Wednesday, December 18, 2002

Satis verborum - enough words, action now I picked up the trail about the SuperNova conference from Hugh Pyle's weblog posting. There is a post-conference article by Dan  Farber (ZDNET) entitled - 'Word to the wise: Decentralize' to which I posted a rather caustic feedback (over 15 years of seeing IT Shops endorses my opinion).The feedback is also given here below - Corporate issues that involve technologies are invariably handled by IT Shops as a "technical issue" and is followed by a 'raindance', tech fads and topped by squandering billions of dollars. The matter of Centralize/Decentralize is *not* about technology, it is about *management*, as was the Y2K debacle. It is time for IT Shops to be "certified" in what they do - stick to their core competency or get outsourced. IT Shops that do not make the grade of SEI/CMM Level 3 at least (or equivalent) should be outsourced, be it to Israel, Ireland, India, Iowa or Indiana. Read any work of Paul Strassmann for a flavor of what IT Shops have been upto. SEI/CMM Level 3 is for doing it right *and* on time. Regarding the management issue of Centralize/Decentralize, there's a little book written well over 200 years ago that works and works well - it is the US Constitution. For more insights, read 'The Federalist Papers'. If this work has held the decentralized 50 states well for over 200 years, it will work well for companies that run by IT Shop's demagoguery. If reading the US Constitution is not comprehensible - read Charles Handy's article about Federalism in Management (Harvard Business Review Nov-Dec '92). 8:20:20 AM