To me what I see in IT is valuing the ‘rock star’. That is,
the person who comes in, takes charge, says what’s what and ‘appears’ to all as
if they are the savior or hero, snapping up a victory from the jaws of defeat.
This is an ‘American Idol’ view of things. To begin with, in
that program, a singer is often times singing off a pre-recorded musical track
– everything is already there. So in that context, the singer is the star
(because that’s what the show is all about). And often times it’s the same thing
with the ‘rock star’ mentality that permeates through IT leadership -because
it’s about the individual on the stage and getting the adulation of the
audience.
The problem is that’s false often times in IT and in the
reality of performing live music as a group.
In a rock band (and by this I mean a group of musicians who
perform live rock music), different people do different things or play
different roles at different times for very valid reasons. In a rock band, you
have a drummer, a bassist, one or more guitarists, one or more keyboardists,
the lead vocalists, the backing vocalists, percussionists, and so on. But they all need to work together to make
it sound right to the audience and themselves, let alone good and memorable.
Does it therefore make sense for all of these different people to be thinking
and doing the same thing at the same time all the time? Yes there are
situations where it makes sense for say two guitar players to be playing a part
the same way, or for two vocalists to be singing the same part. But more often
than not each of these folks has different roles because they do different
things – but they have a common
cause – to perform great music together. So it’s when you combine all of
these things together for a common purpose and make it happen as a group –
that’s when real value and success is unleashed – in the case of a great band –
great music that not only sounds good on stage, but to the respective paying
audience. And each person on stage has a
role to play – it’s not just about the singer or a guitar solo. If but one
person doesn’t do their part or has problems – it affects the entire process
because you succeed as a group. This is where as a group, one comes together to
help address those things so all can succeed, because it’s not going to work if
everyone moves ahead leaving one behind. On stage that doesn’t work. This is
very much the case when performing live music – it doesn’t matter if the singer
hits every note and does so on time – if the beat is off, or the chord is wrong
– that’s what will be remembered.
It’s the same in IT – each prospective member of a given
discipline in software and IT has a key role to play. No one person is more or
less important than the other. Who gathers the business requirements, who
designs the solution, who shapes the solution architecture, who develops the
code, who tests the code, solution, business processes, who supports the
solution and infrastructure, who uses the solution – each of these seemingly
disparate entities only work when working (in this case) solve an enterprise
business problem. It doesn’t matter who does what in the late hours – every
hour should be valued and respected. But
they all need to work together to make the solution correct both internally and
externally to customers, let alone with high quality. But more often than
not each of these folks has different roles because they do different things – but they have a common cause – to
solve a business problem.
Good management and leadership across a business
area, management, and executives should know this.
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