March 26, 2002
When approached by the east entrance, the sprawling 90-year old Crest Family Resort appears, at first glance, to have sprouted, like some exotic groundcover, from the top of the limestone cliffs that encircle the south shore of Glacier Lake. It was at this exclusive resort that the five-member HomeWorks Information Services Senior Leadership Team (IS SLT) gathered for their first two-day off-site meeting. Let me just say this: There are good retreats, and there are bad retreats. I've been to both. Done right, executive retreats are the ideal way to get people truly working together. It's so easy to avoid issues (and people, for that matter) back in the office. By taking the SLT off-site, Mills forced us into a situation where we were practically living together and team building was an inevitable by-product. Plus, there were no interruptions. After this first retreat, we tried to hold similar meetings on-site at HomeWorks and failed miserably. Aside from the incessant interruptions, on breaks, people would disappear to put out the latest fire and rarely returned on time. Putting people in an unfamiliar, informal environment together helps in breaking down barriers and makes them more amenable to change. And sure, these types of events can be expensive. But the amount of good work generated out of a well-run retreat more than pays for itself in the long run. Amazingly, Mills' SLT had never been on an official retreat (in spite of having survived multiple previous CIOs), and was not sure what to expect.
Frankly, I wasn't convinced the retreat would be helpful, but I knew this: Mills was practical and would not spend the money if he didn't expect serious benefits in return. "There are two things that I want to accomplish right away so we can get our IS-business alignment project off the ground," said John Mills, the HomeWorks CIO, after we had settled in around the large table in a conference room overlooking the second hole of the resort's top-rated golf course. He walked toward one of several small whiteboards placed strategically around the room. "First," he continued, picking up a red marker, "I want us to identify the people who will lead the three groups that will make up the Business Alignment and Planning (BAP) Team. This is Ted's new team," he nodded to me and wrote '#1 BAP Team Org.' on the board in large block letters. "Ted's been doing some thinking about this, and I've asked him to report back to us on what he's planning to do about staffing his team." "Second, we need to develop a strategic plan, including a mission, a vision, and objectives for the IS department so we know what the hell we're doing and where we're going before we try to align with our friends in the business," Mills said, drawing a red #2 on the board and adding 'Develop Strategic Plan' next to it. "If we can accomplish just these two things over the next two days, I think it will be worth the cost and time I've spent to drag you so far out into the country." "So Ted, what are your plans for staffing the BAP Team?" The BAP Team LeadershipChoosing the right people for my team was critical, and we didn't have any time to lose if we were to get this team up and running in the next few weeks. Over the last few days, I had developed profiles — qualifications and personality traits — for each person on the BAP Team. I'd need a point person (a manager) for each area: IT strategic planning, business systems' development and project prioritization, and IT financial planning and administration. "I've got three people in mind who I feel can do the job," I said. "At least, they can help me figure out what the BAP Team's job is. And that's a start." Here is a summary of the people who will lead the various areas of the BAP Team: The IT strategist on BAP will be a former retail systems consultant for IBM Global Services named Jesse Reed. Jesse joined HomeWorks about a year ago and has been working on a few small research projects for IS, as well as for some of the business executives. Frankly, he's been underutilized and bored. He is really excited about doing something more significant, and this job seems right up his alley. I've talked to him on and off over the last few months and have been impressed with him. He's a real visionary type who has a ton of experience in retail and understands retail technology. He knows what works and what doesn't, is a whiz at doing research, and has plenty of great connections within the retail industry. Rebecca Morse is the person I'd chosen for the business requirements and analysis role. She's a former senior buyer who has been with HomeWorks for more than 12 years. Two years ago, Morse made quite an impression on the IS group when she came over from the business side as a senior subject matter expert for the implementation of the new merchandising ERP system. She's really taken a shine to IS work and for someone who never developed a IS project in her life two years ago, she is, in a word, a "natural." Because the ERP project ended a few months ago, she has agreed to stay on in IS area as a project manager. Morse knows the business inside and out — she's very strong on all aspects of the HomeWorks business. She's an ideal fit for the BAP team because everyone on the business side knows and trusts her. Plus, she's comfortable working with the IS crew and their methodologies. Having a strong liking for methodology and developing processes will be critical in this role as you'll see as this series progresses. Last, but certainly not least, is Steve Wilson. Steve will be the finance guy on the BAP team. He's John Mills' IS accounting manager and only joined HomeWorks four weeks ago. He is impressed with Mills' comments on running IS in a fiscally responsible manner but is staggered by the lack of formal accounting systems and procedures currently in place within IS. He has told his wife that he will be working late a lot in the coming months. At this point, I have only a very high-level concept of what each BAP team member will be doing on a day-to-day basis. Next week, I will meet with each of these people to determine specific roles and responsibilities and scope in the larger IT-business alignment initiative. Future installments of this diary will describe in detail each of these teams. Tearing Down the IS SilosI concluded my recommendations, and after an hour or so of debate and questioning, particularly around whether Rebecca had enough IS experience to lead the business requirements and analysis team, Mills and my fellow IS directors approved my recommendations. Mills told me to go forward and flesh out the team and its functions and report back to the SLT in two weeks. I suspected that the other IS directors were still taking a wait-and-see attitude about the whole BAP concept. They were, however, more than happy to let me shoulder the burden of building this new team. I had overheard one of them refer to it as "Mills' Pet Project" when they thought I couldn't hear. Following a brief break, everyone assumed Mills would get on with the remainder of the meeting, that is, the development of the HomeWorks IS strategic plan. We were wrong. Before we could really begin to move forward with the IS-business alignment strategy Mills felt we had some housekeeping to do within the IS organization itself. "Have you noticed," asked Mills, "that our Senior Leadership Team isn't actually a team?" He paused for a moment to watch a comically overdressed golfer hit a perfect slice into a dense band of oak trees. "We seldom talk to each other outside of our weekly staff meetings or unless there is a problem or crisis to resolve. We don't seem to have common goals, objectives, or a process for communicating effectively. And there is way too much finger pointing around the department. Frankly folks, it's as if you were all running separate IT departments." He paused again. "So today, we are going to begin the work of changing all that," said Mills. "We're going to start the process of becoming a team."
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