A story to help educating internal customers about Information System. What are at stake? What are the risk for the company ? And how have it under control through IS governance.

1. THE BAD GUY IN YOUR COMPANY
… AND HOW TO HAVE HIM UNDER CONTROL

2. Every company has its Bad Guy.

3. He is causing nightmares for
most of the VPs.

4. Why ?

5. Because …
he costs them so muchhe is so slow
he always brings
complexity
his deliverables are low
quality

6. He is so dangerous that he will
cause a company’s death.

7. Who the hell is this bad guy ?
Grrr… he seems so powerful.

8. It’s him
isn’t it?

9. No, it is Mister IS(*) of course !!!
(*) IS : Information system

10. Really ???
This nice guy is our bad guy?

11. Let me tell you
a story.

12. “My young son is a fan of computers. He has developed a
whole website in less than one week”.

13. “It took more than 6 months for those guys to develop just one
feature. ”

14. “I was quite lucky this time because it cost me only several
hundreds of thousands of bucks; for only one feature !!!”

15. “Remember last year when I had this brilliant idea, it was again
Mister IS who prevented me from making it happen. He only adds
complexity and cost. “

16. “The story is not finished. After having waited 6 months for my single
feature, the quality of the deliverable was so bad it made our
customer nervous.“

17. So yes, Mister IS(*) is the bad guy.
(*) IS : Information system

18. This is
unacceptable!!!

19. What can we do? We have to find a solution!!!

20. I have an idea.

21. “Mister IS should only support us. He is the tool, not
the core of our activity. We should fire Mister IS.”

22. And they do fire Mister IS.

23. One hour later …
Employees are nervousCustomers are nervous
Everybody is very nervous Except competitors who are
very happy

24. One week later …

25. This idea was not so good.

26. We have to find another solution!!!

27. “I have an
another idea.”

28. ???

29. “Remember the young son of our brilliant VP… The job of
Mister IS is a piece of cake. Each department should manage its
own IS. We should do it on our own.”

30. And they ask each department to manage
their own Information Systems.

31. Several months later…

32. What’s going on?

33. We have a teamwork issue.

34. We have a new bad guy.

35. In fact, since Mister IS left and all
departments are doing his job…

36. We have a lot
of bad guys!!!

37. Wait a minute !
Is it possible that the problem with Mister IS
is not Mister IS but rather his job?

38. It can be a good option.

39. What can we do? The situation is
still not acceptable.

40. I have…

41. Don’t even think about it !

42. Let’s ask somebody
wiser.
“Dear Mister Yoda, how can we manage this Bad Guy?”

43. (thinking)

44. “An Idea, I have.”

45. “Ask Mister IS,
to give us his point of view,
You should.”

46. Outstanding idea!!!

47. Hey, Mister bad guy Mister IS, we are not so happy with your job.
 Your are slow
 Your are too expensive
 You add complexity
 You deliver low quality
Why are you so bad?

48. “OK. Come with me through my journey: Information System
project management through 5 stages.”

49. Stage #1: The selection
The selection

50. “First, despite your perception… I have a lot of success.”
“Everybody wants me to work for them.”

51. “Demands are much more
numerous than resources. So
choices have to be made.”

52. Be sure that your idea will bring enough value
to the company before wanting to start the
journey of an IS project.
Because competition with your colleagues will be fierce,

53. Stage #2: Booking IS resources
The selection Booking

54. “Our CFO asked us to optimize resource cost.
That’s why they are shared resources.”

55. That’s why all IS projects must be
planned in advance.
Otherwise, minimum delay is
necessary to free resources already
booked.

56. “Usually it takes a minimum of 3 months to book resources. Please note
that during this period, we still have not started to think about your idea .”

57. Stage #3: Designing your idea
The selection Booking Design

58. “First, I need to strongly analyze your idea. What will be the
consequences of implementing your idea?”

59. “I am looking for the devil
hidden in the details.”

60. “Your idea is very beautiful.”
“Unfortunately…”

61. “I will not design your idea for you.”
“But I will design it for our company.”

62. “Your beautiful idea is often a nightmare for your colleagues. It may
trigger some changes not at all manageable for them.”

63. “It may bring you some benefits, but costs lot of
money to set up and run.”

64. “Because you are naturally focused only on your activity, I need to explain
to the others what will be the consequences of your idea on their activities”

65. “In today’s digital age of humanity,
Information Systems is one of...”

66. “…the key assets of companies.”

67. “I (Mister IS) am working like an architect for the company.”

68. “Once I have a clear understanding of the Business Requirements for all
departments related to your idea, I need to find the best way to implement
them in our architecture (Information Systems).”

69. “I (Mister IS) am also working as a guardian. ”
“Our Company (House)
must be kept secure, must
be optimized and be able to
support further evolutions. ”

70. “Do you really think that it is a job for your young son?”

71. Stage #4: Development
The selection Booking Design Development

72. “This is part is usually… a piece of cake.”

73. “This task may be given to your young son.”

74. “Development is really a small part of the
story… and unfortunately the only visible part.”

75. Stage #5: Tests
The selection Booking Design Development Test

76. “ I will perform as many as tests as you allow me to perform.”

77. “To avoid….”

78. “This part could be very long depending of the
complexity of the heritage to maintain.”

79. “Checking this is easier than…”

80. “Checking this.”

81. “So to conclude, it is true that IS projects are long and
expensive. They are also risky and the consequences are big.
So precautions must be taken when managing this change
to avoid…”

82. Well… The Bad Guy may be not so bad. In
fact, the Bad Guy may be a Good Guy.

84. Really… the end???

85. The Bad guy is The
Good Guy. That’s all?

86. But how can we be sure that this new
Good Guy is really good and not bad?

87. We needed 87 pages to understand that the Bad guy is a Good Guy. But he is
too powerful and too secret. How can we be sure that the new Good Guy…

88. …is not this guy?

89. …is not this guy?

90. …is not this guy?

91. We must be sure that the Good Guy really
is a Good Guy.
How to have the Good Guy under control?

92. The answer is… IS Governance.

93. Information System is a science.
esearch is done to identify best practices.

94. IS Governance provides framework to
help Companies to follow best practices
in Information System management…

95. …and tools to ensure that best
practices are followed.

96. Business teams don’t need to worry anymore and
can focus on their own activities.

97. This is the happy
end of the story.

98. “I Hope you have enjoyed this story.”
The three mains points to remember :
 IS Projects are not just pieces of writing code,
but complete changes to how the company will
work,
 IS projects are risky… that is why they are so
long and complex, and
 Best practices exist to reduce risk and give
transparency and confidence to stakeholders.

99. Don’t miss next episode on the air :
The ultimate weapon to give value
to your company.
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