Monday, April 16, 2007

Should technology stand alone or be a team player?

I continue to fight to get technology the full recognition I think it deserves in the planning process, daily operations and decision making. But I am questioning my motives, am I trying to get technology the recognition or is it just for me? Are technology staff really fighting to get technology understood and used more, or are they fighting to get their job raised up in the food chain? And if tech staff are fighting to get technology understood and used more, are their motives based on the right things?

In my own strange thought pattern, I am wondering if by forcing the issue of technology and by pushing the importance of it, am I only making it worse? If people don't understand technology and aren't open to it but you consistently try to convince them they are missing opportunities and just don't understand it, would that really change their mind or just make them more defensive?

Would it be more effective to let the planning, operations and decision making happen, then jump in as a team player with technology and pitch in? Each time you are able to add benefit, show value and enhance the team, you make your argument, rather than verbally or otherwise debating the point? So you slowly win them over and they become your advocate.

But what if during that slow process, your org has delivered poor service to its constituents, missed mission opportunities, overworked its staff....

Just talking with a friend who is also tech staff and they shared that "I view my success as having made a difference by remaining invisible." Meaning that the technology, training and processes have worked so well, that people don't realize that the technology is even there, it is transparent. With that said though, if we stay quiet and slowly prove our worth, will they even realize that it was technology that made it happen?

Not sure I accomplished anything in this post but to ask conflicting questions and disagree with myself. What do you think?

Anyway, I had hinted that I would be talking about "is bigger better because of economies of scale\recognition or is smaller better because it forces innovation\thriftiness?" But I just cant get there, I guess that is a sign that as a bigger nonprofit we cant always get the things that are planned because we spend so long maintaining what we already have.

8 comments:

Norman Reiss said...

As a project manager focused on mostly IT initiatives, I believe that while technology must be recongized for its importance in the organization, it must clearly serve the main goals of the organization. The days of getting funds to upgrade a server or add a new application for technology sake are long gone. I've found that my role has extended far beyond IT and now involves development, finance, marketing and more in getting my projects done successfully.

Jeremy said...

Sure, implementing a bit of technology because it's shiny and fun is not the best thing in the world. On the other hand, if you're in a position to design programs, you're better off if you know technology well enough that you can improve the design of your program based on available technology (or at least have access to someone you trust who knows this stuff).

It feels a bit like I'm stepping into the middle of a moment of personal angst, and my apologies if so, but in any case, it's clear as day to me, as someone who has implemented databases for a bazillion or so people, that there are lots of points of pain in the way organizations do their work that could be eased to some degree with judicious use of technology.

I'm not saying that it's anything close to always the right thing to do to alter your program delivery because it would be easier if you used some techno widget. But if you can account for these techno widgets while designing the services, tracking, reporting, and general mission-fulfilling your organization does, there are, in many cases, decent gains to be made.

All that to say (no one who knows me will be surprised where I come down on this), don't be quiet. Be smart about when and where you're loud. Try to focus on the next (mission-related, not technology-related) thing, not the last one, unless the last one is really broken. And spend a LOT of time listening to non-technologists--if you run in there chattering about TLAs, bench-marking, and operating systems, it doesn't matter how loud you are, no one's going to hear you.

As a technologist in (or supporting) an NGO, it's not your job to figure out how the organization can best use technology, it's your job to figure out how technology can best further the mission of the organization _without getting in the way of the actual human beings who will be using it_.

1cent NPTech said...

Thanks for the great comments. I once found a quote that said “There is no such thing as an ‘IT project.’ There are only business projects with an IT component,” says June Drewry, CIO of Chubb Corp., a $48 billion insurance group based in Warren, N.J. Also a similar thought on http://www.refresher.com/!dfmprojects.html, where they say, "There is an argument to be made that there is no such thing as an "IT" initiative; there are only business initiatives which often are intended to improve business processes. Technology is simply an enabler."

Yet, getting a cool gadget cell phone for a CEO can change their impression of technology or a cool widget on a web site can inspire thought.

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