Author: David

Posted on

We’re all doomed

Last week whilst at the Eduserv Symposium my mind wandered away and as I tweeted I asked the question, more of the audience following the hashtag #esym10 rather than the twitterverse, which corporate applications they required to do their job!

This was obviously provocative and it resulted in a few replies – luckily none of them rude, and none of them with a P45 attached. I better explain that my thinking was framed by discussion on mobile computing and my mind was focussed specifically on students when I tweeted – but that’s all lost in 140 characters and yes … I should know better; but the question is interesting all the same.

Next month I’m giving a talk at Gregynog to the IT staff in HE entitled “2010… so that’s it for IT Services … or is it?”. It’s intended to be provocative; builds upon a lot of my thinking and writing over the past couple of years and the writing of Brian Kelly, Andy Powell, Martin Weller and Chris Sexton – to name but four. I want to issue the challenge to my colleagues as to what is actually essential supporting business activity to their employers and customers (don’t you just hate that word) and what it is that differentiates them from any other service provider. I want to revisit Joe Nicholls and my work on “Core and Chore” and pose the question what value does an IT Services department add to an organisation. I want my colleagues to start thinking, and start thinking fast because they need to develop some strategy and put it in place before they get overtaken by events.

It’s not just the IT Services department that needs to do the navel-gazing; all service departments have to re-invent themselves, focus on the differentiating activity that they do that adds value to the organisation, and they all need to start looking more holistically towards their service offering from the customer’s perspective. They want assistance with tasks, not the provision of more tools, systems or processes. The silos need to be broken down. The one-stop shop for student services (remember that?) is the tip of an iceberg – and have we developed things more since then?

So where does that leave the “services” that IT offers? Well, imho, it means that they have to add value over and above that which can be delivered from the cloud. Decisions have to be made on those services which are little more than utilities, from those that differentiate the service proposition to be one that’s “special”. Moreover, differentiation can be achieved by rationalising the collective service offering. Barriers have to come down. Silos have to crumble. BPM and lean thinking has to sweep through the organisation and common sense has to break out. Not much to ask for then :-).

What I’d like is for anyone who has an opinion on future directions for IT Services – could they  get in touch with me, publicly, or privately. I’m ready and willing to codify more of the thinking that might need to be done. I can’t think there’s a smooth road ahead. It’d be better to have done some preparation for the potholes ahead!

Posted on

Neanderthals 0 – Grandees 1

Yesterday I wrote about the conflicting forces in both the Tory and Labour parties that I thought would make it difficult to get a coalition agreement to work, but I came down on the side of a Lab-LibDem Coalition as being the one of the heart and one that the LibDems shouldn’t pass over as it was a once in a lifetime opportunity to obatin PR. Well, I’d misjudged just how strong the suicide-tendancy in the Labour Party still is. Polly Toynbee writes about it in today’s Guardian – give that a read. The fact of the matter is that although both Tory and old Labour (I am differentiating here) are driven by self-interest, the self-interest of the Labour Party old guard is stronger than than the discipline and perhaps even loyalty of the Tories. They’re also more hungry for power it has to be said.

So will a Tory-LibDem coalition work. I don’t know the outcomes of the discussions and agreement as I write. That’s half the fun of writing this – before the events have fully unfolded. However, I see the commitment to a fixed-term parliament as crucial to the success of the coalition, and to the stability of the government and the political state of the nation.

Unlike the uninformed pronouncements of those in the media I see the single most important thing about getting a fixed-term parliament is that both parties have to work to make the coalition work. Neither party can walk away from the agreement under a fixed-term parliament regime … as I see it. Why is this?

      1. They would have to explain to the wider electorate why it was in a time of national crisis not in the national interest for the two parties to continue working together. It benefits neither of them to break the coalition.
      2. If the LibDems were to break the agreement, the Tories would quite rightly lambast them, as would the “bluetop” press and anything they’d achieved in government would be forgotten. Moreover, what would they have achieved in reality because the Tories would still potentially stay in government as a minority with almost certainly a fractionally riven Labour Party opposing them.
      3. If the Tories were to break the agreement that would take them out of government – can you see that happening? Because rather than this resulting in a general election, the Queen would call the new Labour Leader to the Palace to be asked whether they could form a government. I can’t see Cameron wantuing to do that – can you? It’s handing the power to call an election over to Labour.

        So fixed-term is the key. The self-interest of both parties will keep them together until the AV (LibDEm) and re-jigged boundaries for constituencies (Tory) are in place.  Having started on this adventure I sense that the dynamics of the two leaders Cameron and Clegg will actually want to make it work. I could be wrong … I hope I’m not!

        Btw … to continue the footballing analogy. Poor @PGHarrison (my son) will be inconsolable this morning as his beloved Forest failed at what was seemingly an easy fence last night. I can see Cardiff (or Leicester) falling as well – if Blackpool’s spirit continues all the way through the Wembley play-off final.