The Standard Work of IT

For the technologies IT proposes and supports, SW means that there are consistent and interoperable components. IT establishes the guidelines for what technologies can be expected to interact well, and leads the business to select those. IT documents how the components that are known to work well together (i.e. “supported”) need to be set up. They are then responsible for exploring new components or new combinations of components to confirm functionality.

Depending on the size of the company and the circumstances, some of the research and development work to establish supported technologies can be delegated. Many smaller organizations rely on vendor-published compatibility listings to reduce the scope of what they need to examine separately.

With SW for technologies established, the next focus is on processes. Many of the service deliverables of IT can be described as processes. Documenting these enables the IT team to better communicate and align its deliverables. It also provides a useful tool to evaluate processes for inefficiencies or errors that affect quality.

When it comes to people, SW means having team members that understand their roles. In order for that to happen, the roles must be defined and communicated. Through this, the proper team members can be called upon by the business at the appropriate times. Team members can share and cross-pollinate their roles to make the organization more resilient and robust.
 

Establishing standard work for these aspects of IT provides the foundation for continuous improvement initiatives. Such initiatives can be focused on particular project or component, or can be more broadly applied to a collection of components or processes.

The end result of applying standard work to the people processes and technology of IT will be to establish more consistent and predictable results. This in turn will build trust and confidence within the business about IT and their deliverables. Applying the concept of standard work within IT should allow the business to stay focused on the cost and timing elements of the axiom because IT has built a “solid” foundation from the beginning.