How do IT managers, architects and other people in the IT department deal with the change public cloud brings us?
In my last post I described one of the things I see in my work that lead to the end of the current form of many IT departments. The challenge for IT people is to start speaking the language of the end users and the CIO. It does not mater how great the content is, if the form of the message is not appealing the audience will not connect.
So how do we deal with this? I’ll give you an example.
Let’s say the people in your company have more and more the need to work anytime, anyplace, any device. You need the tools to support this, so you have to go to your CIO proactively to stay relevant. What you can do is the following:
You can create a Powerpoint Of Death which contains dozens Microsoft slides about what Azure is, you added some slides containing bullet items telling your audience about the things you have to do. And on top of that you add a few complicated architectural designs. I’ll bet this won’t make you famous.
What you also could do is create a story around the Why, the How and What. Use your imagination. Tell the story of a princess that used to live and work in a castle which was very safe and secure. High towers, soldiers, canons, a moat and a bridge. But nowadays things have changed and the modern princess goes outside the castle to ride her horse into the woods to stay relevant to the people she serves. She brings her golden pencils (devices) and books (applications) which contain the treasures of the realm (data). So the castle by itself is not enough anymore to secure everything. And on top of that, the realm needs to be compliant with all kinds of regulations, like GDPR. So now is the moment you can introduce Microsoft EM+S or other tools and explain how this will help companies to keep their data safe.
I’ll bet this story will stick. Stories like these make it easier to receive the support of the stakeholder, and the people in the business get a better understanding why they need to adapt and change processes.
And it’s much more fun.
So I’ve shared a story. Do you want to share yours?