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June 4, 2002

IT-Business Alignment: Week 7

The Road that Never Ends: the Evolution of BAP

About six months into the IT-business alignment at HomeWorks a good friend asked me why I took the job as director of BAP.

"I liked the idea of creating a corporate IT strategy from the ground up — one that was based on solid business principles and goals — not just who yells the loudest or who has the biggest budget," I said. "And I think we've done that here at HomeWorks. We're on our way, at least."

We've made good progress around here. However, it's dangerous to spend too much time patting yourself on the back. All glory is fleeting as they say. The IT-business alignment at HomeWorks continues to evolve. It's a process that (hopefully) never ends. There are always more challenges and problems.

My role as the BAP Director has, in many ways, gone full circle since we launched the initiative.

Executive Summary

What does it take to drive a successful BAP initiative? In the final entry of this series, Ted Kingston describes his critical role as the director of the IT-business alignment team at HomeWorks. He also provides a detailed time line so that you can measure your BAP initiative's progress against the one that continues to this day at HomeWorks.

Cast of Characters

Click here to meet our cast of characters.

I started out in strategy mode when we developed the BAP concept and decided to treat it as a project unto itself. Then, once BAP was rolled out, I became far more tactical than I'd care to admit — especially when it came to helping out the business analysts get up to speed. Now that BAP is becoming a reality, it's time for me to become strategic again. All the while, I'm charged with keeping in mind Mills' critical success factors and working to make them a reality.

The BAP Project Manager

As the Director of BAP at HomeWorks, I'm a motivator, mentor, teacher, strategist, and project manager. A lot of hats!

Although I'm confident in my three team leaders — Rebecca Morse, Jesse Reed and Steve Wilson — they definitely need someone who can keep them informed and on the same page while they're pursuing their individual goals and directives. Plus, the individual BAP team members may be the best at what they do, but they need to understand what their counterparts are doing, and that's where I come in.

It's been my job to keep all these exceptionally high-performance people happy, motivated, and productive, especially during the often frustrating initial phases of BAP when everything had yet to be defined.

By now, it should be pretty clear that a lot of learning went on during the first six months of the BAP initiative. There was also a lot of what I call "make it up as you go along." That is, though there are things you can plan for and resources you can draw on when initiating a BAP effort (I hope, this series is one such resource) you still have to be flexible enough to tailor your BAP strategy and work with your company's culture, goals and people. One size doesn't fit all. It is still more art than science.

The Many "Faces" of the BAP Project Lead

Being the Director of an IT-business alignment has been challenging. But it was and continues to be very satisfying and rewarding, especially once you begin to see progress and improvements.

Most often, during the early months of the BAP project at HomeWorks, I had to be very flexible in my day-to-day work — moving from the extremely strategic (planning with Mills and other executives, for example) to the very tactical (working with the business analysts in developing requirements templates) — sometimes all on the same day. And often even within the same hour.

In no particular order, here are some of the roles I play (or have played) around IS in the creation and evolution of BAP.

I'm responsible for keeping Mills happy with the progress we're making. I also try to make sure that he has an opportunity to influence the way BAP functions and to know what's going on with the team. Every strategic BAP decision is made with an eye toward Mills' goals and objectives. He is, after all, the boss.

Like many executives I've worked with, Mills doesn't get down into a lot of details. Or the "corn flakes" as he calls it. Often, he only gives general directions and sometimes doesn't quite know what he wants until he can actually see something on paper or working in practice. Then, he's full of suggestions and demands for changes. It's my job to listen to him and work with the team in creating a solid first draft that is presented back to Mills for his "improvements."

I'm also the chief marketer for BAP. Just like all the business analysts on the front lines of BAP, I also serve as the very visible symbol of how BAP is or isn't working at HomeWorks.

Without sounding fancy here, I'm in effect the BAP ambassador to the HomeWorks senior leadership team. It's my job to keep a pulse of what the executives and business managers are thinking about BAP — and to make sure they understand our goals and to make sure I am addressing their concerns and soliciting their input on our efforts.