Toward Success with IT
By Nick Dobbing
Flashback: the way we were
Twenty years ago, 1986: my office has just acquired a new piece of equipment — a kind of technology that most of us have never seen before.
It’s our first IBM Personal Computer. Nicely tricked out for its day, it features 640 kilobytes of RAM, a 20 megabyte hard drive, and a 640 x 400 pixel, 256 colour, 14 inch display.
It sits on view in a common area of the office, clicking and blinking quietly to itself. Every now and again, someone stops by, and pokes their head around the divider: “Is that it? What’s it doing? What can it do?”
Answers to the last question are still forthcoming.
Recall (if you were on the scene) how different things were two decades ago. Mobile phones, then a novelty, were the size of bricks. Faxing was the hot communications technology accelerating the pace of our lives. ‘Secretaries’ used ‘word processors’ the size of La-Z-Boy recliners. If someone said ‘mouse,’ you might think small rodent or Mickey, not input device or carpal tunnel syndrome. Most of us hadn’t knowingly used a computer, and the Internet was unheard of outside academic and research circles.
Today, twenty years later
Well, it’s a different world, isn’t it? There has been a vast change in our lives and work; computers and the World Wide Web are at the centre of it. We now do things with (networked) computers that twenty years ago would have been the stuff of science fiction. We participate in conversations, at trivial cost, with a planetary reach; we buy airline tickets, and choose our seat on the plane; we do our banking; get driving directions; join far-flung communities of like-minded individuals we’ve never met; find music on the recommendations of strangers; renew our library books; pay parking tickets; do our income taxes and holiday shopping.
Today, information technology is sold to us like detergent, mouthwash and automobiles: with an unhealthy dose of anxiety if we fail to acquire it, master it, and become more productive as a result. Browse IT trade magazines, and you might conclude that the key to a successful, effective and well-run organization lies in buying information technology—ideally replacing much of it every year when new versions (think next year’s models) come out.
Unfortunately, injections of information technology do not buy successful, effective and well-run organizations.
After two decades of experience with computers, my chief lesson is that IT challenges—the reasons why IT doesn’t live up to its promise—usually centre on people. All technology systems, you see, include people—and people are the most complex and unpredictable component. By comparison, information technology is trivially simple.
The second lesson: the moment a business problem is connected to a technological solution, the focus shifts immediately (and wrongly) to getting the right technology. Here’s a fairly typical interchange between a client organization and a technology consultant:
Client: “We need you to find some technology to solve a problem. Our files are really disorganized; no-one can find anything. What software will fix that?”
IT Consultant: “Who’s responsible for managing your filing system?”
Client: “Well, nobody, actually. Will you provide training on the new system?”
To most people, filing is drudgery, and they don’t do it. Software companies know this, and will cheerfully sell you document management systems that promise to move you past that problem. Some of the more expensive systems are quite good, and getting better all the time. If you have $100,000+ to spare, they’re worth a look. However, even the priciest document management systems often fail to solve the problem of disorganized filing. Why? Well, because people don’t like them, and don’t use them. Back to square one.
Make no mistake: the right technology is important, even necessary to an organization’s effectiveness. However, when all the focus is on getting the right tool, and the tools you need carry a price, problems are often solved with money. Not-for-profits, of course, are at a disadvantage in that game—hence, there is a very common refrain when not-for-profits contemplate what they might like to do with technology: we can’t afford it.
Is money a constraint? Certainly — and no question, an unlimited supply makes things easier. However, if a lack of money is the insurmountable obstacle, and it isn’t going away, it’s time to rethink what you’re doing.
I propose two ideas: one, that in any organization, money doesn’t need to be the primary barrier to effectiveness with information technology; and two, that not-for-profits in particular can do more with less by first thinking about people — what we do, how we work, and how we reach decisions together.
Technology experts typically confront a challenge when helping organizations do better with technology: non-technologists often start the conversation by talking about the technology they need, rather than the problem they want solved. When approached this way, a competent technologist will first, always and insistently ask “Why?”
After all, information technology is not an end in itself, but a means to other ends: we acquire and use it to accomplish non-technological objectives. Success with technology depends first on organizational expertise: who you are, what you do, how you do it, your challenges, and your direction. Many companies pay technology consultants to uncover the answers to these questions. If you can do this work, and succinctly identify the business problems that you think might be resolved with better technology, you’re ahead of the pack.
Opportunities for the not-for-profit sector
Once you know what you want to achieve with technology, and more importantly, why you want to do it, the opportunities for not-for-profits are extensive. Various overlapping social and technological changes make it easier for not-for-profits to take advantage of IT, without a lot of money:
- It’s a buyer’s market for hardware. Corporate leasing of computers and frequent hardware upgrades, means that an increasing amount of refurbished “last year’s model” hardware, from highly reputable manufacturers, is available at attractive prices.
- The open source movement, the amount of open source software designed for not-for-profits, and the availability of discount pricing for not-for-profits means that you can equip your organization with software at little cost.
- Sophisticated technology skills are widely dispersed in the workforce, even as technology is becoming easier to use. Don’t make the mistake of thinking it’s just the youngsters who have these skills: Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, is a Baby Boomer.
- There’s an explosion of new Web tools for community, network and relationship building. As not-for-profits are often in the business of building relationships and communities, these tools offer new approaches to community development, fundraising, political activism and outreach. Of course, many not-for-profits are well on their way in exploring them.
Doing more with information technology
In fitting technology into organizations, I’ve learned many useful rules of engagement. These are not technical rules; they’re about building capacity to succeed with technology — through better planning, communication and resources. Note that many of them concern dealings among people:
- Define your problems in terms of your organization’s mission and goals. To broaden the range of potential solutions, find multiple/novel ways of conceiving the problem. Banish technology discussions until this occurs.
- As you begin a technology project, define success in terms of non-technical goals: how will your organization be strengthened? Let those goals guide the outcome.
- Brainstorm a wide range of solutions and consider what could be done without new technology. Maybe technology isn’t the answer at all! Sometimes, the answer is to make better and more consistent use of the tools you already have in place.
- If you’re working with an IT expert, establish a shared understanding of what your organization does, where its challenges lie, and your goals for change. Inject your expertise into the process—a good technologist will love you for it, and you’ll get better results.
- If you’re having trouble communicating with the IT expert, remember that successful communication is a two way street--they’re probably having the same experience. Talk to them about communication as a shared problem.
- Often, the biggest challenge with technological change is to change the way people work. Focus two-thirds of your effort here.
- Don’t reinvent the wheel. Connect with organizations that are experiencing the same challenges, and share your successes and failures.
- Stretch your software dollars—save your budget for the things you need and must spend money to get. Learn about the free or inexpensive software that is out there for the taking, what is worth acquiring, and what others have used successfully.
- Google is your friend—the digitized resources of an entire planet are at your disposal. For every question you’ve ever had about information technology, somebody somewhere thought of it first, learned the answer, and wrote it down online.
If you’re making a better world, let technology experts know.
Need skilled advice? Contemplating a tight market for skilled labour? Build and communicate a compelling vision of your organization’s purpose, and the work you’re doing to fulfil it. Your story may engage volunteers with exceptional technology skills to share their time and talent.
Nick Dobbing is a business systems design consultant working in Vancouver.
He helps mission-driven organizations succeed in planning, collaboration, communication and decision-making. Nick may be reached via nick@wovenland.ca.
