Are you IT Strategic or IT Tactical? You’re both…right? Of course, you are. Let’s try to understand the differences between the two..
Strategic thinking is concentrating on getting results at the big picture level as opposed to a tactical approach focusing on the short term. In IT we can relate that to the guy that is so busy fighting daily fires that they can hardly come up for air to do the most basic things like maintain the appropriate documentation or make sure he and his staff are keeping up with their education and certifications (if you have read my previous blogs you know I hold these two things in high regard). This is the guy whose half-eaten ham sandwich can be seen sitting on the server rack because he has no time to eat. He can’t take a vacation or go 5 minutes without checking his email and voicemail. He is a mess, the network is a mess too despite his best efforts and the business and employees suffer as a result. Often IT and the IT department are viewed as the 911 service because the services they provide are mission-critical. Something is always broken and we’re always in a rush to fix it. This is not how IT or any other department of the business should be viewed. Practice a better approach: concentrate more on the long term root causes of issues and not the short term symptoms. Schedule regular strategy sessions with your team or IT Partner. Make sure you have a clear understanding of the business and its vision, mission, values and strategies as well as how those relate to the IT Department. Take a step back; if you are always focused on the task right in front of you, you miss the big opportunity to get better long term results.
