If you look hard enough you will find IT failures at all levels of government . . . local, state and federal.  You will not find these failures in the advertisements of large technology firms or on their websites.  All the same they exist.  They are communicated as extended contracts (fixing the problem will take longer), additional testing required, canceled contracts or a plethora of other possible phrase-laden justifications.  None the less, they are still failures and in many cases a waste of millions or billions of dollars of taxpayer money.

The preconceived notion that IT needs to be a part of service design is fundamentally flawed.  The assumption that websites, mobile technology and the like are fundamental to better service is flawed in that they are just thoughts and ideas.  The danger to government management is when we take these ideas and assume they will improve service.  Further, automation shares this same assumption.  The mentality always seems to be “lets automate this process” . . . instead of “should we automate this process?”  Yes, some things are best left to the “dumb” user that person that actually does the work.

My government and bank management consulting background has seen the hiring of 6 IT people to replace 2 front-line workers in the name of automation and all things IT.  The problem lies in the fact that no one takes time to understand the work.  Managers write specifications, RFPs go out, negotiations are done, contract signed, processes scoped and sometimes redesigned, hardware and software are purchased and/or developed, training and then the failure blamed on some unwitting “fall guy.”  The IT vendor gets more work (a shocking reward for failure) and the cycle continues.

There is a better way.  The better way is to understand work as a system, improve the work and treat IT as a constraint (steady, don’t fall over IBM).  When the new design becomes stable then “pull” IT.  Greater return for your IT strategy . . . what a concept.

Tripp Babbitt is a speaker, blogger and consultant to service industry (private and public).  He is focused on exposing the problems of command and control management and the termination of bad service through application of new thinking . . . systems thinking.  Download free Understanding Your Organization as a System and gain knowledge of systems thinking or contact us about our intervention services at info@newsystemsthinking.com.  Reach him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/TriBabbitt.