High performing organizations

by James Gaskin

April 13, 2007 —

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Back in the 80s, research analysts trumpeted how "lean manufacturing" companies performed better and produced more using such techniques as Just In Time inventory. Now, the ITPI (IT Process Institute) is trying to apply serious research to see why some IT organizations function well and others wobble.

Gene Kim, CTO of Tripwire (a managing sponsor of the ITPI), called with some results of their latest research. They were looking for an 80/20 type example, where 80 percent of high performance results came from 20 percent of the ITIL (IT Infrastructure Library) rules so popular today.

"We found two of the 63 ITIL controls in common for every high performing company: they monitored systems for unauthorized changes, and defined consequences for any unauthorized change," said Kim. By high performing, he means groups with 100 users to every administrator, shorter and less frequent outages, and recovery times after a major disruption of three hours rather than eight.

Little difference separated high and low performing IT organizations when examining small and medium outages. Kim explains the drastic performance difference during high profile outages. "How you work your recovery program helps define your troubleshooting process. High performing groups work the problem by realizing 80 percent of the problem is an unauthorized change, and 80 percent of the solution is finding that change. When you have all your change information in hand during troubleshooting, you diagnose and fix issues with four times the success rate of lower performers."

Upper management sets the tone. High performers have long executive tenure, often running 10 years or more. Low performers have average tenure in the 16 month range. High performers also spend more because quality doesn't come cheap.

Tripwire does provide change management products and services, so their interest isn't completely altruistic. ITPI is a joint venture wherein companies invest jointly in research and share the results.

My take is a bit more cynical. If your upper management doesn't stick around and doesn't make strict rules about unauthorized changes, life will be constantly chaotic. Personally, I'd jump ship. When idiots are in charge, it's easier for you to change jobs than to wait for management to change behaviors. Life's too short to let bad management constantly turn your job into crisis management. Unless you like being a firefighter, of course. Then stay put and you'll have lots of excitement.

ITworld.com