June 10th, 2008
IT is from Mars; Business is from Venus
Relations between IT and business can be frustrating for both sides. Some observers call this mutual animosity “lack of alignment.”
Ed Yourdon, esteemed grand explainer of IT failures, summarized the issue in an interview with this blog:
The question is: whether IT is building the kinds of systems the business needs, or whether they anticipate, and can work strategically, to help the business make the best possible use of IT. That problem has been around for 30 or 40 years.
Fellow Enterprise Irregular, Sig Rinde, explained the gap between IT and business with photos.
Here’s the IT view of a system: exquisitely detailed, carefully designed, and precisely machined to withstand the rigors of daily use. The “Mars” view, by its nature, is complex:
In contrast, the business, or “Venus,” view emphasizes ease of use, suitability to task, and simplicity in both design and function:
There are legitimate and substantive differences between IT and business, reflected in different roles, education, career paths, corporate organizational structures, and so on. Given this, the Mars / Venus communications gap between IT and business is here to stay.
Michael Krigsman is CEO of Asuret, Inc., a software and consulting company dedicated to reducing software implementation failures. Click here to discuss this post with him on Twitter. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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