...
- a "business needs negotiation" process with the development scope capability
- well-managed small teams (Scrum?), and re-use processes and communications for quality
- It should include code management and automation tools to "release and track Cats"
Company's measure of Cat IT Development processes:
How well they can monitored and track tools, activities, teams, and the "LITTLE" stuff in a big project
They should use security rights for access and see Code as "Corp IP" can be managed for re-use, up-grades and quality control strategies.
Company's measure of Cat IT Development processes:
- Tend to measured on business usable, and "fast" application completion "on-time and on-budget"
Cat IT Development Vulnerable:
Vulnerable to development flexibility that can stray from Corp-goals, and have slow 1st year transitions
Summary
A company's environment (current IT stage) determines the nature of an IT Development conversations. Organizations will normally toleration of change, and the current infrastructure priorities will indirectly "frame the development" discussion. Knowledge of development best-practice/innovators, along with process "change-tolerance" levels, will determine the potential competitive-edge a business can hope to leverage from its IT Development team.
1 comments:
Paul
From what I have experienced, you are 100% Dead On.
I personally have tried this route, with little sucesses. I have moved to where the need for thinktanks and new ideas. Relationship Building
Is one aspect with much promise, one does not need the VC, just agreement in direction and focus to increase the chance for success.
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