Michael Vizard says in his article, The Trouble with IT isn’t Really IT, “….In reality, IT is little more than a reflection of the business it supports. If the IT department is a mess, it’s likely because the business it is trying to support is an even bigger mess.” Very interesting thought – and with BPM and process improvement projects, biz could perhaps find good help to get less messy. This article is especially interesting since BPM itself brings up debates and discussions on Business-IT alignments, gaps, participation and so on. EbizQ’s latest discussion has generated a lot of interesting perspectives about who should be leading BPM initiatives – Biz or IT. Another great read is Ann Alls article – the one that actually led me to the above – discussing if The CIO is the Right Person to Champion Process Improvements.
Actually, I think the answer can and will vary from organization to organization. More important than a process improvement leader’s title is his/her skills (change management, communications, strategic view of business and how processes connect w/ each other) More here: http://bit.ly/9HdHCL (And thanks for contributing to such a lively discussion, here and on Twitter!)
Ann All
You are right – thats something I strongly believe too [http://bit.ly/8XbpOm] From what I have seen, I can say it is misleading to generalize and there is no rule that fits all. So fundamentally what works is to have someone who has the sight on the big picture and is, as you rightly said, skilled right for the job.