This Guest paper was submitted for publication and is copyright to Mark A. Seely© 2016.
Published here April 2017

PART 3 | Editor's Note & Table of Contents | Chapter 7: Finding Levels 3 and 4
Chapter 8: Level 3 - Program Management | Level 3 Management | The Apollo Example
Chapter 9: Level 4 - Program Governance | Level 4 Governance | Performance
Chapter 10: Level 5 - Public Governance | Level 5 Governance | PART  5

Performance

Our familiar performance plot is nuanced for the Level 4 reality. The illustration is the depiction of a Level 4 initiative with a high tech (unproven) Level  3 imbedded within. Here the lower curve follows the trajectory of Level  3 — try, try and try again ... and again ... and again, until you learn the art-of-the-possible.

The upper curve shows an expanding expectation — a dynamic objective. With this, as the project delivery is falling flat on its face, the crowd is demanding more.

The notion of a dynamic objective results from engaging the corporate user base, an external-to-the-project nonaligned, autonomous, work force, acquainting them with your objective and testing their appetite to jump on board. This simple description of the exercise disregards the larger overarching purpose for the project — to test and adjust the relevance of corporate purpose and the organizational pieces within. This is an exercise that is well beyond the capacity, the authority and the business acumen of experts in information technology.

The typical battle plan is to cause the IT experts to "do it to" the organization. The organization, feeling somewhat disenfranchised and exercising its autonomy, fights back — a bit like a virus attempting to invade the human body — the battle itself absorbs a lot of the resources. Absent any greater vision, the cause is lost.

Given the true nature of business transformation, the enterprise must find a way to enable particular sectors of the business to sub-optimize their interests in the future for the benefit of others — an "altruistic" management concept.

Level 4 Governance  Level 4 Governance

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