The Big Picture

In isolation some IT activities may seem mundane and inconsequential however each small part rolls up to a larger picture. It is important to ensure that the IT functions are aware of the bigger business picture and how their contribution to it flows though their interactions with the end-users.

If an end-user cannot perform an action on his computer and the fix is small it may receive a generally low priority compared to the priority given to checking why the internet link is down. However, if the action required by the end-use is to approve payment of the internet bill, the priority may warrant a higher priority.

Generally, when asked, end-user will sight that their issue is a top priority. To combat this it is essential that the impact and urgency are assessed with respect to the bigger picture. If all interactions are top priority then no interaction is a top priority.

If an issue affects one person and others are known to be unaffected there should be no need to classify this workload to fix the issue as a top priority, unless it directly affects the bigger picture.

If an issues affects a group of people or is routinely recurring it may warrant a higher priority than the issue affecting a single user.

If the issue has directly stopped a business process and thus there is no outcome to feed the next cog-in-the-chain, it may require a higher priority over that of a group of users.

And the list of 'business rules' (for IT activities) can go further; if the issue affects safety of one end-user it should probably receive the highest priority and thus there is no need to question if a safety issue affects a group of end-users or has stopped a business process from delivering the required outcome.

Understanding the bigger picture, how and why and IT activity exists within the overall business framework, will allow for better collaboration, communication, continual improvement and better focus on the value it has to the business.