Course Description:

Do you want to improve the performance of your IT Management organization? Is the business dissatisfied with your services? Do your team members need an energy boost? Could your way of work be improved?

Improvement initiatives often fail because people bite off more than they can chew. During a workshop they identify various improvement initiatives and genuinely want to tackle them, but then get bogged down in their day job. Their initial enthusiasm turns sour, with people feeling guilty that they haven’t been able to perform as expected, or blaming their managers for getting them into this mess. No wonder that future improvement initiatives are regarded with some “there we go again” cynicism. The ‘choose your own battles’ approach avoids this major pitfall by only selecting initiatives that the participants consider really worthwhile, and honestly assessing both their practical capabilities to execute and the possibilities and limitations of the organizational ecosystem.

Course Outline:

Module 1: Kick-off and introduction

• Kick-off by client to set the scene
• Introduction by each participant, with background, expectations, issues and mottos

Module 2: Presentation of frame of reference for the client’s specific IT services

• Presentation of the ‘big IT picture’ model as a frame of reference
• Interactive creation of a high-level Assessment of the IT function, based on the big IT picture model
• Presentation of a ‘framework of frameworks’, to position many common industry Practices
• High-level presentation of some relevant frameworks or standards that may be useful when discussing the quick scan results
• Presentation about how to ‘implement’ frameworks effectively
• Presentation of the IT value circle on which the quick scan is based

Module 3: Discussion of similarities and differences in quick scan findings

• Presentation of compiled quick scan results
• Discussion of high-level similarities and differences
• Presentation of a way to assess the value of potential improvement items

Module 4: Identification and qualification of potential improvement items

• Discussion about each quick scan item and identification of potential improvement items, including provisional ranking of value, resulting in a list of potential improvement items

Module 5: Ranking of potential improvement items

• Discussion about the relative value of each potential improvement item, resulting in an updated list with value scores

Module 6: Assessment of feasibility of improvement items and division of items into quick wins and longer term improvement areas

• Presentation of Covey’s Circles as a way of identifying which improvements are feasible and which are a ‘mission impossible’
• Discussion about the feasibility of each potential improvement item, resulting in an updated list with feasibility scores

Module 7: Identification of ‘improvement ambassadors’

• Enlistment of volunteers to undertake improvements

Module 8: Provisional planning of improvement activities

• Provisional planning of the quick wins and high priority potential improvement items
• Discussion about how to keep the improvement wheel turning

Learning Objectives:

Individuals certified at this level will have demonstrated their understanding of:

• How to assess the ‘health’ of their current way of working
• How to identify specific improvement items that are worth improving
• How to assess the feasibility of successfully executing these improvement items

Course Agenda:

Pre-Course

• Each participant fills in the quick scan Assessment and returns this to the facilitator 1 week before the first session

First Day

• Kick-off and introduction
• Presentation of frame of reference for the client’s specific IT services
• Discussion of similarities and differences in quick scan findings
• Identification and qualification of potential improvement items

Intermediate Days

• Identification and qualification of more potential improvement items

Last Day

• The Economic of Cloud Computing

Who can Attend?

This workshop is for heads of IT Management departments who are struggling with their Application Management and/or IT Service Management services. Their concerns might be caused by problems with relationships with their business and IT partners, Processes, staff knowledge/skills/motivation, tools etc. The issues could be strategic, managerial or operational.

The participants are the head of the department plus (a selection of) his or her co-workers, up to a recommended maximum of 15 per workshop, which could be stretched to 20 participants. Larger departments would be spread across multiple workshops.