In a post at his blog, Joe the IT Guy considers the “IT balanced scorecard.” Riffing off a standard balanced scorecard, the IT balanced scorecard comprises four elements: projects and innovation, operational processes as a driver of business value, talent management, and end-users. It can be powerful if used correctly, but here are 10 ways it can go wrong:
- Thinking this scorecard is a substitute for hard work
- Measuring attended training courses alone rather than employee learning
- Overly focusing on negative aspects
- Getting the wrong people to evaluate metrics
- Not making the scorecard transparent
- Having too many KPIs
- Not understanding who real end-users are
- Failing to make strategic decisions with data
- Fixating on only the current financial situation
- Measuring what’s easy instead of what matters
Balance in the Workforce
Balancing the scorecard and keeping it that way will require ongoing hard work by itself. But when data reveals downturns month-over-month etc., do not fixate on them too severely. Understand why they are occurring of course, but do not let a few pieces of bad news grind all progress to a halt. Similarly, do not allow IT to fall into the trap of existing according to changing financial whims. If IT is constantly chained to short-term economic circumstances, they will never have the money and power to enact a meaningful transformation.
About evaluating metrics, Joe says this:
Metrics are vital in getting your IT balanced scorecard right. While you should be putting effort into continually improving these, you need to ensure that those with expert knowledge input the detail in the first place. To capture that knowledge you need to include all relevant employees and not just the most senior ones. Finally, get someone independent to review the metrics based on the input of ALL experts.
On the subject of employee development, Joe notes that sending people off to training courses does not guarantee learning occurred. Developing in-house “buddy” or “mentor” systems can ensure people develop in precisely the ways the organization requires. Tips like these make the IT balanced scorecard work.
For a deeper discussion, you can view the original post here: http://www.joetheitguy.com/2016/12/21/10-reasons-bad-balanced-scorecard-worse-none/
