Lately I have been doing about 10 Core Infrastructure Optimization Assessments for our customers. I do not think the outcomes are surprising, we all know we still spend most of our time “Fighting Fires”, which stands for “Basic” in the Core IO Maturity model.
I created a customized Core IO questionnaire (thanks to Microsoft’s Eduardo Kassner) which I leave at the customer after a presentation for the whole IT Team and hopefully also some non-tech decision makers. That presentation starts with an explanation of the why and what on the Core IO Assessment. Some talks on Total Cost of Ownership, Return On Investment and Capital Expenditure versus Operational Expenditure. We do some work on road mapping, creating a context for the now mostly ad-hoc type of Projects. I touch a little bit on the Business Productivity Infrastructure Optimization (BP IO) model as well. Customers think of this presentation as very valuable, a new way of looking at their own infrastructure and new ways of working in and with that model. And they really get that they are sitting at “Basic” and that there is nothing wrong with that. It gives them a way to move forward.
The second part of my presentation, hey, I am a Microsoft Certified Trainer, is on Training and Certification. The conversation goes like:
Then I make a really blunt statement, one you should not make without having created a context like this. IT Staff is not qualified for the job. Yes, you heard me correctly IT STAFF IS NOT QUALIFIED FOR THE JOB!!! End users are not qualified to use powerful tools like Office, Exchange and SharePoint.
We treat Server 2012 R2 Domain Controllers like Novell 3.12 Servers, we treat Word 2013 like a typewriter and we use SharePoint 2013 as a Fileserver. So we buy the stuff and we’re not using it. I call that stupid, really very stupid.
I invite you to count the total number of RELEVANT certifications in your IT Department. I invite you to count the number of end users that attended an OS or Office training recently. And then you have an answer to why you are all “Fighting Fires” and sit at “Basic” in your Core IO and BP IO.
The first next IT Projects should be on Training and Certification. And see what happens with the results of Core IO and BP IO Assessments. All the hardware and software you need is already there!
Happy Learning!