Nowadays IT is mostly seen as strategic. That viewpoint holds some risk. Using IT as a general label clutters the aspect of diversity of the IT asset. Designating IT as strategic also contains the risk of confusing the means and end. That can cost. Keep a clear perspective, reduce complexity to basics. Shape your frame of mind and get to the essentials.
IT is tooling. It is there to support and enable. An aid to perform those actions we our selves mentally or physically can not or find difficult to do. Tooling is used to get a job done. It is something that serves a need and purpose, not a need and purpose in itself. It should enable us to effectively realize an intended result with as little time and effort as possible. That simple viewpoint should be driving how we would like to set up and make use of IT in our working environment.
- A wrench does not do you much good in cutting timber
- As does a chainsaw for drilling holes
- You can do without the lawnmower in your flat
- The 250 piece toolset is perhaps a bit to much for changing a light-bulb
At work we do often have a shed full of tools. Just like at home. Stuffed with things we do not need and most of the time lacking with that we do need. And having them is not the equivalent of getting the job done. Although - just like at home - we tend to kid ourselves in that it does. You have to know how to use it. You do have to have a need for it. And it has to be useful. A hammer comes in handy if you need to drive a nail into something. But if screwing gets the job done, it isn’t really of much use (unless you want to trash it of course).
Make the desired outcome dictate your need. Make IT a strategic asset not a strategy.
